Multilingual Taiwanese Friends Abroad ft. Ching Ching Hsu | RYM Podcast EP25

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When Ching Ching and I sat down for this one, we realized pretty quickly that neither of us fits neatly into a single language or a single place. She was born and raised in Taiwan, has lived in Norway for almost 13 years, and we actually met through our Japanese language school in Kyoto. Between the two of us there are five languages on her side alone, two countries we currently call some version of home, and one very specific kind of conversation that only happens when you've spent your whole life moving between worlds.

We met in the most on-brand way possible: a double date with our husbands, because Ching Ching was in the same Japanese class as mine. That's the thing about living abroad as a Mandarin speaker or an American-Born Chinese (ABC) / American-Born Taiwanese (ABT) like me. Your friendships often start in a third language, in a third country, with people who get what it's like to never be fully "from" anywhere.

One person, five languages

Ching Ching speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese (Hokkien), learned English in Taiwan, became a pretty advanced Japanese speaker, and now speaks intermediate to advanced Norwegian after over a decade in Oslo. What I loved about talking to her is that she doesn't treat this like some impressive party trick. For her, each language is just the one that matched the chapter of life she was in.

As ABCs and ABTs, a lot of us carry the opposite story. We grew up with Mandarin around us and somehow still feel shaky in it. Hearing how someone built up five languages, one life stage at a time, reframes the whole thing. It's less about talent and more about which language you needed, and when.

Learning Japanese as a Taiwanese vs. an American-born speaker

Because we both ended up studying Japanese, we compared notes on how differently that journey goes depending on where you start. Coming in with a Mandarin foundation versus an English one changes which parts feel intuitive and which parts trip you up. Ching Ching brought up 歐美語系 / 欧美语系 / ōu měi yǔ xì / Western (European and American) languages as a way of describing the language family your brain defaults to, and it explained so much about why she and I stumble over completely different things in Japanese.

It's a small idea with big implications: the language you think in shapes the language you struggle to learn. For those of us learning Mandarin as ABCs, that cuts both ways.

Subtitles for your own native language

The most relatable, slightly embarrassing thread of the whole episode: we both admitted to needing subtitles to watch shows in our own native languages at times. Mandarin for Ching Ching, English for me. When you live abroad long enough, even your mother tongue can start to feel one step removed, and you find yourself reaching for the captions on a drama you should, in theory, understand perfectly.

Key Vocab From This Episode

ChinesePinyinEnglish中氣很足 / 中气很足zhōng qì hěn zúhaving strong vocal projection / a powerful voice註冊 / 注册zhù cèto register / create an account歐美語系 / 欧美语系ōu měi yǔ xìWestern (European & American) languages

These are all words from the actual episode, not textbook vocabulary, but the kind of words that come up when you're talking about real life in Mandarin.

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