Ella Mai Quotes

It's been a bit of a struggle getting used to life in the States, adapting to a new lifestyle.

America is remarkable, don't you think so? When I came to Washington, I was twelve years old. I spoke English with an English accent. It was assumed that it would go on in that way.

We moved to Australia for two years though and that was a little bit tough trying to fit in.

My accent does slip. When I arrived in England in 1978 at 18, I was shocked to find myself 'the American' at RADA. The English and the Americans have an intense relationship. They helped us out in the Second World War.

As an immigrant, I learned by watching other people.

As a young boy in a new country, you had to make new friends, and that was really difficult.

People don't know what it's like being the foreigner until they are one.

I've gotten used to being a foreigner.

I wanted to do comedy because I left Malaysia and went to America. I got bitten by the Western, idealist, opinionated, democracy bug.

I never did very well as an immigrant. I've lived in several countries and been a disaster everywhere.

I was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, and I came to attend high school in Massachusetts when I was about 15 years old.

I was born in Lebanon and emigrated to the U.S. and went back. I'd been raised in a French school in Beirut. Lebanon is a peculiar place, so bicultural it goes along with you. There is a Western influence, an Eastern influence. Most people are fluctuating between those identities.

I was born in Costa Rica and we moved to America where it was a whole new world for me.

Going through different places, I stopped through Dubai and stayed there overnight. There I had an ultra-culture shock.

I still have an accent. But when I return to Prague, I speak the language yet do not know what they are talking about.

Latinas who come to the U.S. should adapt, learn English and become a part of the community.

I came here from Romania when I was 12 years old. I had an accent. High school was tough a little bit for a few years. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be liked. I wanted to be good-looking. I wanted to be popular. I spent a lot of time thinking, 'What are these people going to think of me?'

I always think like I was born in the country where everybody ate apples. Then I ended up in the country where everybody eats bananas. So now, I eat bananas so long, I'm just remembering the apples.

It's not a lighthearted decision to change your language, your country, your citizenship, and come to a world where you don't know anybody, to leave a place where you've had opportunities to build friendships from childhood. That's quite a big decision to make.

In Ehrenfeld, we were all jammed together. All the fathers were foreign-born - Welsh, Irish, Polish, Sicilian. We were so jammed together, we picked up each other's accents. And we spoke some broken English. When I got into the service, people used to think I was from a foreign country.

I remember when I first came to America, nobody had a clue what a black Englishman was. I was either South African or Australian to them.

I know that if I have come to Britain, I must adapt, and I will try to.

Coming from the Philippines to the U.S. did shape me in that it gave me perseverance.

When I first came to this country I was this new kid from the Caribbean. England was a rude awakening for me.

To be a foreigner may be an advantage but disadvantage as well. It was advantage for me for sure.