Anastasiya Liaskouskaya

Native to Belarus, freshman Anastasiya Liaskouskaya moved to America with her mom and dad in August of 2005, when she was a little over two years old.  

“My family comes from a long line of people from Belarus and a few people marrying into the family from Ukraine,” Liaskouskaya said. “Our whole family has only lived in America from around 1998 to present day.”

Although Liaskouskaya is from Belarus and speaks the native Russian language, her family isn’t big on ‘European holidays,’ with the exception of New Year’s.

“We take New Year’s pretty seriously,” Liaskouskaya said. “We usually cook a whole ton of food, including potatoes, turkey, steak, and lots of salads that my mom learned to cook back in Belarus when she was a little girl.”

While Liaskouskaya is a part of the Belarusian culture, her heritage usually goes unnoticed because most people she encounters do not know where the country is.

“95 percent of the people in Frisco that I’ve met have absolutely no idea where Belarus is and assume I’m just white,” Liaskouskaya said. “However, when they hear my name, they quickly think I’m Russian even through Russia and Belarus are completely different countries.”

Although Belarus and Russia are separate countries, they both share the national language of Russian, which caused some challenges for Liaskouskaya’s mother, Natallya, when moving to the States.

“The biggest challenge I have with being from a foreign country is definitely language,” Natallya said.  “I came here after speaking Russian my whole life and it was a big change learning a new language from scratch.”

Although Liaskouskaya’s mother had difficulty learning a new language as an adult, Liaskouskaya had the advantage of learning both languages as a child and as a result, she is fluent in English and Russian.

“The best part of being bilingual is the shock it brings people,” Liaskouskaya said. “Russian isn’t a very common language and I think it’s very cool to speak something that most people don’t know here in America.”  

Even so, being fluent in two languages has its setbacks for Liaskouskaya, as sometimes she may know what to say in Russian, but not in English, and vice versa.

“Growing up, I caught onto English words quite fast and I learned to be able to put two languages aside from each other and know when each one is appropriate to use,” Liaskouskaya said. “Sadly, even to this day, I sometimes will know how to say something in one language but I can’t remember it in the other.”

Because people automatically think Liaskouskaya is Russian, due to the fact that she speaks the language and most do not know where Belarus is, she often hears stereotypical Russian jokes aimed at her.

“I have jokingly heard that ‘Russians drink lots of vodka’ and that all Russians are ‘spies but it doesn’t affect me because I’m not technically Russian,’” Liaskouskaya said.

No matter the jokes that come with being foreign, Liaskouskaya is glad she is a part of the uncommon Belarusian culture, although she wishes there were places in Frisco for her to further express her heritage

“I find it very special being from a country that most people in Frisco aren’t aware of,” Liaskouskaya said. “I do wish that there were places around the area for Belarusians to gather as there already isn’t may of us to begin with and it would be cool to meet others like me.”

While Liaskouskaya and her family are proud to be Belarusian, Liaskouskaya’s mother believes there is a bright future ahead of her daughter here in the States.  

“I believe that America is full of tons of opportunities and my daughter will have a bright future ahead of her,” Natallya said.