Rediscovering My Heart Language: A Taiwanese American Mother’s Journey to Relearn Mandarin

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Like many Taiwanese Americans, Mandarin Chinese was the primary language spoken at home in my early childhood years, before formal public schooling rendered English as the dominant language to take over our household. Growing up, I have fond memories of being woken up by my mother’s soundtrack of soulful Mandarin pop ballads as she cooked rice porridge for us on early Sunday mornings. I remember being captivated by the background sounds of sword fights and long winded monologues of Chinese…

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How bilingual author & pediatric music therapist Isabelle Engler is raising the next generation of Taiwanese Americans

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“Raising the Next Generation” aims to feature and connect stories of Taiwanese American parenthood, caretaking, and community-building across generations. We want to hear from our community on the unique challenges they navigate, the resources and tools they can share with each other, and the triumphs they want to celebrate with us all. We want to showcase and serve how Taiwanese American families are increasingly complex and diverse. They may include transcontinental relationships, intercultural…

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Community Resources for Taiwanese American Parents & Families

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Originally compiled in August 2024  by Leona Chen for the Taiwanese American Foundation Parents Weekend program Running updates at: bit.ly/taf-parents Intergenerational Communication/Third Culture Parenting Taiwanese American identity formation Multilingual Education Resources (Chinese/Mandarin & Taiwanese Taigi)   Intergenerational Communication/Third Culture Parenting [中/EN] This ABC Life/ ABC養成記 (Blog 部落格) - thisabclife.com 30歲ABC的反思：移民家長除了升學要注意什麽 Reflections…

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Real You Mandarin: Angela Lin on Empowering American-born Mandarin Speakers to have Adult Conversations

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Real You Mandarin is an online language course created by Taiwanese American and Taiwanese co-founders Angela Lin and Jane Liu. Angela is Taiwanese American, with extensive language learning experience across multiple languages and learning techniques. As creator and co-host of the But Where Are You Really From? Podcast, she has spent years discussing the unique cultural and identity challenges faced by Asian Americans, and brings that exploration as inspiration for this course. Jane, a…

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Sitting the Month: Caretaking for Next Generation Taiwanese American Parents

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Many of our Taiwanese mothers know about the strict rules of postpartum care, also known as “sitting the month” or  坐月子. No washing your hair, no showering, no air conditioning, no exercise, no leaving the house… the list goes on. As childbirth is accompanied by significant changes to the mother’s body, special precautions are taken to ensure that she can fully rest and recover. Many of these rules are rooted in traditional Chinese medicine practices. Many modern-day mothers don’t…

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How bilingual author Christina Wu is raising the next generation of Taiwanese Americans

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"Raising the Next Generation" aims to feature and connect stories of Taiwanese American parenthood, caretaking, and community-building across generations. We want to hear from our community on the unique challenges they navigate, the resources and tools they can share with each other, and the triumphs they want to celebrate with us all. We want to showcase and serve how Taiwanese American families are increasingly complex and diverse. They may include transcontinental relationships, intercultural…

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Katrina Liu on Asian American Motherhood: “Mina Learns Chinese”

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There are a lot of things that delight me about children’s books despite being a single, childless, young adult. For example, in Katrina Liu’s bilingual book, “I Love Boba,” I’ve found a new favorite bit of joyful dialogue: “但是你是叫它波霸奶茶, 珍珠奶茶, 還是泡泡茶呢? Do you call it boba, pearl tea, or bubble tea?”  That, and a sweetly illustrated girl wisely explaining why fat straws are more appropriate than skinny ones for drinking boba.    View…

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