My mother was born in Canada but moved to Hawaii when she was five because of her parents’ divorce. However, she went back to Canada for grade 5 in 1982, as well as grades 10, 11 and 12 from 1987-1991. Just in those 4 years of schooling in her home country, she developed a habit of spelling words the Canadian, or British way. Words like color and especially labor are spelled “Colour” and “Labour,” respectively. These spelling characteristics still sometimes stick with her, even after living in the U.S. for most of her life. Around Labor Day, my mother still has to think about which is the American way of spelling it, rather than having the spelling of “labor” come to mind right away. Additionally, in Canada, the letter ‘Z’ is pronounced “zed,” and it was only until recently that my mother reacclimated to the American way of saying the letter. My mother being Canadian has little impact on me, however, I plan on getting dual citizenship since I am eligible to become a Canadian citizen as well as American (and I am looking into triple citizenship with my father being Italian). Similar to myself, being an immigrant doesn't have a daily impact on her current life. Overall, although there isn’t much day-to-day impact, being a citizen of both Canada as well as the US, some things as small as spelling have still stuck with her- and probably will for the rest of her life.

– E

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant