The Language in which we Speak

“Julienne’s speaking her lingo again.” I hear this comment coming from one of my friends as I’m standing in the T station. I have one finger pressed into my ear as I’m trying to hear what my mom is saying to me. “Remember to stay healthy, eat fruit and take your vitamins!” she advises for the 10th time. “Okay mom, I already do. You don’t have to keep telling me!” I reply. People passing by are throwing curious glances at me, probably because I am talking loudly in a language that sounds foreign to them. My parents taught me how to speak Taiwanese ever since I was born. After Taiwanese I learned English, and then I was forced to attend Chinese School to learn how to speak, read and write Mandarin. I never really appreciated the fact that I was trilingual because of my parents. I never understood why friends of my parents were always so impressed when I spoke Taiwanese to them. However, the main thing I really didn’t understand was the fact that my older sister and I spoke Taiwanese fluently; having lived in California our whole lives while my cousins in Taiwan only knew how to speak Mandarin. As I grew up and graduated from high school and went off to Boston for college, I met more and more people similar to my cousins in regards to language. A lot of people I knew were Italian, but knew nothing about the culture or how to speak the language. A lot of my friends are Chinese but do not know how to speak Mandarin. Many people knew very little about their backgrounds. I finally started to realize how important being familiar with my own culture and language was. I felt accomplished and competent in comparison with some of my peers. I guess the saying, “What mom says is not always right, but it is most of the time,” holds true in this case. I remember the days when I grudgingly dragged my feet to Chinese School, or to family gatherings in which I would have to speak Taiwanese or Mandarin. Knowing how to speak many different languages, especially one of your own heritage, is very rewarding. It increases your intelligence and makes you worldier. Now I can enjoy being independent when I visit Taiwan. I can communicate with all the locals when buying food, and bargaining when I go shopping. Knowing how to speak Taiwanese is one of the most rewarding things that my parents have taught me. Julienne is spending the first part of her summer in Boston. Unfortunately, she won't have many people to speak Taiwanese to until she returns to California.

What Does it Mean to You?

A couple weeks ago my mother asked me if I wanted to go to Japan and Taiwan for the summer. I haven't been back there since 2004. I had to check my summer schedule and as I feared, my weeks were all used up. I had camps, classes, volunteer programs, etc. all to attend. So my mother and sister will be going by themselves this summer for two weeks. At first I shrugged it off as not a big deal until my grandmother called and told me she'd miss seeing me this year. Immediately, I felt a little pain in my heart and reflected on the last time I visited. My summers in Taiwan consist hanging out in Taipei mostly. From when I was one-year-old up until now, my days in Taiwan have been a lot like 31 lazy afternoons. I would sit at a table in my grandfather's bead and sequin shop (Yi-Hua beads!) and watch my uncles take a package and jet off in their motorbikes to deliver them. As the years went on, my grandfather's little store evolved into a multi-location business. Just 3 years ago, I sat in a computer room in a new location as my aunt typed away at e-mails sent to American businesses. Again, I looked out the glass windows as customers came in and out. The automatic doors open and shut more often than they used to. When I'm not taking in the scenes of everyday happenings at the stores, I spend most of my time with my cousins. I've had my share of 4 or 5 year old cousins pleading for "Da Da Guh-Guh" to teach them English. By now many of them are entering the second or third grade and are already learning their English in school. I regret that I will miss another year of their precious stages of growing up. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I will miss Taipei this year. I will miss walking down Tien-Mu by myself and coming back every year to see another department store pop up. These are my years of greater self-understanding. The next time I go back, I will spend my lazy afternoons talking to my grandparents and soaking up every bit of wise knowledge that they have for the future. I'll spend that time passing on my own knowledge to my cousins entering upper grade school and middle school. Most of all I'll spend my time walking down the sidewalks, subway tunnels, night markets, and parks. All the sights to see are constant reminders of the culture my second home has to offer for me. For those of you that haven't been back to Taiwan in a while, make an effort to spend a couple weeks there and explore your surroundings because in the end we'll never find a place like Taiwan here in the US. Justin spends his time plotting out plans to escape from humdrum Ohio and exploring the world. He wants to send a shout-out to his 13 cousins in Taiwan and 3 in Texas.