How does an American-Born Chinese (ABC) become fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, and English? Jasper (Jun-Hao / 君浩) grew up between New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei, in a family that made space for every one of those languages.
Jasper is an American-born multilingual Chinese Puerto Rican whose mom is an ABC and whose dad is Puerto Rican. Between the languages spoken at home and the places he grew up, he has been speaking English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Spanish for as long as he can remember.
We talk about the family rule that helped make that possible: whatever language was spoken outside the home was the one they were not allowed to speak at home. We also get into how growing up in different Chinese-speaking communities shaped his relationship to Mandarin and Cantonese, and why his experience is very different from the one a lot of us grew up with.
We talk about the assumptions people make when someone looks mixed but speaks fluent Mandarin, and the pressure many immigrant families have felt to prioritize English so their kids can fit in.
Later, Jasper shares how these questions about language, culture, and belonging have come up in his own dating life when his counterparts are gay ABCs, especially when thinking about what parts of culture he wants to pass down to future children. It is such an honest conversation about the ways language is tied to identity, pride, assimilation, and so many other aspects of our lives.
In this episode, you'll learn vocab like:
家規 / 家规 / jiā guī ("house rules")
有意見不合 / 有意见不合 / yǒu yì jiàn bù hé ("to have a difference of opinion")
無言以對 / 无言以对 / wú yán yǐ duì ("to be at a loss for words")
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