Qinwei Wu, Week 1, "I'm not even Chinese!"
A few days ago, I was sitting with my friends in flex. We all had things that we needed to do, but we still had a long conversation. We started off by talking about school. My friend talked about her physics test that went horribly, and I talked about my chemistry test that went horribly. As we talked, we went through several topics until my friend talked about something that felt familiar.
She said that ever since her sister started attending middle school, her sister has had more of an attitude. She explained that her sister had gotten very argumentative and defied her parents constantly. Her sister wanted to attend singing lessons, but her parents suggested that she should get Chinese singing lessons. Her sister was completely against the idea of singing in Chinese, because she wanted to sing in English. Her sister got even more angry when her parents added that it would be an opportunity for her to improve her Chinese skills. My friend also added that her sister always needed her help translating for her relatives because although her sister could understand Chinese to a degree, she could not speak Chinese.
This reminded me so much of my brother, because my brother would always argue with me when I told him that he needed to improve his Chinese. In China, my brother always needed my help to convey his message to our relatives because he didn’t know how to express himself in Chinese. Especially with my great-grandpa. He only speaks the Chinese dialect from Wuhan. Every time my great-grandpa spoke to my brother, my brother would call me over and ask me what he said.
Just today, my brother got frustrated because he could not explain to my mom what he wanted to say, because he couldn’t express complicated things in Chinese. I heard him curse under his breath, wishing that my mom could understand English.
Whenever I urge my brother to improve his Chinese, he would say, “I’m not even Chinese!” My brother is the only person in my family who was born in the United States, and he feels that he is American rather than Chinese. Both my friend’s sister and my brother are against the idea of improving their Chinese. Why are they so against the language that their family speaks?
Growing up in America, it is important to learn English to understand your classmates, friends, and teachers. Since they occasionally visit China, they just don’t feel the need to learn because they rarely have to speak it. However, I feel it is also important to learn the language of your relatives so you can express yourself completely and connect with them. One is not required to speak their family’s language, but speaking that language can be important to stay connected with the culture of their family.
My greatest fear is for my children to one day lose the ability to speak the language of their ancestors.
Thanks for fully describing your friend's siblings' situations in detail. Your concern is indeed legitimate; many would consider the language of their ancestors as part of their identity. I myself agree that my original language of Gujarati should continue to be spoken, even if rarely .However, ultimately, I would say that the choice to learn and understand that language is possessed by said children, (or any person, really) and it is unfortunate to state that learning or speaking a new language is not a real priority to so many today, as they have grown accustomed to the language of necessity here: English. Perhaps, your friend's siblings may be more willing to learn Chinese if it was more widely spoken here, and English was not so predominant.
ReplyDeleteYour usage of personal anecdotes make it clear that your experience and annoyance with linguistic decline is personal and frustrating, an aspect of your writing that I consider with weight. Though I am unfortunately yet another 2nd-generation immigrant that has not learned how to speak their native language, I still think that maintaining different languages is important, as they can convey ideas well. Your conveyance of these ideas was also facilitated by your artful transitions, though I must admit that it was a bit jarring when you came to a conclusion about those that do not maintain their native language without explaining evidence concisely first.
ReplyDeleteHi, Qinwei, I want to start my comment by paraphrasing a quote of Lee Kuan Yew (Founding father of Singapore) when he was answering questions about why he pushed for bilingual education from an Instagram post that I viewed. He said that learning the mother tongue is a great way to maintain a sense of their ancestry and gain more self confidence for Singaporeans in a diverse society. I think that this quote aligns with your opinion that learning the family language would be a great way to connect with relatives and explore their culture. I have a similar experience of needing translations from my brother to understand my grandparents when I was younger. I still remember the awkwardness that I had when I was laughing at jokes that I barely understand. That awkwardness turned into a motivation to learn better Chinese for me. This blog is very engaging and explores a topic that is interesting and relevant to the quarter topic. I really enjoyed reading it and I wish to read more stellar blogs like this next time!
ReplyDeleteHi Qinwei, great speech by the way! I liked the way you transitioned from a conversation between you and a friend to your main point about your brother. I must say that I agree that English is a very important skill to have in general and that its important to know your mother tounge. For me, I believe that it's important to use it to better communicate with others and to better understand the culture. When traveling to China, when you communicate in chinese it also builds trust by showing respect. This worked in Aphganistan; American SOCOM teams would intentionally learn the language to have a more friendly relationship with the local populations. Having said that, I think you could convince your brother to learn more chinese by helping him understand the benefits of learning chinese, and the culture behind it.
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