Student reflects on having one Japanese parent and one Cuban parent and what is like to grow up between these cultures. He notes how speaking in Spanish requires him to be vocally emotive, where he is less so in Japanese and connects this to observations about Cuban culture generally being moreopenly emotional than the Japanese culture he lives in.

A Japanese student studying in an international school helps her teachers translate greetings and thank-yous on a school trip. In the process, she becomes aware of how many different levels of formality there are in Japanese, and how few in English. She reflects through language on the importance of social hierarchy in Japanese culture.

A student takes multiple years of one or more foreign languages as part of their academic program. The student does not attain fluency or literacy, but learns enough to engage with and learn from people who do not speak her native language.

A student who speaks English natively and has had a year of Spanish in school is travelling with a friend who is also a native English speaker but has learned a little Italian. In Paris they go to the cinema and have a conversation with the French theater attendant in a combination of English, Spanish, Italian, French and hand gestures in order to understand when the film will begin, if there will be advertisements or previews before the feature, whether food is allowed in the theater, and where the nearest place is to eat a quick snack if there is time before the movie. Interactions like this characterize their trip, but allow them to deepen their experience of French culture.