In 1975 in secondary school, our elderly history teacher was for 4 years, a P.O.W. I was taught that it was an insult to the English to speak a foreign language. i can still hear him raising his voice in protest "how on earth did you think that our language is spoken everywhere on this planet!". Whilst families have their own agendas with their children, institutions have other ideas. All cultures in my uneducated opinion have the iceberg effect, you only ever get to see the tip, but underneath, well. Really enjoyed this conversation guys, thanks heaps.
A difficult decision for every immigrant parent is whether to educate their children in the ways of their birth culture, or prioritise their successful assimilation in their new culture. My parents chose the latter, which helped me to soar as a straight A student, and it was only much later in life that I reconnected with my Chinese heritage.
So you’re a polyglot. You’re lucky, I’m Hispanic but I know primarily English, I know some Spanish , I can read it and hear it and understand it but I have a hard time speaking it. How do you learn so many languages?
@@rogersepeda I had to learn cos I was thrown in at the deep end from the first day of school, when I'd be sitting there wanting to cry cos I didn't understand a word, but all the kids helped me learn so fast. And while my parents thought it would be stressful, it was actually the opposite cos every time we changed school I was the centre of attention for being foreign, and this has shaped my entire world view. But every time we relocated and I learned a new language, I completely forgot the last one 😭
@ well I guess it’s that old saying “ if you don’t use it you lose it?” My mom spoke a lot of Spanish growing up but she forgot a lot of it as she got older. She doesn’t use it as much.
In 1975 in secondary school, our elderly history teacher was for 4 years, a P.O.W. I was taught that it was an insult to the English to speak a foreign language. i can still hear him raising his voice in protest "how on earth did you think that our language is spoken everywhere on this planet!". Whilst families have their own agendas with their children, institutions have other ideas. All cultures in my uneducated opinion have the iceberg effect, you only ever get to see the tip, but underneath, well. Really enjoyed this conversation guys, thanks heaps.
This is quite insightful, you're headline caught my attention.
@@kateshiru thanks… I’m glad your attention got captured!
A difficult decision for every immigrant parent is whether to educate their children in the ways of their birth culture, or prioritise their successful assimilation in their new culture. My parents chose the latter, which helped me to soar as a straight A student, and it was only much later in life that I reconnected with my Chinese heritage.
Correction: I lived in seven countries, but learned five languages!
So you’re a polyglot. You’re lucky, I’m Hispanic but I know primarily English, I know some Spanish , I can read it and hear it and understand it but I have a hard time speaking it. How do you learn so many languages?
@@rogersepeda I had to learn cos I was thrown in at the deep end from the first day of school, when I'd be sitting there wanting to cry cos I didn't understand a word, but all the kids helped me learn so fast.
And while my parents thought it would be stressful, it was actually the opposite cos every time we changed school I was the centre of attention for being foreign, and this has shaped my entire world view.
But every time we relocated and I learned a new language, I completely forgot the last one 😭
@ well I guess it’s that old saying “ if you don’t use it you lose it?” My mom spoke a lot of Spanish growing up but she forgot a lot of it as she got older. She doesn’t use it as much.
Excerpt from a conversation with Korean content creator and musician Ryan Williams (@thescottishkorean)