Overcoming the language barrier

“Although I didn’t know I wanted to do a PhD as a child, I figured out early on that being good in academics had certain advantages. I had short term goals like getting a good score in exams or going to a good college. I didn’t have any academic exposure while growing up and was the first generation from my family to be going to a school or a college. Therefore, I had to figure out my career path by myself.

To add to it, I didn’t have English as a mode of communication in school or during my Bachelor’s which made it a little difficult when I had to read English textbooks during my Master’s. I remember reading biochemistry books with a dictionary by my side to ensure what I was reading was not the limitation of my understanding of the topic but the language being used. The reference book, Biochemistry by Voet and Voet, which I had to read twice just to understand the basic concepts of chemical bonds and protein structure, eventually helped me grasp the subject and crack the competitive exams.

Coming to a campus like IISc was scary to say the least. Most of the people around me had a good educational background and came from well-educated families. The language barrier was an additional problem; I wasn’t fluent in English or Hindi and felt intimidated around people which kept me isolated for a while. I befriended someone from my region who spoke my language along…