The International/Bilingual Appreciation Thread

[acnh.eclipse]

In this forum there are people from many ethnic/national/lingual backgrounds. Share yours down below! Now my background is VERY complicated, but this is all I know so far. My mother is half Portuguese and Half Korean, my Dad was thought to be just Dutch but we have recently found out that he is half Japanese! I speak Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Tamil! My family is spread across, Denmark, Portugal, Korea, Japan, China and Sri Lanka! Now what about you?


Please do not say anything that may cause any offence or use this thread to spread hate, this is meant for people to share who they are!

 

[Xeleron]

I'll go with language background. I grew up in a household where my parents used the "one person, one language" method/approach since I was born, due to that, I grew up as a simultaneous bilingual as opposed to growing up as a sequential bilingual. Growing up I had my fair share of identity problems but I figured out that I'm part of both cultures, they both make me who I am. It is never one or the other. Thankfully, I realized that being quite young, maybe as early as 6th grade. I am fluent in Spanish, English, and I'm learning ASL (American Sign Language). I've also watched so much anime in my life that I can distinguish some words but I would never say I know Japanese because of this (not until I actually learn it), Korean is another language I would like to learn.

In this forum there are people from many ethnic/national/lingual backgrounds. Share yours down below! Now my background is VERY complicated, but this is all I know so far. My mother is half Portuguese and Half Korean, my Dad was thought to be just Dutch but we have recently found out that he is half Japanese! I speak Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Tamil! My family is spread across, Denmark, Portugal, Korea, Japan, China and Sri Lanka! Now what about you?


Please do not say anything that may cause any offence or use this thread to spread hate, this is meant for people to share who they are!

I bet you really get the "forgetting certain words you should know, but you forgot because you haven't used it in so long/ or you're thinking about the word in the wrong language lol"

 

[Lightmare]

aah yes i was recently just taking a sociology course about bilingual children and how the american education system tries to erase their home heritage. it's really interesting because everything that i was studying/the sources that i was reading really personally affected me just because that's exactly what happened to me. i used to be fluent in russian until i moved to ameirca where my teachers forced me to speak english everywhere and wouldn't really allow me to speak my home language. and the more lenient it got, the more i just forgot about my language. though, i don't see why my parents wouldn't keep trying to speak to me at home. they say i didn't want to but i don't remember refusing. i read books all the time and talked to them frequently, so i think they're just a little embarrassed lol but yeah. my mom is also from an indigenous group in siberia and they speak buryat, but their language was also suppressed and abolished during the soviet union unfortunately. so now i just only fluently know english with some bits of russian. kinda sad

 

[Corrie]

I'm Canadian and Scottish. Both sides of my family (great grandparents) are from Scotland but my parents and I were born in Canada.
For language, I'm an English speaker but am trying to learn French! We learned it for many years in school (grade 4-9) so I know some words and simple sentences but nothing to carry on a conversation. I am really good at food words in French though and rock at reading menus. Figures food is what I remembered from all those years in school lol.

 

[Dwayne Johnson]

 

[epona]

i'm 100% irish until you go back to around 1160-1170, and then i'm french (my ancestors were normans)

i grew up bilingual (irish and english) and am now fluent in german as well

 

[Lightspring]

My mother is Han Chinese, but a DNA test showed she had recent Vietnamese and Dai (an Asian minority group in China) ancestry. My father is American, but his ancestors are from North & South Italy and Germany. So yeah, I’m quite a mix.
Growing up in America, I’ve had some identity issues on which side I belonged to more. I was never taught Mandarin or Cantonese (my mother speaks both), while my father only speaks English. Until I was like 5, I thought I was just like any other American girl. I was always considered to be the “Asian” girl at my school growing up in Florida, which has a lot of whites, Hispanics, and African-Americans, but only a handful of Asians depending on where you are. I’ve had a little bit of mean things said to me because of my mixture, but thankfully, I have not experienced too much. Now that I’m older now, and most say I look Filipina or Hawaiian (which I think both have very rich cultures with very beautiful people), but I don’t really look like either one of my parents. Some people only see mixed people as one or the other, and even mixed people themselves often refer to one of their parent’s cultures.
Anyway, I’ve learned to accept both of my parents’ sides, and I’m quite happy with my mix. I think America puts an emphasis on race too much, and should evaluate the contents of one character and not their skin color. I’m learning Mandarin (primary goal), Japanese (secondary goal), as well as a Cantonese and Korean on the side.
Well, thanks for listening to my TED Talk!

 

[skarmoury]

trilingual naysh I'm Filipino & it's not uncommon to be at least bilingual since English is a prominent language here. If not English, there are plenty other local languages here. I know a local language which is less-known and i'd probably doxx myself if I said what it was

this thread is so timely bc just a while ago my dad was speaking to someone on the phone and used all 3 languages we knew at home. cool

 

[acnh.eclipse]

My mother is Han Chinese, but a DNA test showed she had recent Vietnamese and Dai (an Asian minority group in China) ancestry. My father is American, but his ancestors are from North & South Italy and Germany. So yeah, I’m quite a mix.
Growing up in America, I’ve had some identity issues on which side I belonged to more. I was never taught Mandarin or Cantonese (my mother speaks both), while my father only speaks English. Until I was like 5, I thought I was just like any other American girl. I was always considered to be the “Asian” girl at my school growing up in Florida, which has a lot of whites, Hispanics, and African-Americans, but only a handful of Asians depending on where you are. I’ve had a little bit of mean things said to me because of my mixture, but thankfully, I have not experienced too much. Now that I’m older now, and most say I look Filipina or Hawaiian (which I think both have very rich cultures with very beautiful people), but I don’t really look like either one of my parents. Some people only see mixed people as one or the other, and even mixed people themselves often refer to one of their parent’s cultures.
Anyway, I’ve learned to accept both of my parents’ sides, and I’m quite happy with my mix. I think America puts an emphasis on race too much, and should evaluate the contents of one character and not their skin color. I’m learning Mandarin (primary goal), Japanese (secondary goal), as well as a Cantonese and Korean on the side.
Well, thanks for listening to my TED Talk!

In school I got bullied because I was a bit dark but Asian, and the other Asians at my school were pale. Also I had a thick accent, because I spoke Korean at home. There was this one Chinese girl whos also spoke mandarin like me, and we became friends but then after like 3 years she moved to Macau. After that the bullying got worse, but then I moved to a Korean international school. I have an English name and a Korean name Rachel and 수아 (Soo Ah)! I'm used to 수아 because of how long I have been called it and because its my official name, but in places where people speak primarily English, I go by Rachel

 

[aericell]

I'm Filipino! Both of my parents were born & raised in the Philippines too, I don't know if it gets complicated further back and I'm not really that curious. I unfortunately am no longer fluent in Tagalog (kind of working on it). I did take Korean language classes up to the intermediate level but haven't really had to utilize it unless I'm watching dramas or something

aah yes i was recently just taking a sociology course about bilingual children and how the american education system tries to erase their home heritage. it's really interesting because everything that i was studying/the sources that i was reading really personally affected me just because that's exactly what happened to me. i used to be fluent in russian until i moved to ameirca where my teachers forced me to speak english everywhere and wouldn't really allow me to speak my home language. and the more lenient it got, the more i just forgot about my language. though, i don't see why my parents wouldn't keep trying to speak to me at home. they say i didn't want to but i don't remember refusing. i read books all the time and talked to them frequently, so i think they're just a little embarrassed lol but yeah. my mom is also from an indigenous group in siberia and they speak buryat, but their language was also suppressed and abolished during the soviet union unfortunately. so now i just only fluently know english with some bits of russian. kinda sad

A similar thing happened to me! I moved to the US from the Philippines when I was younger (6 years old I think), my brother and I were both pretty fluent in Tagalog and English since we used both in PH and also lived in Singapore for a while. I asked my mom recently why they didn't continue speaking to us in Tagalog, at least at home, and she said it was because the school recommended that they speak only English to help us adjust to America (like kids can't be bilingual?). So we've forgotten over the years, even she's annoyed at that advice and says she shouldn't have listened because we really would've been fine.

My mom also knows a provincial language that was used in our district that we were never really able to learn/use since we moved

I can still understand or at least get a general idea of what people are talking about, but I can't speak it myself anymore. My parents still speak it to each other and sometimes to us but it really is mostly English. It really sucked going back home a couple years ago and not being able to really communicate with my younger cousins because they'd get nervous speaking English

 

[acnh.eclipse]

I'm Filipino! Both of my parents were born & raised in the Philippines too, I don't know if it gets complicated further back and I'm not really that curious. I unfortunately am no longer fluent in Tagalog (kind of working on it). I did take Korean language classes up to the intermediate level but haven't really had to utilize it unless I'm watching dramas or something



A similar thing happened to me! I moved to the US from the Philippines when I was younger (6 years old I think), my brother and I were both pretty fluent in Tagalog and English since we used both in PH and also lived in Singapore for a while. I asked my mom recently why they didn't continue speaking to us in Tagalog, at least at home, and she said it was because the school recommended that they speak only English to help us adjust to America (like kids can't be bilingual?). So we've forgotten over the years, even she's annoyed at that advice and says she shouldn't have listened because we really would've been fine.

My mom also knows a provincial language that was used in our district that we were never really able to learn/use since we moved

I can still understand or at least get a general idea of what people are talking about, but I can't speak it myself anymore. My parents still speak it to each other and sometimes to us but it really is mostly English. It really sucked going back home a couple years ago and not being able to really communicate with my younger cousins because they'd get nervous speaking English

My parents were also advised to ONLY speak English to me, they did at first but because they only understand basic English they gave up and we speak mostly Korean at home and we speak Portuguese everywhere else (we live in Portugal) i went to school in the UK, and thats where they said to stop speaking their native language and we'd have to speak English. We stayed in that school for around 3-4 years then we moved to Korean International school so it'd be easier for my parents! Right now I'm with some of my family in Sri Lanka and we'll have to stay here until lock down is over!

 

[dizzy bone]

I'm a Korean mix too! My mom is Korean and my dad is Khmer-Chinese. I was born and raised in Korea and I lived there until I graduated high school, then I moved around for Uni and work. I grew up speaking Korean at home and English at school. I'm not fluent in Khmer yet but I hope to be one day. I want to learn Mandarin as well although I feel like I have no discipline for learning a new language anymore and I only pick it up if I live in the environment and am exposed to it daily, haha.

 

[Mayor Ng]

I'm a mix between Chinese and Thai. I use English at home as the standard language.

My father's parent are from China and they immigrated to Malaysia and my father is Malaysian Chinese. I can speak Cantonese since my father's family speaks Cantonese and Hokkien but I can't speak Hokkien. I'm the only one in my family who can speak Mandarin because I went to Chinese primary school but my reading and writing abilities are only at primary level. I can read, write and converse in Bahasa Melayu (Malaysian version not Bahasa Indonesia) since I went to secondary school in Malaysia. I can speak Thai now because I stay in Thailand (my mother's family only speaks Thai and so does majority of the local Thai people) but not as fluent as a native. I can speak Japanese because my brother-in-law is Japanese and I went to Japanese language school but it's purely conversational.

My strongest language is still English because I use it the most and the other language are useful when I need to communicate with people that do not speak English. It's easier to mingle with people when you speak their language

 

[acnh.eclipse]

I'm a mix between Chinese and Thai. I use English at home as the standard language.

My father's parent are from China and they immigrated to Malaysia and my father is Malaysian Chinese. I can speak Cantonese since my father's family speaks Cantonese and Hokkien but I can't speak Hokkien. I'm the only one in my family who can speak Mandarin because I went to Chinese primary school but my reading and writing abilities are only at primary level. I can read, write and converse in Bahasa Melayu (Malaysian version not Bahasa Indonesia) since I went to secondary school in Malaysia. I can speak Thai now because I stay in Thailand (my mother's family only speaks Thai and so does majority of the local Thai people) but not as fluent as a native. I can speak Japanese because my brother-in-law is Japanese and I went to Japanese language school but it's purely conversational.

My strongest language is still English because I use it the most and the other language are useful when I need to communicate with people that do not speak English. It's easier to mingle with people when you speak their language

I like talking to people who can speak my stronger languages (Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch and Tamil) Mandarin is still pretty new to me, like i can hold up a conversation but no in too much detail!

 

[Mayor Ng]

I like talking to people who can speak my stronger languages (Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch and Tamil) Mandarin is still pretty new to me, like i can hold up a conversation but no in too much detail!

That's already an impressive amount of languages! I'm by nature an introvert so I don't go around talking to random people and only talk to my tight knit group of family and friends but when I hear people being racist or making inappropriate remarks in languages I know and that they assume people around them do not, I often use their languages to rebuke them or tell them that they are being rude. I sometimes help when there's a language barrier between people but I don't like to stand out too much. Attention is exhaustive for me

 

[Lightspring]

In school I got bullied because I was a bit dark but Asian, and the other Asians at my school were pale. Also I had a thick accent, because I spoke Korean at home. There was this one Chinese girl whos also spoke mandarin like me, and we became friends but then after like 3 years she moved to Macau. After that the bullying got worse, but then I moved to a Korean international school. I have an English name and a Korean name Rachel and 수아 (Soo Ah)! I'm used to 수아 because of how long I have been called it and because its my official name, but in places where people speak primarily English, I go by Rachel

That’s quite interesting! I’m really sorry you got bullied because of your skin color. I hope it got better when you moved to Korean international school. I have an unofficial Chinese name whom my grandmother named me, and have a real name that was made up by my father. The prefix was named after a famous Chinese martial artist‘s last name, and the suffix was after my mother’s maiden name. That’s all I’m gonna say, as I’ll deadname myself on this forum. My Chinese name is 李心羽 (Lǐ xīn yǔ). 李 is my step-grandfather’s last name, as my mother has a different last name, and I have no idea why my grandmother put heart-feather in my name lol

 

[acnh.eclipse]

Talking about names I'm struggling on what I should call my baby, a Korean name, Portuguese name, a Japanese name, a Tamil name, a Dutch name or a Mandarin name?

 

[biibii]

my background is very complex. my mom is a first generation american citizen but was born in mexico! so we are mexican. but our ethnicity in actuality is british/ scottish/ irish. again, spanish was my first language. my great great grandparents last names where benguchea, and sarmiento. fancy spanish last names??? idk. now as for my dads side idk. i havent gotten to know him ever but what from i can decipher from my birth certificate, he is indian. he does have a very traditional / common indian name so its not something im very skeptical about. so yeah. my ethnic background is weird. i also found out about my dads half of my ethnicity like 6 months ago as nearly an adult. also weird. BUT COOL!!

 

[acnh.eclipse]

haha, I also have a crazy background, and I have been confused for Filipino, Kazakhstani and many more

 

[biibii]

haha, I also have a crazy background, and I have been confused for Filipino, Kazakhstani and many more

i think mostly people just think im white HAHAHA

but idk if i would be considered white