That notion from previous generations that they want their children only speaking English in order to not get discriminated against is so weird. They believed that by speaking Chinese, somehow it would diminish their English skills, as if the human brain only has a limited storage space for each language. In reality, most of us are capable of speaking multiple languages to varying degrees.
Racist White Donald Trump Voters are going to discriminate against Asians just for having an Asian phenotype even if they only speak English. With Racist White Donald Trump Voters it's about the phenotype not the language, it's about what's on the outside not the language.
True af! It’s even a norm in Europe for example to learn 3 languages on top of the native language 🥲. And while indeed some don’t keep up with those languages, cause you learn them at like 13, at least with your parents native language you are able to learn it as a toddler so it’s obviously easier.
Previous generations weren't as educated and didn't think scientifically enough, if they thought that learning a 2nd language would interfere with their English. Those that thought this did their children a disservice.
Being born and growing up in SF, it was easy for me to maintain my Cantonese. Would always use it at home with my parents and whenever I saw relatives which was pretty frequent. Would often go to Cantonese speaking restaurants with my family as well. The density of SF and abundance of Cantonese speakers allowed me to learn and maintain it well. Also, used to watch a lot of Hong Kong shows and movies with my parents. I had a student exchange from Hong Kong last year in college who was surprised by how well my Cantonese was lol. Definitely depends on amount of exposure and continued use. Some could learn it but lose it too. My brother who grew up with the same experiences but has moved out for years is also slowly losing his Cantonese.
Cantonese is disgusting like Vietnamese both sound too Chinky. Korean and Japanese sound way better. Of course mandarin sounds the best. Along with other Northern dialects that sound similar to Mongolian, Korean, and Japanese. Southern Chinese are fit the dirty Chinese stereotype.
Same here, I even have a Cantonese wife who came here 5 years ago at age 25. I dated exclusively Fobs since HS lol. I can read and write pretty good too.
I think it's a combination of many things including assimilation into a diaspora and even when trying to learn and speak it we're made fun of, criticized, or looked down upon by those who are fluent in Chinese. When that happens, some of us may give up when we shouldn't.
Actually, I have heard similar from New Englanders descended from French Canadians, mostly Quebecois but some Acadians, whose parents or grandparents were discouraged and even got hate when speaking French.
I’m Cambodian Chinese and personally love learning Mandarin. Both of my parents had grandparents that are full Chinese but me and only a few of my family members can speak mandarin. I got the great opportunity to study it in high school and college and still practice a little bit Being able to show I can speak and read a good amount makes me feel more connected and the reactions are usually very positive I’d date anyone of any ethnicity but if my partner was also Chinese or part mixed I think it be great if we kept the culture and language going
My parents attended school in Canada in the 1960's. Teachers literally told my grandparents from both sides of the family to not speak Chinese with my parents because it would allegedly interfere with the process of learning English. I don't think it was a coincidence that my two sets of grandparents received the same advice from different teachers. I think there was a time when it was commonly accepted that learning a second language caused confusion in children. Obviously that theory has since been disproven, but not without causing deep cultural losses amongst the children of immigrants. My parents' story is just two out of many thousands, but hat's how we lost our knowledge of our language.
1960's Canada was very Anglo centric, between the indigenous kidnapping schools, the crushing of French speakers, it doesn't surprise me that this was the advice/expectation.
Interesting. I attended school in Vancouver in the 1960s, but don't remember my parents getting that advice - probably because my parents didn't speak English very well. In the end, I learned both Cantonese (mostly spoken) and English so I don't feel that anything significant was lost. I even impressed by Australian cousins last month with my Cantonese fluency.
It's the same with Filipinos as well. Just the struggle of maintaining 2 languages fluently while growing up in the society that only needs English. Want to be fluent in English(since living in the US, but trying to find usages and reasons to still use native language). Being a Filipino American, I see it as all too common including in myself. I even see it in children that come from the Philippines, and eventually their Tagalog will diminish unless they are reasons to maintain it.
Completely agree! I live in Manila and I see the trend happening with the younger generation now! I feel like the government, politics and peoples mindset here has not given something for filipinos to be proud of. Speaking English here is seen as smart and superior even if the person is not intelligent. And we are pretty much guilty of the colonial mentality and preferring foreign things and other cultures over our own. Japan and Korea are seen as the cool Asians, and a lot prefer their soft power things like food, anime, cosplay, Kpop and Kdramas over our own. And with the rise of social media and online content being mostly in English, it’s gonna keep increasing.
Don't beat around the bush or lie. Some people straight up disgusted that you can speak an Asian language that isn't Japanese or now Korean. Some will be like "oh I can only understand but can't speak", like how? Self hate is prevalent and is the main core issue to a lot of Asian issues.
@Drownedinblood how can someone understand but not speak. Easy, for me it was bc it was all I spoke growing up as a kid b4 school age and then when starting school my parents wanted my English to be good so they only spoke English to me. So to this day I understand alot. Even more now that I married a filipina from the Philippines). However, when I try to speak it's like I am a little kid first learning how to talk, so it's too late for me now. It makes me and and wife conversation awkward so we just speak English. But she can speak tagalog to me and I will understand 90% of it and respond back in English.
@mikel9751 I've seen cases of bi-lingual speakers but it on the rare occasions. Good that you kept up the tagalog, I always find it nice to see bi-lingual US born/raised speakers since its so rare. Nice man!
As a 3rd generation ABC who does not speak Chinese, speaking Chinese was not a necessity for me to communicate so my parents preferred me to focus my time and energy on school instead (big surprise). When my Grandparents came over to the United States they made it a conscious effort to speak English in order to assimilate into United States culture so the deterioration of speaking Chinese just continued onto me and the rest of my 3rd generation cousins. Honestly if speaking Chinese is not a necessity for your situation then I agree that it does take a level organic desire to learn because part of learning a language is actually speaking it so if you don't actively need to speak it, then it's not going to stick.
I couldn't agree more! Also, it's important to remember that "home languages" (example: Palestinian Arabic, Mexican-slang in Spanish, Cantonese, Sicilian Italian etc) may not be standard similar to Black English in the USA. That doesn't necessarily mean that many don't speak those languages, so much as it means that few actual resources exist to properly teach those dialects so many 2nd/3rd generation kids have the problem of either not knowing standard forms of their ancestral languages to use in professional contexts, use a slang/ fusion version of their home language mixed with English (ex:Spanglish) that foreigners don't understand OR many learn the language from books and in classes, but struggle to actually communicate with friends and family in less formal contexts. Ironically, when I've tried to speak to folks in formal Arabic, they often are not very comfortable speaking it and just try to revert to English despite struggling to adequately teach their children a dialect. My theory is that most home dialects are obtained by living everyday life and cause older generations didn't learn them formally, they often cannot teach them well. This especially applies to technical or medical topics.
I’m Filipino, but I have some Chinese ancestry. I grew up in the 80’s and my family encouraged us to become Americanized. Plus, my dad was born here, so he was Americanized too. I believe my grandparents purposely only spoke English to me. That said, I have excellent English skills. I think I made up for it by studying Filipino and Asian history.
America found the smartest way to ban the use of any other language other than English (Use English or you're a traitor or spy to this country). No wonder the government thinks that Uyghurs are banned from using their language, which is total bollocks if anyone has traveled to that part of the world.
For the teens and kids watching this, it's really helpful to speak the language at home. Especially if you're in an Asian country like Vietnam or China that's rising up in the world it'll give you lots of opportunities when you grow up from a work perspective. Not only that it's cheaper to live there and you'll feel less racism that I understand may not be visible yet. It also makes travel and dating much easier. For the parents, don't stop speaking your native language for a month when your children are young and learning English in school. It'll be tempting to "help them learn faster" but it has almost no bearing. Kids learn languages at like 20x the speed of 25+ year olds with or without you speaking English at home to them. My brother stopped speaking Chinese after a month of English.
You don't gotta be in the country, just speak it at home, speak it among friends. Like you can gossip with it if you want. Asian people put too much status on speaking english.
Have you seen the high rises and subways throughout China? This is the country of the future. Many high tech industries are built there. If young people want a prosperous future then Asia is the place to be. Learning Chinese and other Asian languages will be beneficial.
I'm 4th gen New Zealand born Chinese,I'm a happa and I'm a skateboarder. My parents barely spoke Chinese to us and they don't speak the same dailects. But I can get by in Canto, Mando, Shanghainese and Toisan. It's all about your surroundings and interest you have about your culture.
6:05 This reminds me of the classic sitcom Family Matters. Where Urkle was speaking I believe Mandarin to one of Carls's friends who happens to be of Chinese descent. The character goes “huh” once he was done. Urkle asked “You don't speak the Emperor's tongue? The guy says “ I grew up in Omaha” 😂
A lot of it has to do with the perception of being "Chinese". Unlike Korea or Japan, which are allies of the United States, China and its people are constantly demonized by the media and very little of the positives get reported. In terms of the "dopamine" topic that you guys have mentioned, it's not that there is a lack of fun aspects of Chinese culture but rather it is not understood properly. Until recently, exposure to Chinese entertainment was mainly kungfu movies, which did have a massive impact in terms of people learning martial arts, some even travelling to China to go look at the Shaolin monastaries. Unlike Kpop or anime, which has gained global popularity and especially with Kpop even tailored more towards the western market, Chinese pop, shows, and movies aren't really marketed here nor do they try to make it so because the Chinese speaking world is already large enough as a market (this is similar in the sense with Bollywood and its target audience). The real issue as with most things stems from parenting. Many Chinese parents come to America and try to assimilate. This means that learning Chinese is not really the priority in their minds, and if anything lots of them believe that speaking Chinese at home interferes with their kids learning English, which is totally untrue. That, in combination with the poor image that China has in Western media means that it isn't very enticing to be associated as Chinese. Until recently with the rise of kpop and anime, being Asian in school means you are often the subject of bullying, racism, and ridicule, and being Chinese just adds another layer to it. So many kids wish to avoid that altogether and try to get as "white-washed" as they can. What I've noticed from myself and those around me who speak Chinese fluently despite growing up abroad is that there are some common factors who those who still retain their native language fluently. First, at home we never speak English and this has not affected any of our English abilities whatsoever. Second, growing up we have watched Chinese-language shows and media and grew up listening to songs besides Tong Hua, which cultivates interest in the language and the culture. This is quite important, as you can see the impact that Kpop has on people learning Korean, as with anime with Japanese as well. Lastly, its important to be proud of who you are. Do not be ashamed for your heritage or the beautiful culture that you came from. You can still be a normal functioning member of your current country without being ashamed of and erasing your heritage.
It's unfortunate how people are criticized or shamed for their ethnicity. We are all human beings at the end of the day, just because we're native to a different part of the world doesn't mean we are your enemy. I've considered killing myself for being Chinese but luckily I'm mentally strong enough to stop myself from doing so. I felt being Chinese was seen as a joke and everyone hates us. It felt like the entire world hates us for just existing.
I don’t live with my parents so my Cantonese went worse. But abc need to make a effort to learn Chinese and have Taiwanese/mainland friends to practice with. I’m almost up to hsk5 . 1200 words done. I can read up to 90 percent of Chinese. And my speaking level is above hsk4 according to mainlanders. I losed my canto mandarin accent and it switch to Taiwanese mandarin after a year. I go to massage places in the states and only speak In mandarin. It helps a lot. Some Chinese thinks I’m a real Chinese because I have a hk passport as a abc I self study Chinese mandarin everyday
A lot of their points are spot on! Would also say that many ABCs growing up were ashamed of speaking Chinese because of English assimilation, or they did not speak it that well and that perpetuated the cycle. I was fortunate enough to retain elementary Cantonese because I have to translate for my parents often. Also my school offered Mandarin and I studied it because I had China born cousins that introduced me to Jay Chou's music. My parents also made sure I was proud of my Chinese heritage too. But at the end of the day Chinese is still a hard language to learn and get better if you're not surrounded by it most of the time.
Question: why does nobody ever ask "why don't German/Swedish/Polish-Americans" (i.e. Americans of European descent) speak their ancestral tongue? Why is it expected that Asian-Americans will have some connection to their ancestral homeland? Is it because of the perpetual foreigner effect?
It’s asked. German was banned. Most Europeans and Chinese as I said experienced ww2 and cultural revolution and want nothing to do with Chinese culture. Your question should be why abc don’t speak Chinese . Answer because a counter culture is forming from coronavirus and realizing you are becoming German polish American. Losing your roots and losing your Chinatown and community to become simple American There is no such thing as German polish American, only American. Germans American who don’t speak German are just that Americans
I’m an ABC and fluent in Cantonese. My families primary language is Cantonese and barely spoke English. I still watch TVB drama to keep up my Cantonese. 😊
It's not their fault. It's their parents fault. My son was born one year before the pandemic and we were in lockdown for two years in Australia. We exclusively spoke Chinese to him and now he's Chinese is better than his English. We know this isn't a problem because he will inevitably be fluent in English, but he his Chinese will only deteriorate if he loses interest in it.
Not just Chinese. My neighbor is a Korean lady but when I started to speak to her in Korean, she told me that because she was adopted by an American family, she doesn't speak Korean. On the other hand, I converse with the co-owner of a Korean restaurant in Korean. My son has German, Russian, Spanish and Filipino blood but does not speak any of the languages of those nationalities. He has a tough time following my Tagalog expressions like "Bubuksan mo lang pahihirapan ka pa.". I spoke Spanish to my mother. I spoke Russian to my Russian and Armenian co-workers at a Russian law office in Beverly Hills. Learned Korean because I was traveling to Korea to watch musicals of Park Eun Tae. Spoke Japanese through immersion in more rural areas of Japan and through a language exchange partner. Son learned Hebrew but doesn't remember it anymore. My Mandarin teacher was Korean (Chinese was his university major). The thing I liked is that if I couldn't answer him in Mandarin, I could answer him in Korean 🤣🤣🤣. Another thing is that my son did not grow up in a Filipino, German, Spanish or Russian community. So he won't learn the languages because he wasn't immersed.
@@josephimperatrice5552 he definitely does not look Filipino. He had a Southeast Asian look when he was very young, but when he grew, he looked a little more Middle Eastern because his father, despite looking like Al Pacino, was always mistaken for Israeli by some Israelis. Not to mention my son has a very Jewish and Israeli name, that's why Israeli models gravitate towards him. Any Israeli who hears his name gets curious about him (even when he was a kid).
@mariatolentino4516 It doesn't take too many generations of race mixing to breed out the Filipino phenotype. Just look at Hailee Steinfeld and Rob Schneider for example.
I am a 3rd generation ABC. My Chinese is terrible. I went to American pre-school, Kindergarten, etc. And I watched American TV. I was not surrounded by the Chinese language. Mainly, my friends growing up spoke English.
Almost all of it stems from whether your parents are fluent in English or not because if Mandarin or Cantonese is the only language they speak, you pretty much are forced to learn it by necessity. Also, Chinese school on Saturdays is a big thing. You'll probably be much more adept if learning it is a routine part of your life. Picking up a new language is always easier during your childhood while your brain is still developing. It's much harder to grasp once you've become an adult.
i feel like many of my chinese american friends also do not speak chinese very well, but most of my korean american friends are HELLA fluent at korean. anyone else notice this?
Same here. I speak both korean and chinese. First off, imo Korean is significantly easier to learn. Ofc it’s still hard but two huge differences are the amount of eng loanwords and that it has one of the easiest alphabets in the world. Whereas Chinese has those 4 tones and every character is literally all memorization. Second what I can gather from my kor friends is that a lot of kor parents are very adamant of retaining their culture at home. I personally haven’t met a kor american who said their family wanted them to speak only eng in order to assimilate.
I noticed it too. I once travelled to Korea and one of the girls at my hostel was a Kor-Am. She was travelling with a white American friend. I heard her speak fluent Korean on the phone (with her mom) then switch to neutral US accent with her friend. I was amazed since most Fil-Am kids/ adults (who grew up in the US) usually don't speak the mother tongue fluently. Jeenie Weenie (a TH-camr) is Kor-Canadian and speaks fluent Korean & English too.
It’s also highly influenced by the time period in which your family immigrated to the US. The large majority of Chinese people who immigrated to the US pre-1965 were Cantonese/Toisan and because the racism was really really back back then, many of them did not encourage their kids to learn Canto/Toisan, fearing that it would hold their kids back from being considered “native born Americans.” I think this unfortunately quickened the decline of Canto and Toisan in the US bc so many Chinese Americans have Canto/Toisan roots, but so few speak those languages at this point.
I think for one, you have to enjoy your own culture. I remember as a kid, I loved watching Cantonese dramas and movies, which is the foundation for me being able to speak conversational Cantonese. Then it is exposure, to have someone to speak what you learn to. My parents doesn't speak a lick of English, so I make up for it by speaking Canto. But it was interest in continuing to learn Chinese and my culture that enable me to be able to read and write some Chinese. Because, let's get real, if you were forced to go to Chinese school as a kid, there is a higher probability you come out not remembering anything or quitting at some point because you felt forced to do something you didn't get a chance to explore and see if you will enjoy it.
Because it’s an incredibly difficult language to master, or speak at a truly high level of proficiency. I have studied Chinese for years now , and this still is the case as I’m in grad school now. Chinese especially has to be dedicated towards on a daily basis, with intention. ESPECIALLY for reading and writing. It’s terrible sitting there on Saturday school as a child, no one can pay attention in there and everyone is discouraged by the harsh instruction. Chinese, compared to any other language I’ve studied, needs very special attention. It’s not just a language, but a philosophy of thinking. So many words have near identical meanings, but very slight nuanced differences etc. but of course , it is very possible to be great at Chinese with the right level of dedicated effort over an extended period of time
in *Indonesia* we have the same thing here *Indonesian Chinese* cannot speak Chinese. we called (Tionghoa) but their nationality towards Indonesia is so proud to be fully Indonesian sometimes they speak regional languages in Indonesia such as *(Javanese, Minangkabau, Manado, Sundanese, etc)* besides our united language *(Bahasa Indonesia)* different from *malaysian Chinese* they live in *malaysia* and are malassyan citizens but most of them cannot speak Malay the official national language in that country. thats so funny When they claim proud to be malaysian but cannot speak Malay. yap we know that malassian is a country that still uses an integration system based on ethnicity and an Apharteid system of government..
Great video topic this was. Being an ABC from the South Central US born in the early 60s, I'm stronger at Toisan hua and Canto. Took up some Mandarin around 07' but still don't speak it that well. I feel it's just basic with a few profound vocabulary words sprinkled in, but Itry to watch as many Mandarin videos as I can to keep up the comprehension. It's still a challenge though.
No one i knew grewing up spoke chinese well for the exact same reasons. They all forced themselves to learn by watching chinese dramas and then speaking with all their friends in chinese. Not what you call ideal, but it helped. I'm sure anyone looking from the outside in is wondering, don't the parents speak chinese to their children?! They do! Some of them. But the vast majority have no time to waste having any kind of conversation with them unless you count yelling. You can't learn a languange without daily conversations in that languange. The fact that their children eventually are unable to speak to them in complete sentences doesn't even seem to bother the chinese parents at all, that is until they need you to translate a government or medical letter back to them in advanced chinese and then they become dumbfounded why you can't, because you "studied english". It never dawns on them that you need to know chinese in order to translate the other half.
I have seen many recent (between a decade) immigrant parents from Mainland China who try to speak only in English to their children. It could be for competitive reasons in society or school, or their parents just wanted to show their friends in the Mainland how English fluent their children are.
i came to the states at 11 and only speak shanghainese at home, my mandarin deteriorated and i was pretty embarrassed to speak it at times at restaurants, stores, etc. working at a hospital w mostly chiinese patients improved my mandarin so much. nobody is gonna judge you real hard on your broken chinese when you're trying to meet their needs. several docs there are abcs and i help out a lot with translation even though sometimes my mandarin is just a little better than theirs. i have a coworker whos originally from tianjin and one day i overheard her conversing in cantonese to patients and im so jealous! apparently she watched a lot of tvb when she first came to the states lol. very very useful
In the Hispanic side 2nd generation who dont speak spanish is usually because their parents feel its useless since they're in America which is sad. I feel its good to know more than 1 language (seen people speak 4+) & even though i speak 2 i wish i had learned at least one more. Ive seen in youtube that some Chinese in spanish speaking countries they dont speak their mother tongue so looks like it depends on how you grow up by family or community members. Its worse when you're made fun of when you have accent or your language is made to look of little importance. Feel good to learn a new language 😄
i'm second generation chinese in NYC who actually picked up how to speak cantonese from hanging out with canto kids in public school. i will say though there are a lot who like to pretend that their chinese isn't good to be more "american". i also have a lot of canto friends who clearly understand mando, but pretend that they don't speak a lick of it at all. ABCs are a weird breed no cap.
Childhood and teenhood is an awkward time. No one wants to be ostracized or teased. Then when you come of age you decide whether or not your “roots” are important to you. Me for instance: I’m Vietnamese but I’m not attached to my asianess and I had time to mull thingsover
I'm Chinese Malaysian, I can speak Chinese but I just hate it. grew up in a heavy chinese influenced environment and is well aware of all the traditions, cultures and also pop cultures. I've always feel like the nature of the language is just not as polished and fluent compared to english, especially artistically. I think the high level of complication that comes with communicating in it makes it very clunky. Not sure if that's facts or I'm just making up excuses to hate on the language because the Malaysian education system is shit and I ended up hating it so much lol.
The first reason is that Chinese is not the "official" second language like Spanish is in the USA. A lot of non Latino Americans speak some Spanish. Eg Ben Affleck speaks fluent Spanish because he probably took Spanish class in High School. There is no Chinese class in High school. Secondly, especially in 90s and earlier, for those Chinese Asians that emigrated to USA, their no 1 priority was to assimilate and it wasn't viewed in these households that the priority was speaking their own tongue. Very often, the parents will just speak English to their children (and in their dialect between parents for private talks) or speak Mandarin or whatever and let the kids speak back in English. Props go out to the some exceptions - of which the Taiwanese take the mantle. Lately, China-born professionals practice the same to their kids. That is, they were more likely to "enforce" Chinese after school lessons and also require the kids to speak only Mandarin or whatever when the kids speak to their parents and grandparents. They also take the effort to send their kids back to Taiwan/China for summer school etc. Thirdly, geographic location also matters. A Chinese family living in middle of Iowa vs living the the Bay Area, California are going to have very different experiences mingling with other Chinese or Asians growing up. Lastly, yes, Chinese or Asian languages were not viewed as "cool". Knowing Spanish was associated with at least being able to "hang out with the hombres" but knowing Chinese wasn't even viewed to that level of "cultural assimilation". Times have changed however. The Chinese culture has risen in status in USA and more and more American born Chinese are learning Chinese from young. The same for all Asians.
Before I was born, my family was already very Westernized. My parents' generation didn't keep their Chinese tradition, they didn't watch Chinese movies or listen to Chinese music. I grew up totally assimilated into the American culture. Everyone in my family spoke English to me even my grandparents spoke English. So unfortunately I never learn how to speak Mandarin, Cantonese and Shanghainese. My family became very international and mix of different races.
My grandparents didn't teach my dad chinese because they weren't as accepted in the 50s and they didn't want my dad and his siblings to be different in any way from the other kids at school
Kmt taiwanese Are like me. Not self hating. Also loves being Chinese and Asian. When I went to Taiwan I bonded with them. Also they encourage me to learn Chinese. Because of them I pick up mandarin.
Interesting that they mentioned successful Chinese restaurant kids. Authentic Korean Chinese restaurant owners (Chinese who grew up in Korea) speak Korean fluently but, they write down orders in Chinese character and can speak mandarin fluently despite growing up in Korea. i.e. Korea's famous Korean Chinese chef Lee YeonBok.
It's true, upper middle class families seem to have better Cantonese probably because we travel back every few years and/or have businesses that requires the use of both languages. I'm taking over my dad's tax firm with majority Cantonese clients. I also married a Cantonese immigrant that came 5 years ago lol
@@vanavana593 yeah she goes back every year. If you live in China or force to use mandarin it will improve. I go every year. She can write and read by studying. Speaking is easy
@@vanavana593 I go to the massage places they only speak to me in mandarin and my mandarin improves. Also she is a teen that still lives with family at the time and speaks better bc she is with parents
I'm a Millennial ABC that is the 2nd generation to be born in the US and my family speaks Toisan/Taishanese which is not a common dialect and thus I didn't get the practice that perhaps a Mandarin speaker in 2023 would get in a Chinese community. The other thing is that it depends on where I grew one grows up. I grew up in a very diverse, melting pot neighborhood which happened to have very few Chinese speakers in general (I heard a lot more Spanish than anything) as I grew up in the city of LA rather than the suburbs of SGV. My dad's side grew up through the 50s, 60s and 70s when "being American" (English, GO USA) was really the norm; the US, even in California, still took decades to embrace multiculturalism. I can relate to the show "Fresh off the Boat" where the family embraced a lot of "Americanism"s even through the 90s. It's not for lack of want, but the practicality of it all. Being able to speak mandarin is a competitive advantage, whereas knowing English has been the "lingua franca" or dare I say "lingua americana" for the decades.
Because Chinese is a hard language with many complex characters and the use of tones. Unlike Spanish which comes from the same root as English. Plus it’s not taught in a lot of schools, unlike Spanish which is taught everywhere starting in elementary school.
Honestly I don’t think you need to master Chinese when you’re already grown,bc it’s parents’ job to teach kids Chinese at an early age.I don’t think there’s a necessity to learn Chinese other than communicating better with immigrant parents who aren’t good at English.
Parents and grandparents tried to teach "chinese mandarin" to me via private school but failed because I was a cry baby and they just gave up. The main school does not teach Chinese. Fastforward to today, my niece told me that I am not Chinese because I cannot speak mandarin, while she now learning Chinese mandarin at school and her teacher is from mainland China. This is Indonesia today. Back then, the Chinese learning mandarin is usually kind of in secret.
Give 2 years living in Chinese environment, you can learn it man, it's just a matter of communication and efforts. Maybe AI wives teaching me Chinese, I can learn Chinese.
Other then speaking to my mom (who also knows English) I'd never need to use it. It's nice to know but most of us living in the US never need to use it unless we're speaking to older Asian people. I feel weird even talking to my cousins in Cantonese, its like a joke when we speak it just to be funny with the Chinese accent
Interesting, this seems to be an American thing.. in Europe or Central Asia most kids go to something like a “weekend school” or “after school” to study their mother tongue, literature etc. You also get a diploma from those schools
13:24 Same for me. I used to soak up any and everything Chinese when I first started learning but I hit a plateau after 2 years. I lost the passion for it. 😢 Now,I can only watch things that interest me in order to soak it up. 😢
It all depends on your parents how deep they speak their mother language at home. If one parent doesn't speak it, it makes it difficult for the children to learn. Taiwanese able to keep their children to speak Mandarin is because they speak nothing but Mandarin at home, and the reality is that Taiwanese are the most traditionally/culturally Chinese among ALL ethnic Chinese
it is interesting to compare western born Chinese to western born Indians, who in my experience are much more in touch with their home cultures and languages. e.g. I have recently been to a number of weddings where one person was 2nd gen Indian and the other was white, yet the weddings were very indian, with the songs, the food the clothing etc. Maybe having that strong cultural bond with the home country leads to keeping the languages
I have two Taiwanese (young) nieces and we all live together right now, the whole family. Of course their mom speaks some Chinese to them (my brother and my family is white) so they can understand a little, but I rarely hear them speak it back to her so far. It seems so far they mostly they get the Chinese if mom is angry or chastising them 😂😂 I shouldn't be laughing lol. Let me tell you though....their English is insane now, it impresses me so much for their age. I'm sure that's due to living with a bunch of English speaking adults now and just hearing it nonstop. I hope one they they can learn Chinese though. Alot of asian people recommended to my sister-in-law not to force it on them too hard because their kids rejected using it or didn't want to speak it. Her philosophy too is that because their going to be living here, she'd rather them focus on English first. I imagine since were a mixed family that factored into it too. Will let you know in 10 years if they know any Chinese!
Languages are best to learn when kids are young. To certain extent, you have to force it on the kids because they are. it interested in anything other than playing. I would like my kids to have good foundation of chinese and they can choose to perfect it later in their life. It is a lot harder to learn it when they grow up. Being able to speak chinese is also very beneficial business wise, some people are just too blind to see it.
I’m from Taiwan and my daughter was born in here New York she speaks perfect mandarin because my Wife doesn’t speak much of English so forcibly she has to learn mandarin to communicate with my wife😂😂😂😂😂😂
Really?? I know mother and children where the mother hardly speaks English and the kids don't speak Chinese at all, and yet, they are mother and children. I don't know how they communicate at all. And oh yeah, the kids have all grown up.
I never learnt Cantonese but I do understand it and I cant speak one word of Mandarin. However when I go back to HK i find it all coming out of me- like I find myself saying stuff that I didnt even know I could say. Being able to speak cantonese or Mandarin makes zero difference to my life in London but I do massively regret it. My wife is english and we are both keen on my little boy learning some Mandarin just in case china invades and takes over.
In my household, mandating Canto only wasn't needed cuz we're so used to speaking Canto as the default. Also my English sucked when I moved to Canada so no point in speaking at home a language that I sucked at lol. However, I do know there are households that actually mandate Canto when at home so they don't their Canto skills. Ironically, the family i know that did that (great family friends btw), their kids are so white washed and aren't too fluent in Canto. Dunno what happened lol. Aside from that, I've heard of instances where some parents who want assimilate so bad that they actually feel proud telling people "don't speak to my son/daughter Chinese, they don't understand." LOL The only problem I have now is reading and writing fluently. Thank God for TV shows/movies with English subs.
I'm 2nd generation ABC, spoke toy sun with family, relatives from Hong Kong came over in 60's spoke Cantonese and Toy Son. My parents generation are no longer with us, we lose the language , now we mostly speak English
I think the main reason why Chinese Americans dont speak Chinese languages, it's because the Chinese language are very hard to learn. Speaking as non. Asian person.
There's couple things I know why. 1) Parents want their kids in the US to learn English, so they abandoned their original mother language. 2) The next generation take their language as an hassle. "Why learn this? This is America." "It's so hard, just speak English is enough." Personal experience, learning Cantonese (beside at home) can be hard at times such as calligraphy writing and stroke orders, and memorize orally and written (for test). 3) No mother language school is open within their neighborhood.
My father is half Hakka and half Cantonese. My mother is half Japanese and half Hawaiian. There is 100% chance that we kids would grow up speaking only English.
I think Indians in Canada are very well-versed in their mother tongues. They can speak Punjabi or Hindi well at home and communicate in English, with a Canadian accent.
Even here in Singapore where there is a Chinese majority, the standard of spoken Mandarin/dialects has been on the decline for decades. I wold definitely put it on English having greater soft power.
With Spanish, it good to start with speaking only Spanish at home cause in America it’s a guarantee you will learn English. At least that’s how it is for me
This also reminds me of when I was in school. I took Spanish classes as a Black ADOS kid and it confused me to see so many Latinos there who couldn't read or write Spanish. I thinking wait? This should be natural to you 😂
Im Taiwanese and came to US - LA/OC since i was age 2. I purposely speak mandarin as much as I can with perfect grammar. I practice daily on purpose with peers and family unless I have no choice talking to a white dude gal. why? Cause im a f* proud MIT. period.
... So many factors determine what may contribute to why communities choose to embrace or neglect norms, traditions, values and practises... possibly a combination of "cultural values" and "leadership". Values - In western countries, individuals can outright reject their neighbours completely and hardly meet as a community unless there is a common issue... contrary to eastern communities where collective belonging is really really clear cut. For example, raising someone else's kids is way more frequent phenomenon in the west. But then again, there's also endorsed films like Sharnaydo and Megaloadon released, like how? Leadership - if there's anything the world has learned from the last decade is that media amplifies a state outlook or is censored by the state.. Its far easier nowadays to track individuals too, and therefore picketting does far more damage thesedays to a community.... Both values and leadership influence communal choices. Something of key importance though, is that Eastern communities exemplify how to overcome challenges RAPIDLY, which is something western communities are currently in denail of facing or are struggling with... The rate of development in the east is something to critically consider here.
These video discussion topics are cool n all. But you guys need to hire a more dynamic editor. To spice up the videos. Transitions, b rolls, sound effects , camera angles
depends if they grew up in a city and felt accepted. i grew up in chinatown so we all spoke chinese cantonese. however i notice urban chinese dont want to associate and are maybe ashamed. and dissassociate w that part of their culture and heritage .
Im american of mexican decent 3rd generation and i speak almost fluent Spanish and i also practice reading in Spanish . I also have a older a brother and he is opposite of me he doesnt speak Spanish nor care for it .
For me, where I live, there's not that many Chinese or Asians for that matter. Plus my cousins don't speak Chinese either so we just speak English to each other.
The loss of one language following immigration to a country with another language applies to most countries and languages. So, it's not clear what the point of this video is for narrowing the focus solely to Chinese. My best friend's wife is from Taiwan. She came over with her parents when she was a teen. She in turn taught her two daughters to speak Mandarin. The 'children' are now in their 40s and still speak Mandarin with the surviving grandparent, who has limited English comprehension. Her father was a general in Chiang Kai-shek's army. I attended his funeral services, which were held on what would have been his 102nd birthday. The children also speak Mandarin with some friends and at (real) Chinese restaurants, so as to better tailor the order to their liking. My guess is there's also likely to be some camaraderie established with the restaurant staff by doing so. Barring those from a foreign country who elect to join a community center founded to maintain cultural, ethnic and/or religious ties, a lot of the value associated with maintaining fluency will be lost. With the U.S. being the world's most ethnically, racially, religiously and culturally diverse nation, such cultural centers are a necessity if one strives to maintain some continuity with the past. When I said the loss of a language in exchange for another applies to 'most' countries, I had Europe in mind. Within a relatively small geographic area, on a common land mass, with no ocean or sea boundary to separate them, at least 24 languages are spoken...(English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Portuguese, Greek, Hungarian, Czech, etc). So, one pretty much MUST speak multiple languages just to get around. I've met Europeans who fluently spoke 7 languages. I admire them for that skill. It's a skill we 'Americans' sorely lack. That ability will better enable them to learn yet another language as an adult, such as learning Mandarin in order to conduct business in China. It should also be easier for Europeans to learn several languages because they all share similar linguistic etymology. That is certainly not the case when comparing Chinese or Japanese with any European language.
Many European languages are closely related to one or other..almost every Italian could pick up Spanish in months of practrcing. French are a bit further but still the same group. Germans could speak English easily when most of the sentences sounds almost the same with an accent. Then you have Dutch, Flemish that isn't too far. It's really not that impressive.. it's like if you could speak 2-3 dialects of Chinese. Now if you try that between Chinese and English, there is absolutely nothing related. Btw, if one has a father that is a general in the KMT, she is considered upper educated class, the amount of bibliography, books, theories, education and principals taught at home is not something an outsider couldn't imagine. There is just no way she couldn't teach her own children the mother tongue language. You'll be surprised how well the children of any KMT generals are doing in life.. most of the KMT party politicians have those background..
@@mmfong297 The father 'WAS', (not 'IS') a general of the KMT. He moved to the U.S. in the early 70's, I think he was retired at the time. He and his wife did well here despite never learning all but a few English words .All of his sons as well as his daughter (my friend's wife) can speak Mandarin and learned English, starting in their teens and twenties. They've all done well in a range of disciplines. In turn, their children (now the 4th generation that I know) all speak English as their native language with (as best I can tell) pretty limited education of Mandarin.
The most interesting thing is how some people with the same upbringing, same neighborhood, and same access to Chinese education can have much different outcomes. For example, I can speak Cantonese relatively fluently, but my little sister does not. We grew up in a totally non-Chinese area, and went to low ranking public schools in our early years, but for HS, she went to an all Chinese immersion school, while I went to a Catholic HS (with barely any Chinese people whatseover). However, as adults, my Chinese is still much better than hers. Also, an interest in media also helps immensely. I still watch a ton of HKTVB, HK movies, listen to C-pop, etc., while my sister has never shown much interest in that. I also eat a lot more Chinese food (hence ordering in Chinese) than she does, and have many HK friends, while her friends tend to be ABCs and non-Chinese.
Even tho i speak indo, english, german, mandarin, japanese and hokkien, I still dont speak canto which is my ancestral language because my hometown is hokkien speaking * sigh
it also depends on how many generations your family has been here. i have many chinese american friends in california who can't speak chinese at all and neither can their parents. most of them are 3rd and even 4th generation chinese american .they never saw a need for it. this isn't unusual because it's the same with a lot other ethnicities in the u.s. that have been here for generations. eventually you'll just melt into the country's culture. that's why they call the U.S. a melting pot.
I’m Indian born American and I don’t speak Telugu my parents didn’t teach it to me due to my ADHD and Dyscalculia but I wish I learned it I am interested in learning Mandarin and Hindi tho
Again we (siblings and me) were raised in northeastern Minnesota the Range. The only other chinese were cousins. In addition dad was in the Army and fought for this country so definitely English was promoted. TBH never had any affinity to China😊
Imagine how folks born in America only speaking and understand one language and feel they aren't in the country they know anymore and can't become Bilingual?
It’s not a big deal to not be fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese or Taiwanese. If you live in the United States, I suggest improving your English writing and communication skills. It will benefit you in the job market.
I am in engineering in one of the most successful firms in the US. we hire PLENTY internationally and I would say more than half of them are from China that do not speak native level English.
My filipino mom didnt really try speakin tagalog to me, idky. now im mad cuz you know how asian ppl are. if you dont speak it they gon start talkin shit about you in that language lmaooo since you cant understand. smh
Many aspects of this is very true. As a Hmong/Miaozu born and raised in the United States I’ve had other hmong friends/family, Cantonese, ABC Chinese, and Guangzhou Chinese and they don’t speak it fluently.
Its really not using one language over the other. I speak barely any Cantonese due to not using it at all. English became a go to as you use it constantly. I understand most of what is being said just not fully all of it. Yet i was born in china yet know nothing of language, i just never learned it. The Ghost and Molly mcgee went this route during the second season as Molly is Half Thai but doesn't understand any Thai language. its not anyone's fault just it comes up on occasion, some kids don't feel their other cultural half because they might have studied a little language but don't use it much. I really don't feel Chinese as i don't speak Cantonese, I don't read Chinese, i can't read chinese, and i'm not really connected to any chinese events in my area. I feel more american with some chinese in there you know.
That notion from previous generations that they want their children only speaking English in order to not get discriminated against is so weird. They believed that by speaking Chinese, somehow it would diminish their English skills, as if the human brain only has a limited storage space for each language. In reality, most of us are capable of speaking multiple languages to varying degrees.
Racist White Donald Trump Voters are going to discriminate against Asians just for having an Asian phenotype even if they only speak English. With Racist White Donald Trump Voters it's about the phenotype not the language, it's about what's on the outside not the language.
True af! It’s even a norm in Europe for example to learn 3 languages on top of the native language 🥲. And while indeed some don’t keep up with those languages, cause you learn them at like 13, at least with your parents native language you are able to learn it as a toddler so it’s obviously easier.
Parents make the active choice to throw away the language and basically their resolution that they and their children will stay and make it in USA.
Previous generations weren't as educated and didn't think scientifically enough, if they thought that learning a 2nd language would interfere with their English. Those that thought this did their children a disservice.
@@josephimperatrice5552Donald Trump is not racist, Dude.
Being born and growing up in SF, it was easy for me to maintain my Cantonese. Would always use it at home with my parents and whenever I saw relatives which was pretty frequent. Would often go to Cantonese speaking restaurants with my family as well. The density of SF and abundance of Cantonese speakers allowed me to learn and maintain it well. Also, used to watch a lot of Hong Kong shows and movies with my parents. I had a student exchange from Hong Kong last year in college who was surprised by how well my Cantonese was lol. Definitely depends on amount of exposure and continued use. Some could learn it but lose it too. My brother who grew up with the same experiences but has moved out for years is also slowly losing his Cantonese.
Cantonese is disgusting like Vietnamese both sound too Chinky. Korean and Japanese sound way better. Of course mandarin sounds the best. Along with other Northern dialects that sound similar to Mongolian, Korean, and Japanese. Southern Chinese are fit the dirty Chinese stereotype.
Same here, I even have a Cantonese wife who came here 5 years ago at age 25. I dated exclusively Fobs since HS lol. I can read and write pretty good too.
I think it's a combination of many things including assimilation into a diaspora and even when trying to learn and speak it we're made fun of, criticized, or looked down upon by those who are fluent in Chinese. When that happens, some of us may give up when we shouldn't.
Actually, I have heard similar from New Englanders descended from French Canadians, mostly Quebecois but some Acadians, whose parents or grandparents were discouraged and even got hate when speaking French.
Awww😢
I’m Cambodian Chinese and personally love learning Mandarin. Both of my parents had grandparents that are full Chinese but me and only a few of my family members can speak mandarin.
I got the great opportunity to study it in high school and college and still practice a little bit
Being able to show I can speak and read a good amount makes me feel more connected and the reactions are usually very positive
I’d date anyone of any ethnicity but if my partner was also Chinese or part mixed I think it be great if we kept the culture and language going
My parents attended school in Canada in the 1960's. Teachers literally told my grandparents from both sides of the family to not speak Chinese with my parents because it would allegedly interfere with the process of learning English. I don't think it was a coincidence that my two sets of grandparents received the same advice from different teachers. I think there was a time when it was commonly accepted that learning a second language caused confusion in children. Obviously that theory has since been disproven, but not without causing deep cultural losses amongst the children of immigrants. My parents' story is just two out of many thousands, but hat's how we lost our knowledge of our language.
1960's Canada was very Anglo centric, between the indigenous kidnapping schools, the crushing of French speakers, it doesn't surprise me that this was the advice/expectation.
Back then a lot of people were racist. Still are actually
Interesting. I attended school in Vancouver in the 1960s, but don't remember my parents getting that advice - probably because my parents didn't speak English very well. In the end, I learned both Cantonese (mostly spoken) and English so I don't feel that anything significant was lost. I even impressed by Australian cousins last month with my Cantonese fluency.
It's the same with Filipinos as well. Just the struggle of maintaining 2 languages fluently while growing up in the society that only needs English. Want to be fluent in English(since living in the US, but trying to find usages and reasons to still use native language). Being a Filipino American, I see it as all too common including in myself. I even see it in children that come from the Philippines, and eventually their Tagalog will diminish unless they are reasons to maintain it.
Completely agree! I live in Manila and I see the trend happening with the younger generation now! I feel like the government, politics and peoples mindset here has not given something for filipinos to be proud of. Speaking English here is seen as smart and superior even if the person is not intelligent. And we are pretty much guilty of the colonial mentality and preferring foreign things and other cultures over our own. Japan and Korea are seen as the cool Asians, and a lot prefer their soft power things like food, anime, cosplay, Kpop and Kdramas over our own. And with the rise of social media and online content being mostly in English, it’s gonna keep increasing.
Don't beat around the bush or lie. Some people straight up disgusted that you can speak an Asian language that isn't Japanese or now Korean. Some will be like "oh I can only understand but can't speak", like how? Self hate is prevalent and is the main core issue to a lot of Asian issues.
@Drownedinblood how can someone understand but not speak. Easy, for me it was bc it was all I spoke growing up as a kid b4 school age and then when starting school my parents wanted my English to be good so they only spoke English to me. So to this day I understand alot. Even more now that I married a filipina from the Philippines).
However, when I try to speak it's like I am a little kid first learning how to talk, so it's too late for me now. It makes me and and wife conversation awkward so we just speak English. But she can speak tagalog to me and I will understand 90% of it and respond back in English.
I’m fluent in both bc I speak Tagalog at home and English to my friends and coworkers
@mikel9751 I've seen cases of bi-lingual speakers but it on the rare occasions. Good that you kept up the tagalog, I always find it nice to see bi-lingual US born/raised speakers since its so rare. Nice man!
As a 3rd generation ABC who does not speak Chinese, speaking Chinese was not a necessity for me to communicate so my parents preferred me to focus my time and energy on school instead (big surprise). When my Grandparents came over to the United States they made it a conscious effort to speak English in order to assimilate into United States culture so the deterioration of speaking Chinese just continued onto me and the rest of my 3rd generation cousins. Honestly if speaking Chinese is not a necessity for your situation then I agree that it does take a level organic desire to learn because part of learning a language is actually speaking it so if you don't actively need to speak it, then it's not going to stick.
I couldn't agree more! Also, it's important to remember that "home languages" (example: Palestinian Arabic, Mexican-slang in Spanish, Cantonese, Sicilian Italian etc) may not be standard similar to Black English in the USA. That doesn't necessarily mean that many don't speak those languages, so much as it means that few actual resources exist to properly teach those dialects so many 2nd/3rd generation kids have the problem of either not knowing standard forms of their ancestral languages to use in professional contexts, use a slang/ fusion version of their home language mixed with English (ex:Spanglish) that foreigners don't understand OR many learn the language from books and in classes, but struggle to actually communicate with friends and family in less formal contexts. Ironically, when I've tried to speak to folks in formal Arabic, they often are not very comfortable speaking it and just try to revert to English despite struggling to adequately teach their children a dialect.
My theory is that most home dialects are obtained by living everyday life and cause older generations didn't learn them formally, they often cannot teach them well. This especially applies to technical or medical topics.
Well the issue isn't about learning it or not. But inevitably with every following generation in America. The mother language will be lost.
@@RollerBladingSuxswho cares? English is the only language that matters
Just admit selfhate
I’m Filipino, but I have some Chinese ancestry. I grew up in the 80’s and my family encouraged us to become Americanized. Plus, my dad was born here, so he was Americanized too. I believe my grandparents purposely only spoke English to me. That said, I have excellent English skills. I think I made up for it by studying Filipino and Asian history.
America found the smartest way to ban the use of any other language other than English (Use English or you're a traitor or spy to this country). No wonder the government thinks that Uyghurs are banned from using their language, which is total bollocks if anyone has traveled to that part of the world.
For the teens and kids watching this, it's really helpful to speak the language at home. Especially if you're in an Asian country like Vietnam or China that's rising up in the world it'll give you lots of opportunities when you grow up from a work perspective. Not only that it's cheaper to live there and you'll feel less racism that I understand may not be visible yet. It also makes travel and dating much easier.
For the parents, don't stop speaking your native language for a month when your children are young and learning English in school. It'll be tempting to "help them learn faster" but it has almost no bearing. Kids learn languages at like 20x the speed of 25+ year olds with or without you speaking English at home to them. My brother stopped speaking Chinese after a month of English.
You don't gotta be in the country, just speak it at home, speak it among friends. Like you can gossip with it if you want. Asian people put too much status on speaking english.
Have you seen the high rises and subways throughout China? This is the country of the future. Many high tech industries are built there. If young people want a prosperous future then Asia is the place to be. Learning Chinese and other Asian languages will be beneficial.
I'm 4th gen New Zealand born Chinese,I'm a happa and I'm a skateboarder. My parents barely spoke Chinese to us and they don't speak the same dailects. But I can get by in Canto, Mando, Shanghainese and Toisan. It's all about your surroundings and interest you have about your culture.
6:05 This reminds me of the classic sitcom Family Matters. Where Urkle was speaking I believe Mandarin to one of Carls's friends who happens to be of Chinese descent. The character goes “huh” once he was done. Urkle asked “You don't speak the Emperor's tongue? The guy says “ I grew up in Omaha” 😂
If you live in a place where very few people speak the language it's tough to learn it.
A lot of it has to do with the perception of being "Chinese". Unlike Korea or Japan, which are allies of the United States, China and its people are constantly demonized by the media and very little of the positives get reported. In terms of the "dopamine" topic that you guys have mentioned, it's not that there is a lack of fun aspects of Chinese culture but rather it is not understood properly.
Until recently, exposure to Chinese entertainment was mainly kungfu movies, which did have a massive impact in terms of people learning martial arts, some even travelling to China to go look at the Shaolin monastaries. Unlike Kpop or anime, which has gained global popularity and especially with Kpop even tailored more towards the western market, Chinese pop, shows, and movies aren't really marketed here nor do they try to make it so because the Chinese speaking world is already large enough as a market (this is similar in the sense with Bollywood and its target audience).
The real issue as with most things stems from parenting. Many Chinese parents come to America and try to assimilate. This means that learning Chinese is not really the priority in their minds, and if anything lots of them believe that speaking Chinese at home interferes with their kids learning English, which is totally untrue. That, in combination with the poor image that China has in Western media means that it isn't very enticing to be associated as Chinese. Until recently with the rise of kpop and anime, being Asian in school means you are often the subject of bullying, racism, and ridicule, and being Chinese just adds another layer to it. So many kids wish to avoid that altogether and try to get as "white-washed" as they can.
What I've noticed from myself and those around me who speak Chinese fluently despite growing up abroad is that there are some common factors who those who still retain their native language fluently. First, at home we never speak English and this has not affected any of our English abilities whatsoever. Second, growing up we have watched Chinese-language shows and media and grew up listening to songs besides Tong Hua, which cultivates interest in the language and the culture. This is quite important, as you can see the impact that Kpop has on people learning Korean, as with anime with Japanese as well. Lastly, its important to be proud of who you are. Do not be ashamed for your heritage or the beautiful culture that you came from. You can still be a normal functioning member of your current country without being ashamed of and erasing your heritage.
It's unfortunate how people are criticized or shamed for their ethnicity. We are all human beings at the end of the day, just because we're native to a different part of the world doesn't mean we are your enemy. I've considered killing myself for being Chinese but luckily I'm mentally strong enough to stop myself from doing so. I felt being Chinese was seen as a joke and everyone hates us. It felt like the entire world hates us for just existing.
It’s same in many countries
I don’t live with my parents so my Cantonese went worse. But abc need to make a effort to learn Chinese and have Taiwanese/mainland friends to practice with. I’m almost up to hsk5 . 1200 words done. I can read up to 90 percent of Chinese. And my speaking level is above hsk4 according to mainlanders. I losed my canto mandarin accent and it switch to Taiwanese mandarin after a year. I go to massage places in the states and only speak In mandarin. It helps a lot. Some Chinese thinks I’m a real Chinese because I have a hk passport as a abc
I self study Chinese mandarin everyday
A lot of their points are spot on! Would also say that many ABCs growing up were ashamed of speaking Chinese because of English assimilation, or they did not speak it that well and that perpetuated the cycle. I was fortunate enough to retain elementary Cantonese because I have to translate for my parents often. Also my school offered Mandarin and I studied it because I had China born cousins that introduced me to Jay Chou's music. My parents also made sure I was proud of my Chinese heritage too. But at the end of the day Chinese is still a hard language to learn and get better if you're not surrounded by it most of the time.
Question: why does nobody ever ask "why don't German/Swedish/Polish-Americans" (i.e. Americans of European descent) speak their ancestral tongue?
Why is it expected that Asian-Americans will have some connection to their ancestral homeland? Is it because of the perpetual foreigner effect?
It’s asked. German was banned. Most Europeans and Chinese as I said experienced ww2 and cultural revolution and want nothing to do with Chinese culture. Your question should be why abc don’t speak Chinese . Answer because a counter culture is forming from coronavirus and realizing you are becoming German polish American. Losing your roots and losing your Chinatown and community to become simple American
There is no such thing as German polish American, only American. Germans American who don’t speak German are just that Americans
I’m an ABC and fluent in Cantonese. My families primary language is Cantonese and barely spoke English. I still watch TVB drama to keep up my Cantonese. 😊
Also listen to Chinese or Hong Kong radio , much differnt Cantonese speaking methods, also can learn the everyuse and speed of speech.
Same, married a Cantonese immigrant too lol
It's not their fault. It's their parents fault. My son was born one year before the pandemic and we were in lockdown for two years in Australia. We exclusively spoke Chinese to him and now he's Chinese is better than his English. We know this isn't a problem because he will inevitably be fluent in English, but he his Chinese will only deteriorate if he loses interest in it.
yup, speak to your kids at home in Chinese or any other languages you know, outside he'll speak more than enough english.
Not just Chinese. My neighbor is a Korean lady but when I started to speak to her in Korean, she told me that because she was adopted by an American family, she doesn't speak Korean. On the other hand, I converse with the co-owner of a Korean restaurant in Korean. My son has German, Russian, Spanish and Filipino blood but does not speak any of the languages of those nationalities. He has a tough time following my Tagalog expressions like "Bubuksan mo lang pahihirapan ka pa.". I spoke Spanish to my mother. I spoke Russian to my Russian and Armenian co-workers at a Russian law office in Beverly Hills. Learned Korean because I was traveling to Korea to watch musicals of Park Eun Tae. Spoke Japanese through immersion in more rural areas of Japan and through a language exchange partner. Son learned Hebrew but doesn't remember it anymore. My Mandarin teacher was Korean (Chinese was his university major). The thing I liked is that if I couldn't answer him in Mandarin, I could answer him in Korean
🤣🤣🤣. Another thing is that my son did not grow up in a Filipino, German, Spanish or Russian community. So he won't learn the languages because he wasn't immersed.
Does your son look more Caucasoid or more Filipino?
@@josephimperatrice5552 he definitely does not look Filipino. He had a Southeast Asian look when he was very young, but when he grew, he looked a little more Middle Eastern because his father, despite looking like Al Pacino, was always mistaken for Israeli by some Israelis. Not to mention my son has a very Jewish and Israeli name, that's why Israeli models gravitate towards him. Any Israeli who hears his name gets curious about him (even when he was a kid).
@mariatolentino4516
It doesn't take too many generations of race mixing to breed out the Filipino phenotype. Just look at Hailee Steinfeld and Rob Schneider for example.
I am a 3rd generation ABC. My Chinese is terrible. I went to American pre-school, Kindergarten, etc. And I watched American TV. I was not surrounded by the Chinese language. Mainly, my friends growing up spoke English.
Almost all of it stems from whether your parents are fluent in English or not because if Mandarin or Cantonese is the only language they speak, you pretty much are forced to learn it by necessity. Also, Chinese school on Saturdays is a big thing. You'll probably be much more adept if learning it is a routine part of your life. Picking up a new language is always easier during your childhood while your brain is still developing. It's much harder to grasp once you've become an adult.
i feel like many of my chinese american friends also do not speak chinese very well, but most of my korean american friends are HELLA fluent at korean. anyone else notice this?
Same here. I speak both korean and chinese. First off, imo Korean is significantly easier to learn. Ofc it’s still hard but two huge differences are the amount of eng loanwords and that it has one of the easiest alphabets in the world. Whereas Chinese has those 4 tones and every character is literally all memorization. Second what I can gather from my kor friends is that a lot of kor parents are very adamant of retaining their culture at home. I personally haven’t met a kor american who said their family wanted them to speak only eng in order to assimilate.
I noticed it too. I once travelled to Korea and one of the girls at my hostel was a Kor-Am. She was travelling with a white American friend. I heard her speak fluent Korean on the phone (with her mom) then switch to neutral US accent with her friend. I was amazed since most Fil-Am kids/ adults (who grew up in the US) usually don't speak the mother tongue fluently.
Jeenie Weenie (a TH-camr) is Kor-Canadian and speaks fluent Korean & English too.
@@Naruto-bp6hmis your native language Chinese or Korean?
@@hayabusa1329 My native language is english lol. I learned chn when I was young and then korean much later
It’s also highly influenced by the time period in which your family immigrated to the US. The large majority of Chinese people who immigrated to the US pre-1965 were Cantonese/Toisan and because the racism was really really back back then, many of them did not encourage their kids to learn Canto/Toisan, fearing that it would hold their kids back from being considered “native born Americans.” I think this unfortunately quickened the decline of Canto and Toisan in the US bc so many Chinese Americans have Canto/Toisan roots, but so few speak those languages at this point.
I think for one, you have to enjoy your own culture. I remember as a kid, I loved watching Cantonese dramas and movies, which is the foundation for me being able to speak conversational Cantonese. Then it is exposure, to have someone to speak what you learn to. My parents doesn't speak a lick of English, so I make up for it by speaking Canto. But it was interest in continuing to learn Chinese and my culture that enable me to be able to read and write some Chinese. Because, let's get real, if you were forced to go to Chinese school as a kid, there is a higher probability you come out not remembering anything or quitting at some point because you felt forced to do something you didn't get a chance to explore and see if you will enjoy it.
Because it’s an incredibly difficult language to master, or speak at a truly high level of proficiency. I have studied Chinese for years now , and this still is the case as I’m in grad school now.
Chinese especially has to be dedicated towards on a daily basis, with intention. ESPECIALLY for reading and writing. It’s terrible sitting there on Saturday school as a child, no one can pay attention in there and everyone is discouraged by the harsh instruction.
Chinese, compared to any other language I’ve studied, needs very special attention. It’s not just a language, but a philosophy of thinking. So many words have near identical meanings, but very slight nuanced differences etc. but of course , it is very possible to be great at Chinese with the right level of dedicated effort over an extended period of time
in *Indonesia* we have the same thing here *Indonesian Chinese* cannot speak Chinese. we called (Tionghoa)
but their nationality towards Indonesia is so proud to be fully Indonesian sometimes they speak regional languages in Indonesia such as
*(Javanese, Minangkabau, Manado, Sundanese, etc)* besides our united language *(Bahasa Indonesia)*
different from *malaysian Chinese* they live in *malaysia* and are malassyan citizens but most of them cannot speak Malay the official national language in that country.
thats so funny
When they claim proud to be malaysian but cannot speak Malay.
yap we know that malassian is a country that still uses an integration system based on ethnicity and an Apharteid system of government..
Great video topic this was. Being an ABC from the South Central US born in the early 60s, I'm stronger at Toisan hua and Canto. Took up some Mandarin around 07' but still don't speak it that well. I feel it's just basic with a few profound vocabulary words sprinkled in, but Itry to watch as many Mandarin videos as I can to keep up the comprehension. It's still a challenge though.
No one i knew grewing up spoke chinese well for the exact same reasons. They all forced themselves to learn by watching chinese dramas and then speaking with all their friends in chinese. Not what you call ideal, but it helped. I'm sure anyone looking from the outside in is wondering, don't the parents speak chinese to their children?! They do! Some of them. But the vast majority have no time to waste having any kind of conversation with them unless you count yelling. You can't learn a languange without daily conversations in that languange. The fact that their children eventually are unable to speak to them in complete sentences doesn't even seem to bother the chinese parents at all, that is until they need you to translate a government or medical letter back to them in advanced chinese and then they become dumbfounded why you can't, because you "studied english". It never dawns on them that you need to know chinese in order to translate the other half.
I have seen many recent (between a decade) immigrant parents from Mainland China who try to speak only in English to their children. It could be for competitive reasons in society or school, or their parents just wanted to show their friends in the Mainland how English fluent their children are.
I don’t think so. I’m a “recent” immigrant and I almost only social with “recent” immigrants. Nobody is speaking English to their children.
i came to the states at 11 and only speak shanghainese at home, my mandarin deteriorated and i was pretty embarrassed to speak it at times at restaurants, stores, etc. working at a hospital w mostly chiinese patients improved my mandarin so much. nobody is gonna judge you real hard on your broken chinese when you're trying to meet their needs. several docs there are abcs and i help out a lot with translation even though sometimes my mandarin is just a little better than theirs. i have a coworker whos originally from tianjin and one day i overheard her conversing in cantonese to patients and im so jealous! apparently she watched a lot of tvb when she first came to the states lol. very very useful
In the Hispanic side 2nd generation who dont speak spanish is usually because their parents feel its useless since they're in America which is sad. I feel its good to know more than 1 language (seen people speak 4+) & even though i speak 2 i wish i had learned at least one more. Ive seen in youtube that some Chinese in spanish speaking countries they dont speak their mother tongue so looks like it depends on how you grow up by family or community members. Its worse when you're made fun of when you have accent or your language is made to look of little importance. Feel good to learn a new language 😄
I hate having to learn Spanish in school. I prefer Korean and Japanese regardless them being more useless.
i'm second generation chinese in NYC who actually picked up how to speak cantonese from hanging out with canto kids in public school. i will say though there are a lot who like to pretend that their chinese isn't good to be more "american". i also have a lot of canto friends who clearly understand mando, but pretend that they don't speak a lick of it at all. ABCs are a weird breed no cap.
Childhood and teenhood is an awkward time. No one wants to be ostracized or teased. Then when you come of age you decide whether or not your “roots” are important to you. Me for instance: I’m Vietnamese but I’m not attached to my asianess and I had time to mull thingsover
If you lived in the suburbs, you’d have a different story.
@@Chimpangel well yeah, and if i lived in africa i'd also have a different story. what's your point?
I'm Chinese Malaysian, I can speak Chinese but I just hate it. grew up in a heavy chinese influenced environment and is well aware of all the traditions, cultures and also pop cultures. I've always feel like the nature of the language is just not as polished and fluent compared to english, especially artistically. I think the high level of complication that comes with communicating in it makes it very clunky. Not sure if that's facts or I'm just making up excuses to hate on the language because the Malaysian education system is shit and I ended up hating it so much lol.
I think it’s your excuse😊
I think you’ve developed a level of self hate
The first reason is that Chinese is not the "official" second language like Spanish is in the USA. A lot of non Latino Americans speak some Spanish. Eg Ben Affleck speaks fluent Spanish because he probably took Spanish class in High School. There is no Chinese class in High school. Secondly, especially in 90s and earlier, for those Chinese Asians that emigrated to USA, their no 1 priority was to assimilate and it wasn't viewed in these households that the priority was speaking their own tongue. Very often, the parents will just speak English to their children (and in their dialect between parents for private talks) or speak Mandarin or whatever and let the kids speak back in English. Props go out to the some exceptions - of which the Taiwanese take the mantle. Lately, China-born professionals practice the same to their kids. That is, they were more likely to "enforce" Chinese after school lessons and also require the kids to speak only Mandarin or whatever when the kids speak to their parents and grandparents. They also take the effort to send their kids back to Taiwan/China for summer school etc. Thirdly, geographic location also matters. A Chinese family living in middle of Iowa vs living the the Bay Area, California are going to have very different experiences mingling with other Chinese or Asians growing up. Lastly, yes, Chinese or Asian languages were not viewed as "cool". Knowing Spanish was associated with at least being able to "hang out with the hombres" but knowing Chinese wasn't even viewed to that level of "cultural assimilation". Times have changed however. The Chinese culture has risen in status in USA and more and more American born Chinese are learning Chinese from young. The same for all Asians.
Before I was born, my family was already very Westernized. My parents' generation didn't keep their Chinese tradition, they didn't watch Chinese movies or listen to Chinese music. I grew up totally assimilated into the American culture. Everyone in my family spoke English to me even my grandparents spoke English. So unfortunately I never learn how to speak Mandarin, Cantonese and Shanghainese. My family became very international and mix of different races.
My grandparents didn't teach my dad chinese because they weren't as accepted in the 50s and they didn't want my dad and his siblings to be different in any way from the other kids at school
Kmt taiwanese Are like me. Not self hating. Also loves being Chinese and Asian. When I went to Taiwan I bonded with them. Also they encourage me to learn Chinese. Because of them I pick up mandarin.
Interesting that they mentioned successful Chinese restaurant kids. Authentic Korean Chinese restaurant owners (Chinese who grew up in Korea) speak Korean fluently but, they write down orders in Chinese character and can speak mandarin fluently despite growing up in Korea. i.e. Korea's famous Korean Chinese chef Lee YeonBok.
It's true, upper middle class families seem to have better Cantonese probably because we travel back every few years and/or have businesses that requires the use of both languages. I'm taking over my dad's tax firm with majority Cantonese clients. I also married a Cantonese immigrant that came 5 years ago lol
6:00 What about Eileen Gu? She's fluent in Chinese.
Cause she studies in Beijing not usa
@@Willxdianano most of her time was in US only in Beijing during late high school
@@vanavana593 yeah she goes back every year. If you live in China or force to use mandarin it will improve. I go every year. She can write and read by studying. Speaking is easy
@@vanavana593 I go to the massage places they only speak to me in mandarin and my mandarin improves. Also she is a teen that still lives with family at the time and speaks better bc she is with parents
@@Willxdianawhich ABC wasn’t a teen live with parent tho?😂
I'm a Millennial ABC that is the 2nd generation to be born in the US and my family speaks Toisan/Taishanese which is not a common dialect and thus I didn't get the practice that perhaps a Mandarin speaker in 2023 would get in a Chinese community. The other thing is that it depends on where I grew one grows up. I grew up in a very diverse, melting pot neighborhood which happened to have very few Chinese speakers in general (I heard a lot more Spanish than anything) as I grew up in the city of LA rather than the suburbs of SGV. My dad's side grew up through the 50s, 60s and 70s when "being American" (English, GO USA) was really the norm; the US, even in California, still took decades to embrace multiculturalism. I can relate to the show "Fresh off the Boat" where the family embraced a lot of "Americanism"s even through the 90s. It's not for lack of want, but the practicality of it all. Being able to speak mandarin is a competitive advantage, whereas knowing English has been the "lingua franca" or dare I say "lingua americana" for the decades.
Same.😂😂😂
Because Chinese is a hard language with many complex characters and the use of tones. Unlike Spanish which comes from the same root as English. Plus it’s not taught in a lot of schools, unlike Spanish which is taught everywhere starting in elementary school.
Donnie Yen deserves discussion here, as he’s always been able to bridge the language and cultural gaps you guys highlighted so well.
Honestly I don’t think you need to master Chinese when you’re already grown,bc it’s parents’ job to teach kids Chinese at an early age.I don’t think there’s a necessity to learn Chinese other than communicating better with immigrant parents who aren’t good at English.
Parents and grandparents tried to teach "chinese mandarin" to me via private school but failed because I was a cry baby and they just gave up. The main school does not teach Chinese.
Fastforward to today, my niece told me that I am not Chinese because I cannot speak mandarin, while she now learning Chinese mandarin at school and her teacher is from mainland China. This is Indonesia today. Back then, the Chinese learning mandarin is usually kind of in secret.
Give 2 years living in Chinese environment, you can learn it man, it's just a matter of communication and efforts. Maybe AI wives teaching me Chinese, I can learn Chinese.
Mom's side of the family is Puerto Rican and not only do I not speak a lick of Spanish, I don't like Puerto Rican food, either.
I'm not Puerto Rican but PR food is good and Spanish romantic.
Other then speaking to my mom (who also knows English) I'd never need to use it. It's nice to know but most of us living in the US never need to use it unless we're speaking to older Asian people. I feel weird even talking to my cousins in Cantonese, its like a joke when we speak it just to be funny with the Chinese accent
Interesting, this seems to be an American thing.. in Europe or Central Asia most kids go to something like a “weekend school” or “after school” to study their mother tongue, literature etc. You also get a diploma from those schools
13:24
Same for me. I used to soak up any and everything Chinese when I first started learning but I hit a plateau after 2 years. I lost the passion for it. 😢 Now,I can only watch things that interest me in order to soak it up. 😢
I'm hispanic and I don't even know too much of my Mexican spanish language.
I went to visit HK every 3 years for many years in a row. So my Cantonese is good and I took Mandarin lessons in two different community college.
Never too late to learn. Many foreigners learned Chinese as an adult and are fluent.
It all depends on your parents how deep they speak their mother language at home. If one parent doesn't speak it, it makes it difficult for the children to learn. Taiwanese able to keep their children to speak Mandarin is because they speak nothing but Mandarin at home, and the reality is that Taiwanese are the most traditionally/culturally Chinese among ALL ethnic Chinese
it is interesting to compare western born Chinese to western born Indians, who in my experience are much more in touch with their home cultures and languages. e.g. I have recently been to a number of weddings where one person was 2nd gen Indian and the other was white, yet the weddings were very indian, with the songs, the food the clothing etc. Maybe having that strong cultural bond with the home country leads to keeping the languages
I have two Taiwanese (young) nieces and we all live together right now, the whole family. Of course their mom speaks some Chinese to them (my brother and my family is white) so they can understand a little, but I rarely hear them speak it back to her so far. It seems so far they mostly they get the Chinese if mom is angry or chastising them 😂😂 I shouldn't be laughing lol. Let me tell you though....their English is insane now, it impresses me so much for their age. I'm sure that's due to living with a bunch of English speaking adults now and just hearing it nonstop. I hope one they they can learn Chinese though. Alot of asian people recommended to my sister-in-law not to force it on them too hard because their kids rejected using it or didn't want to speak it. Her philosophy too is that because their going to be living here, she'd rather them focus on English first. I imagine since were a mixed family that factored into it too. Will let you know in 10 years if they know any Chinese!
Languages are best to learn when kids are young. To certain extent, you have to force it on the kids because they are. it interested in anything other than playing. I would like my kids to have good foundation of chinese and they can choose to perfect it later in their life. It is a lot harder to learn it when they grow up. Being able to speak chinese is also very beneficial business wise, some people are just too blind to see it.
My wife speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese to our daughter
I’m from Taiwan and my daughter was born in here New York she speaks perfect mandarin because my Wife doesn’t speak much of English so forcibly she has to learn mandarin to communicate with my wife😂😂😂😂😂😂
Really?? I know mother and children where the mother hardly speaks English and the kids don't speak Chinese at all, and yet, they are mother and children. I don't know how they communicate at all. And oh yeah, the kids have all grown up.
What language do all use then ?
@@sunahamanagai9039well some families just leave their kids at home with grandparents and work everyday barely seeing their children
I never learnt Cantonese but I do understand it and I cant speak one word of Mandarin. However when I go back to HK i find it all coming out of me- like I find myself saying stuff that I didnt even know I could say. Being able to speak cantonese or Mandarin makes zero difference to my life in London but I do massively regret it. My wife is english and we are both keen on my little boy learning some Mandarin just in case china invades and takes over.
In my household, mandating Canto only wasn't needed cuz we're so used to speaking Canto as the default. Also my English sucked when I moved to Canada so no point in speaking at home a language that I sucked at lol. However, I do know there are households that actually mandate Canto when at home so they don't their Canto skills. Ironically, the family i know that did that (great family friends btw), their kids are so white washed and aren't too fluent in Canto. Dunno what happened lol.
Aside from that, I've heard of instances where some parents who want assimilate so bad that they actually feel proud telling people "don't speak to my son/daughter Chinese, they don't understand." LOL The only problem I have now is reading and writing fluently. Thank God for TV shows/movies with English subs.
I'm 2nd generation ABC, spoke toy sun with family, relatives from Hong Kong came over in 60's spoke Cantonese and Toy Son.
My parents generation are no longer with us, we lose the language , now we mostly speak English
I think the main reason why Chinese Americans dont speak Chinese languages, it's because the Chinese language are very hard to learn. Speaking as non. Asian person.
There's couple things I know why. 1) Parents want their kids in the US to learn English, so they abandoned their original mother language. 2) The next generation take their language as an hassle. "Why learn this? This is America." "It's so hard, just speak English is enough." Personal experience, learning Cantonese (beside at home) can be hard at times such as calligraphy writing and stroke orders, and memorize orally and written (for test). 3) No mother language school is open within their neighborhood.
My father is half Hakka and half Cantonese. My mother is half Japanese and half Hawaiian. There is 100% chance that we kids would grow up speaking only English.
I think Indians in Canada are very well-versed in their mother tongues. They can speak Punjabi or Hindi well at home and communicate in English, with a Canadian accent.
China really need to step up their game and strengthen their soft power.
Even here in Singapore where there is a Chinese majority, the standard of spoken Mandarin/dialects has been on the decline for decades. I wold definitely put it on English having greater soft power.
With Spanish, it good to start with speaking only Spanish at home cause in America it’s a guarantee you will learn English. At least that’s how it is for me
This also reminds me of when I was in school. I took Spanish classes as a Black ADOS kid and it confused me to see so many Latinos there who couldn't read or write Spanish. I thinking wait? This should be natural to you 😂
Im Taiwanese and came to US - LA/OC since i was age 2. I purposely speak mandarin as much as I can with perfect grammar. I practice daily on purpose with peers and family unless I have no choice talking to a white dude gal. why? Cause im a f* proud MIT. period.
... So many factors determine what may contribute to why communities choose to embrace or neglect norms, traditions, values and practises... possibly a combination of "cultural values" and "leadership". Values - In western countries, individuals can outright reject their neighbours completely and hardly meet as a community unless there is a common issue... contrary to eastern communities where collective belonging is really really clear cut. For example, raising someone else's kids is way more frequent phenomenon in the west. But then again, there's also endorsed films like Sharnaydo and Megaloadon released, like how? Leadership - if there's anything the world has learned from the last decade is that media amplifies a state outlook or is censored by the state.. Its far easier nowadays to track individuals too, and therefore picketting does far more damage thesedays to a community.... Both values and leadership influence communal choices. Something of key importance though, is that Eastern communities exemplify how to overcome challenges RAPIDLY, which is something western communities are currently in denail of facing or are struggling with... The rate of development in the east is something to critically consider here.
These video discussion topics are cool n all. But you guys need to hire a more dynamic editor. To spice up the videos. Transitions, b rolls, sound effects , camera angles
depends if they grew up in a city and felt accepted. i grew up in chinatown so we all spoke chinese cantonese. however i notice urban chinese dont want to associate and are maybe ashamed. and dissassociate w that part of their culture and heritage .
Im american of mexican decent 3rd generation and i speak almost fluent Spanish and i also practice reading in Spanish . I also have a older a brother and he is opposite of me he doesnt speak Spanish nor care for it .
Northern Chinese ABCs are better than southern ones at speaking Chinese. They tend to attend Chinese school more.
Fun fact...in EU 2nd gen or 3rd gen Chinese they do speak chinese fluently...
For me, where I live, there's not that many Chinese or Asians for that matter. Plus my cousins don't speak Chinese either so we just speak English to each other.
Which languages are dopamine driven? I've never heard anyone say that.
I’m only up to 900 characters to 1200. Hsk 6 is 2500 characters. That’s only elementary school level. Hsk7-9 is 3000 characters
The loss of one language following immigration to a country with another language applies to most countries and languages. So, it's not clear what the point of this video is for narrowing the focus solely to Chinese. My best friend's wife is from Taiwan. She came over with her parents when she was a teen. She in turn taught her two daughters to speak Mandarin. The 'children' are now in their 40s and still speak Mandarin with the surviving grandparent, who has limited English comprehension. Her father was a general in Chiang Kai-shek's army. I attended his funeral services, which were held on what would have been his 102nd birthday. The children also speak Mandarin with some friends and at (real) Chinese restaurants, so as to better tailor the order to their liking. My guess is there's also likely to be some camaraderie established with the restaurant staff by doing so.
Barring those from a foreign country who elect to join a community center founded to maintain cultural, ethnic and/or religious ties, a lot of the value associated with maintaining fluency will be lost. With the U.S. being the world's most ethnically, racially, religiously and culturally diverse nation, such cultural centers are a necessity if one strives to maintain some continuity with the past.
When I said the loss of a language in exchange for another applies to 'most' countries, I had Europe in mind. Within a relatively small geographic area, on a common land mass, with no ocean or sea boundary to separate them, at least 24 languages are spoken...(English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Portuguese, Greek, Hungarian, Czech, etc). So, one pretty much MUST speak multiple languages just to get around. I've met Europeans who fluently spoke 7 languages. I admire them for that skill. It's a skill we 'Americans' sorely lack. That ability will better enable them to learn yet another language as an adult, such as learning Mandarin in order to conduct business in China. It should also be easier for Europeans to learn several languages because they all share similar linguistic etymology. That is certainly not the case when comparing Chinese or Japanese with any European language.
Many European languages are closely related to one or other..almost every Italian could pick up Spanish in months of practrcing. French are a bit further but still the same group. Germans could speak English easily when most of the sentences sounds almost the same with an accent. Then you have Dutch, Flemish that isn't too far. It's really not that impressive.. it's like if you could speak 2-3 dialects of Chinese. Now if you try that between Chinese and English, there is absolutely nothing related. Btw, if one has a father that is a general in the KMT, she is considered upper educated class, the amount of bibliography, books, theories, education and principals taught at home is not something an outsider couldn't imagine. There is just no way she couldn't teach her own children the mother tongue language. You'll be surprised how well the children of any KMT generals are doing in life.. most of the KMT party politicians have those background..
@@mmfong297 The father 'WAS', (not 'IS') a general of the KMT. He moved to the U.S. in the early 70's, I think he was retired at the time. He and his wife did well here despite never learning all but a few English words .All of his sons as well as his daughter (my friend's wife) can speak Mandarin and learned English, starting in their teens and twenties. They've all done well in a range of disciplines. In turn, their children (now the 4th generation that I know) all speak English as their native language with (as best I can tell) pretty limited education of Mandarin.
You guys haven't had exposure to the Tao. It is very cool.
We get called plastic by our compatriots who are fluent, because we don’t know our own language, we’re not seen as the real deal.
6:48 what's plattable
palatable I believe is what he meant which is easy to digest figuratively
3:42 Chinese is cool though and complicated.
I’m thinking about european immigrants how do their kids speak their languages?
The most interesting thing is how some people with the same upbringing, same neighborhood, and same access to Chinese education can have much different outcomes.
For example, I can speak Cantonese relatively fluently, but my little sister does not. We grew up in a totally non-Chinese area, and went to low ranking public schools in our early years, but for HS, she went to an all Chinese immersion school, while I went to a Catholic HS (with barely any Chinese people whatseover). However, as adults, my Chinese is still much better than hers.
Also, an interest in media also helps immensely. I still watch a ton of HKTVB, HK movies, listen to C-pop, etc., while my sister has never shown much interest in that.
I also eat a lot more Chinese food (hence ordering in Chinese) than she does, and have many HK friends, while her friends tend to be ABCs and non-Chinese.
Even tho i speak indo, english, german, mandarin, japanese and hokkien,
I still dont speak canto which is my ancestral language because my hometown is hokkien speaking * sigh
White guys have no issue spending time to learn Chinese tho.
Lmao 😂
it also depends on how many generations your family has been here. i have many chinese american friends in california who can't speak chinese at all and neither can their parents. most of them are 3rd and even 4th generation chinese american .they never saw a need for it. this isn't unusual because it's the same with a lot other ethnicities in the u.s. that have been here for generations. eventually you'll just melt into the country's culture. that's why they call the U.S. a melting pot.
Quite a few of them pretend not to
Maybe all their energy is poured over getting 1600 on sat and getting into ivy league colleges?😊
I’m Indian born American and I don’t speak Telugu my parents didn’t teach it to me due to my ADHD and Dyscalculia but I wish I learned it I am interested in learning Mandarin and Hindi tho
This doesn’t seem as big as an issue for Spanish speakers in the US.
Again we (siblings and me) were raised in northeastern Minnesota the Range. The only other chinese were cousins. In addition dad was in the Army and fought for this country so definitely English was promoted. TBH never had any affinity to China😊
Imagine how folks born in America only speaking and understand one language and feel they aren't in the country they know anymore and can't become Bilingual?
It’s not a big deal to not be fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese or Taiwanese. If you live in the United States, I suggest improving your English writing and communication skills. It will benefit you in the job market.
I am in engineering in one of the most successful firms in the US. we hire PLENTY internationally and I would say more than half of them are from China that do not speak native level English.
My filipino mom didnt really try speakin tagalog to me, idky. now im mad cuz you know how asian ppl are. if you dont speak it they gon start talkin shit about you in that language lmaooo since you cant understand. smh
Many aspects of this is very true. As a Hmong/Miaozu born and raised in the United States I’ve had other hmong friends/family, Cantonese, ABC Chinese, and Guangzhou Chinese and they don’t speak it fluently.
Its really not using one language over the other. I speak barely any Cantonese due to not using it at all. English became a go to as you use it constantly. I understand most of what is being said just not fully all of it. Yet i was born in china yet know nothing of language, i just never learned it. The Ghost and Molly mcgee went this route during the second season as Molly is Half Thai but doesn't understand any Thai language. its not anyone's fault just it comes up on occasion, some kids don't feel their other cultural half because they might have studied a little language but don't use it much. I really don't feel Chinese as i don't speak Cantonese, I don't read Chinese, i can't read chinese, and i'm not really connected to any chinese events in my area. I feel more american with some chinese in there you know.
My English is fully native fluent, but my Teo Chew is like 3.5 - 4. =(