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Why I Don’t Speak My Mother Tongue Fluently
Not all of us can speak our mother tongue. Just because we look a certain way doesn’t mean we speak or write a certain language. The dialect Cantonese runs in my Chinese-Malaysian family. My parents, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts and extended family speak it fluently (and Mandarin too). While I have no trouble listening and understanding…
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Reasons Why The Question “Where Are You From?” Is Offensive. And Not Offensive
Time and time again, some of us get the question, “Where are you from?” We might dislike this question, or we might not. It’s a matter of perspective, or rather how we’re feeling in a moment in time that we decide if we like or hate the question there and then. Chances are if we’re…
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Your Dreams Vs. Unsupportive Asian Parents: Finding Your Way
We all have passions and dreams, which our parents might not always agree with. In a stereotypical Asian family, artistic and creative dreams tend to be frowned upon, and we might have second thoughts about chasing them. Writing is something I love. Seven year old me rushed home after school and wrote fictional adventure stories…
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What Language Do You Speak At Home? One, Two Or More
When we are home, the language we speak may come naturally to us. Or not. Depending on who we’re talking to at home, we may switch between speaking multiple languages and that can either be easy, or a bit of an effort. I was born in Australia, and English is the main language of instruction…
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How To Shatter And Challenge Cultural Stereotypes In The Creative Sense
There are times when cultural stereotypes hold us back from going after our dreams and creative passions. As an Asian Australian of Chinese descent, I’ve often felt this way. But then there are also times when we somehow find the strength and spark of courage to challenge expectations that we have of ourselves, and the…
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Why Having An Ethnic Name Is Annoying But Something To Be Proud Of
There are times when we find certain names harder to pronounce than others. Maybe ethnic names, cultural names or names with more than a few syllables. Names we have never heard of that make us stop and wonder if we’ll ever get the pronunciation down pat. I was born Mabel Kwong in Australia to Chinese-Malaysian…
Mabel Kwong 