#ExpectAsianVsReality: I once had a job interview at a tutoring agency in Toronto. They had me observe one of their math tutors in a session. The student was perplexed by some quadratic functions. The tutor said, “I know it’s like I’m *speaking Chinese* to you, but try this ...”

Later she apologized to me and I lied, "It& #39;s fine."

To English-speakers, Chinese language is shorthand for confusing and foreign. I& #39;ve heard colleagues say "I don& #39;t follow this document, it& #39;s like Mandarin to me." Even John Searle used it in his Chinese Room thought experiment.

Chinese is a language that earns white people accolades when they learn even a tiny bit, but it attracts disapproving looks when Chinese-Americans speak it in public.

No wonder I refused to speak it as a kid. My parents would talk to me in Mandarin and I& #39;d reply in English.

I rejected my bilingual roots for decades. But lately I& #39;m practicing speaking and reading Mandarin on @Duolingo & @Lingodeer. Yes, the characters are confusing and hard to remember. But now, when my grandma group-texts our family, I can read some of those words. And I feel proud.

To end, I wanna shout out some Chinese-American celebs who grew up in the US but proudly speak Chinese. 谢谢你们!

Jeremy Lin @JLin7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wln1art1jOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch... href="https://twitter.com/MingNa">@MingNa Wen, voice of Mulan https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="♥" title="Heart suit" aria-label="Emoji: Heart suit"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-0OuJHieDQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch... href="https://twitter.com/LucyLiu">@LucyLiu @ 29:58 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5v0krl 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5v... href="https://twtext.com//hashtag/ExpectAsianVsReality"> #ExpectAsianVsReality