Fuck Exchange Programs

[TDK]

Okay I'm all for mixing of cultures, but this is just ridiculous. I had a chemistry class today, and the TA, who was in charge of all of the students mixing chemicals, barely spoke passable english. I understood almost none of what she said, and apparently, despite having at least an undergrad degree in chemistry, she did not know the word "milliliter".

We were mixing hydrochloric acid, and she asked me "how many chlorine" I put in the solution.

It was extremely tempting to answer her question literally and say something like "32x10^23 of them." but I resisted.


Like seriously, this chick got hired by a goddamn university despite barely knowing enough english to have a conversation. I would go so far as to describe it as 'broken english'.

And yet she is expected to instruct a few dozen people on how to mix dangerous chemicals, including, in this case, ammonia and hydrochloric acid in fairly strong concentrations.


This is

I don't even


Has anyone else experienced stuff like this? I understand that the language barrier is something that has to be overcome and without people correcting you, its hard to pick up a language from being in a culture that speaks it, particularly english...

But you'd think for this particular position, they might consider someone who's just a LITTLE more fluent.


Edit: Originally the title was "Fuck foreign exchange programs" but that's not the kind of program my particular case is referring to.

This one just sounds dirty though.

[Fifthfiend]

Totally not what I thought this thread was going to be about.

Oh well, back to Craigslist.

[Specterbane]

Hah! Welcome to college. She's probably here studying for a MS or PhD and TAing as a way to earn rent/scholarship money. If I'm not mistaken that's pretty common. I went to a smaller program at my college and even there we had plenty of professors with heavy accents. From "Wheicals" and "Wessals" to "Marchineing Centers" it happens.

My best advice is to be patient, they're trying their best to be understood so try to meet them half way by getting used to the accent. And if you need to correct her about something politely, have some tact about it, but it'll help everyone out.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Lab supervision is pretty much exclusively done by apathetic pHD students who are paishit all to be there. But you're expected to be able to mix standard chemicals by the time you get to uni and I doubt they'd give you anything really dangerous. And shit , they're probably bein paid only slightly above minimum wage espite their years of training , don't be hard on them.

[Seil]

The only problem I've ever had with people speaking foreign languages is not when they're in control of my grades, so... yeah.

I actually don't think I've ever had a major problem with not understanding someone's language. When we had exchange students in Japanese, way back in high school, they were mostly young Asian girls, who all laughed and gave me email addresses.

[Magic_Marker]

Totally not what I thought this thread was going to be about.

Oh well, back to Craigslist.

Haven't you heard? (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/06/craigslist_row_again/)

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Pfft, that's nothing, you should have seen my high school physics teacher, he wasn't even foriegn and he was still more dangerous than that chick. He allowed people to open up gas taps and set them aflame directly. And the tables. And any deodorant cans that people felt like running around with shooting at each other. The man just didn't give a shit if we blew ourselves up, he was only doing a year until he had enough money to go on a rock climbing instructors course, where he could presumably be really dangerous to people.


I wish I was making this shit up.

[CABAL49]

I had an English teacher from Belize. I was the only one who could understand her but I loved that class.

[Azisien]

Lab supervision is pretty much exclusively done by apathetic pHD students who are paishit all to be there. But you're expected to be able to mix standard chemicals by the time you get to uni and I doubt they'd give you anything really dangerous. And shit , they're probably bein paid only slightly above minimum wage espite their years of training , don't be hard on them.

I dunno what the lab standards are in your country, but I was paid $26/hour to be an undergraduate TA. Graduate TAs got $38/hour.

Some people just stayed TAs actually, didn't even bother getting full professorship or anything.

[batgirl]

I hear you, but welcome to college. I had a chemistry professor from China who couldn't pronounce the differences between "alkenes," "alkanes," and "alkynes." Considering that was a big deal, it frustrated the entire 400 person class to no end.

I was a physics TA for a year and a half and let me tell you, some of the other TAs were really bad in terms of their accents. There were only 2 other girls who were TAs. One had a thick Russian accent, the other a thick Haitian accent. Amongst the guys, there were a couple of really heavy Indian and Chinese/Japanese accents. I'll tell you, after the first week of class, my and the other predominantly English speaking TAs' class sizes grew exponentially and the others shrank.

[Flarecobra]

Had a math teacher from Iran last semester... couldn't understand half the words he said, but he still was able to make himself understood via the markerboard...

One of the few math classes that I actually tried to pay attention to.

[Wigmund]

I've had more trouble understanding two professors who had weird regional accents (One was from Boston and the other was Canadian). One of my Physics TAs was from Madagascar and I could understand him easily.

My Chem Lab TA is Chinese and, oh dear god, her truly incomprehensible accent is gonna make this class so much more difficult than it should be.

[P-Sleazy]

Okay I'm all for mixing of cultures, but this is just ridiculous. I had a chemistry class today, and the TA, who was in charge of all of the students mixing chemicals, barely spoke passable english. I understood almost none of what she said, and apparently, despite having at least an undergrad degree in chemistry, she did not know the word "milliliter".

We were mixing hydrochloric acid, and she asked me "how many chlorine" I put in the solution.

It was extremely tempting to answer her question literally and say something like "32x10^23 of them." but I resisted.


Like seriously, this chick got hired by a goddamn university despite barely knowing enough english to have a conversation. I would go so far as to describe it as 'broken english'.

And yet she is expected to instruct a few dozen people on how to mix dangerous chemicals, including, in this case, ammonia and hydrochloric acid in fairly strong concentrations.


This is

I don't even


Has anyone else experienced stuff like this? I understand that the language barrier is something that has to be overcome and without people correcting you, its hard to pick up a language from being in a culture that speaks it, particularly english...

But you'd think for this particular position, they might consider someone who's just a LITTLE more fluent.


Edit: Originally the title was "Fuck foreign exchange programs" but that's not the kind of program my particular case is referring to.

This one just sounds dirty though.

Firstly and most important. Is she hot?

Second. Regardless of how you answered above, I think you're missing the point of a foriegn TA in an exchange program. Its not so she can teach you intro chemistry. Anyone can do that. Fuck my 4 yr old niece could teach you intro chemistry at the college level. Its so that YOU, my friend, can teach her english. Privately might I add. Maybe even make a game out of it where for everytime she gets something wrong, she takes clothes off. And for everything right, you take your clothes off. Then you just get imaginative from there.

Third and lastly- if anything goes wrong (like knocked up wrong), blame it on the sea men.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

I dunno what the lab standards are in your country, but I was paid $26/hour to be an undergraduate TA. Graduate TAs got $38/hour.

Some people just stayed TAs actually, didn't even bother getting full professorship or anything.

What the fuck. We get like £11. Back home I got like $12an that was to supervise people with real dangerous shit like TiCl4 and lasers and shit an one of top universities in the world. And this is as pHD students (as in super qualified to teach this shit).
What the fuck.

In fairness we sit aroun and talk most of the labs because it's a fairly straightforward subject.but still.

[TDK]

Firstly and most important. Is she hot?

Second. Regardless of how you answered above, I think you're missing the point of a foriegn TA in an exchange program. Its not so she can teach you intro chemistry. Anyone can do that. Fuck my 4 yr old niece could teach you intro chemistry at the college level. Its so that YOU, my friend, can teach her english. Privately might I add. Maybe even make a game out of it where for everytime she gets something wrong, she takes clothes off. And for everything right, you take your clothes off. Then you just get imaginative from there.

Third and lastly- if anything goes wrong (like knocked up wrong), blame it on the sea men.

...No, she is there to oversee the lab. She's a lab TA. This has nothing to do with her learning english.

And while hot, she is a total bitch, despite the language barrier.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

To be fair she is also there to learn how to teach. Like where I am its theoretically mandatory to do a certain amount of tutorin as part of a pHD to learn teaching skills which is why they justify paying less.

[Fungrus]

I can understand getting frustrated in this situation, but if someone asks "how many chlorine" it's perfectly obvious what they meant, so to get all snarky about it is uncalled for. Perhaps a plural version of much doesn't even exist in her language (unlikely though that sounds).

[Mondt]

one of the GTAs for one of my labs speaks english pretty well, but she is basically not understandable at all.

So no one listens.

Edit: So I can't really write my lab report because I don't really understand what I'm doing at all in my labs because the TA speaks poor english.

Yeehaw. Guess I need to go see her in office hours or something and attempt to wade through her inability to understand anything I say!