Usually we talk about it the other way around: you learn the language, and you end up feeling more connected to who you are. Jeanne Chang's story runs in reverse. She decided she was Taiwanese first — and the Mandarin came after.

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Jeanne, creator of the bilingual parenting blog Mama & Baby Learn Mandarin and @mamababymandarin on Instagram. Supported in the conversation by Real You Mandarin: Self-Expression partner teacher Crystal Hsia, we explore how Jeanne's immense effort to learn Mandarin alongside her children has a lot to do with her identifying as being Taiwanese, despite being born in the U.S.

She credits this self-identification to having grown up from shortly after birth through age 5 in Taiwan, surrounded by family immersing her in the culture and the Taiwanese language. Her only regret is not having learned Mandarin alongside Taiwanese when she was a child, which is why she now spends so much of her time, money, and energy on helping her kids learn Mandarin properly.

Along the way, we also discuss the peer pressure her own kids run into at school in California, her own single day of Chinese School, and what happened when she spoke Taiwanese to an auntie at a market back in Taiwan.

In this episode you'll learn vocab like:

• 同儕壓力 / 同侪压力 / tóng chái yā lì — peer pressure
• 企圖心 / 企图心 / qì tú xīn — ambition / ambitious
• 試聽課 / 试听课 / shì tīng kè — trial class

…and more.

You can find Jeanne on Instagram at @mamababymandarin and all the resources she's put together on her blog at https://www.mamababymandarin.com

📝 Want the full transcript in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Pinyin, and English with vocab highlighted? Join the Podcast Transcript Membership to unlock all past and future transcripts. Download a free transcript from episode 1 to check out the format before joining. Learn more at https://www.realyoumandarin.com/podcast

🎓 Real You Mandarin: Self-Expression — the course built for American-born Chinese (ABCs), American-born Taiwanese (ABTs), and advanced Mandarin learners who want to express their real selves in Mandarin. For other aspiring bilingual parents out there, the course includes a full module dedicated to Parenting and navigating this space of passing down the language to your children. Try a free lesson today to see if the format is a good fit for you: https://realyoumandarin.com/real-you-mandarin-self-expression-course-overview

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