Rachael’s Bilingual Biography, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Multilingualism mainly refers to the ability of an individual to use more than two or more languages in the society (Gonzalez, 2012). According to various research based studies and reports, multilingualism is currently being embraced by a number of countries globally due to high globalization and other cultural diversity factors (Byers-Heinlein, & Garcia, 2015). Furthermore, new advances in technology including the use of social media and the internet has improved the pace of multilingualism exposure thus provides conditions for individuals to learn multiple languages in the society (Gibson, & Carrasco, 2009).  In most cases, multilingual individuals usually have the ability to speak, read as well as listen and write the L2 languages they have acquired. Several psychological and educational based studies and reports also indicate that multilingual individuals mostly have high cognitive abilities and can effective solve social problems and conflicts in the society (Wong, & Motha, 2007). In most cases, adult language learning usually takes place either through formal instructions or through interaction with individuals who speak the second language (MacLeod, & Stoel-Gammon, 2010). In addition, it is also clear from various educational based studies that L1 languages provide background support and language learning principles that individuals mostly use in order to acquire L2 languages (Guijarro-Fuentes, 2013).  According to various psychological and educational based studies and publications it is true that learning and acquisition of foreign languages promote individual decision-making process and human reasoning capabilities (Christian, Howard, & Loeb, 2000).  In that sense, those who are able to speak multiple languages also have the ability to think rationally, critically and to make rational decisions in the society (Kluger, 2013). Despite this, there are various challenges and problems that individuals usually face in the process of learning and acquiring L2 languages (Cleveland, Laroche, & Papadopoulos, 2015).  There are also various misconceptions based on bilingualism including the fear that multiple languages may interfere with the learner’s first language skills due to language confusion especially among young children (Byers-Heinlein, & Garcia, 2015).  Other also argue that bilingual individuals lack proper reading and writing skills due to high confusion and challenges faced in learning and acquiring foreign languages (Byers-Heinlein, & Garcia, 2015).

Therefore, this research-based paper will mainly focus on the analysis of Rachael Jukarainen bilingual biography based on her personal experiences towards learning and acquisition of multiple languages such Japanese, Finnish language and Mandarin Chinese language in the society. The paper major findings and results will mainly be based on an interview with Rachael Jukarainen about her personal multilingual experiences and attitudes in her life including her schooling activities and other social life.

The Purpose of the Interview

The main purpose and objective of this research based paper and interview is to provide analysis and a bilingual biography of Rachael Jukarainen based on her journey and broad experiences towards learning of multiple languages and other L2 acquisitions such as Mandarin Chinese, Finnish language as well as Japanese language. The paper will also illustrate and describe several bilingualism and bicultural identity factors based on the findings and results of Rachael Jukarainen interview, narrative, and multilingual story. The major findings and results of this paper will mainly based on Rachael Jukarainen multilingual, bicultural and personal attitudes and experiences towards Chinese language learning, Japanese language learning as well as her personal experiences towards Finish language learning. Finally, the paper will predict Rachael Jukarainen future in language learning and her possibility of culture identity change in future based on her wide personal journey and motivation towards learning multiple languages in her life.

Rachael Jukarainen Multilingual Background and Experiences

Rachael Jukarainen is USA based citizen especially from Michigan, and she is currently married to a man from Finland. Three years ago she moved to USA from Danshui, Taiwan and she is currently living in United States of America.  Furthermore, Rachael Jukarainen native language is American English since her parents only know English. Despite this, her parents encouraged her to embrace different types of languages from various ethnic backgrounds based on their Christian religious beliefs and principles. According to their parents, all individuals are equal in the society regardless of their race, ethnicity and gender. This motivated and encouraged her to value language diversity, and she is currently able to speak and understand Mandarin Chinese, Japanese as well as Finnish languages.  According to her she has been speaking Mandarin Chinese since early 2011 when she was in Junior College in the United States of America. However, she later moved to Taiwan where she was exposed to the Mandarin Chinese language in her various daily activities including her social life aspects with friends. This created a good environmental condition and effective atmosphere for her to learn and acquire the L2 quickly. Initially, her main aim and purpose of learning Mandarin Chinese was to allow her to connect and communicate with the Taiwanese friends and people in the society.  Rachael Jukarainen has strong Christian based background and faith thus she believes in helping others. In Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese language is widely spoken, and this motivated her to learn the language.

Based on her schooling activities, her K-12 foreign language studies and classes mainly involved four years of Spanish learning including one year in elementary school, two years in middle school, and one year in high school. The foreign language classes in their K-12 grades were compulsory. However, during her K-12 grades and classes she had no interest learning Spanish language. The majority of her teachers in the school were mainly from Hispanic social backgrounds, and the Spanish course was taught in their teacher’s native languages and experiences. Moreover, the textbooks used in their learning and teaching of Spanish mainly involve native Spanish grammar, sentences constructions, and vocabulary. The teachers were also able to speak English. Their classes also involve a lot of memorization of Spanish grammar and vocabularies. According to Rachael Jukarainen, she was very shy scared  towards using Spanish language at that time, and this made her forgot almost all the Spanish languages that she learned in K-12 grades and school. Rachael Jukarainen also agreed that she was very shy and lack interest in learning the Spanish language at that time. This can be attributed to the poor L2 acquisition and learning conditions that were provided in their K-12 grades and schools. Due to these poor L2 learning conditions in their K-12 grades, she barely can remember and speak Spanish language. In that sense, K-12 education systems should provide good learning conditions in order to promote bilingual students. This includes hiring of well trained teachers and provision of proper textbooks for foreign language learning.

Major Findings and Results based on Rachael Jukarainen Interview

Based on the interview with Rachael Jukarainen, it is clear that Rachael Jukarainen is a multilingual and bicultural USA based citizen married to a Finland man. Three years ago she was living in Danshui in Taiwan but she is currently living in United States of America. She is multilingual since she can speak and understand Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Finnish language.  Despite this, her native language is English, and her parents only know English. According to her, she managed to acquire and learn multiple languages based on her parents encouragement to value social and cultural diversity in the society. Her parents believed that all individuals are equal in the society regardless of their ethnic groups, race, cultural backgrounds and gender. This motivated her to embrace a number of languages in the society in her life as well as to value social life. This has allowed her to learn many second languages especially from her Junior College level studies where she began learning Mandarin Chinese course. Later she moved to Taiwan where she was exposed to a number of daily users of Mandarin Chinese language by her friends and other individuals in Taiwan society. Furthermore, Mandarin Chinese is the official and common language of communication in Taiwan and she had to learn it in order to communicate with other Taiwanese people in the society. It is also clear that the availability of high number of individuals speaking Mandarin Chinese language promoted her acquisition of the language in Taiwan. Therefore, second language acquisition requires good learning environment and proper social conditions for learning.  Teachers should aim at providing good learning environments in order to motivate their learners to acquire foreign languages.

Rachael Jukarainen also argues that her L2 language skills such as speaking, writing, listening and reading are not at the same levels especially due to her return to the United States. This is because her reading and writing skills have reduced while her speaking and listening skills are still at the same level. This clearly indicates that writing and reading skills and proficiency in L2 or foreign languages mainly depend on an individual practice and environment. For example, in United States she rarely reads and writes using L2 languages. However, she still managed to keep Chinese and Taiwanese friends and her continued interaction and conversation with them has managed her to maintain her L2 speaking and listening skills. She also asserts that due to low L2 practicing and writing procedures she had forgotten a number of L2 patterns and word or sentence construction formulas including the stroke patterns used in Mandarin Chinese language sentence constructions.

Moreover, Rachael Jukarainen posits that in the United States of America she had no contact with Spanish speakers while she was growing up. This is because only their language teachers were able to speak Spanish language well. She also had no interest in improving her L2 language skills at that time. She also had poor language skills at the time compared to when she wanted to acquire and learn Mandarin Chinese language.  Furthermore, she was only exposed to the Chinese language for the first time during her college studies. However, after one year she departed to Taiwan where she managed to learn various skills of acquiring Mandarin Chinese language.  It is also clear that she gained interest towards learning Mandarin Chinese while she was still staying in United States of America. However, the major problem and challenge she was facing while learning the language in USA include pronunciation problems. According to her, she had to construct her tongue in order to make some meaningful sounds in Mandarin Chinese, and this took her a lot of time to do.  Despite this, she was mostly practicing and asking for help from various language specialists in the country. It is also true that they were using English as well as small bits of Chinese language in the United States.

In addition, while in Taiwan she managed to involve ninety percent of her conversations in Mandarin Chinese language and this promoted her acquisition and learning of the language. She managed to improve her Mandarin language competence and proficiency while in Taiwan. She could construct high-quality sentences and understand various vocabularies in Mandarin language. She also involved in regular practice and repetition of difficult Mandarin Chinese vocabularies and words. This later promoted her attitude towards learning Mandarin Chinese language, and she later took some Mandarin Chinese language courses in the city especially those designed for foreigners in Taiwan. She did this in the first six months of her stay in Taiwan, and this largely improved her language learning skills. According to her, she could only say simple words such as greetings at first but later developed the ability to involve in deeper conversations in Mandarin Chinese language.  In that sense, it clear that her brain later developed and she was able to acquire complex words and vocabularies in Mandarin Chinese language with time.

According to her, she believes that she is more than a multilingual since only her reading and writing skills has reduced while her speaking and listening skills are still good. She also a strong believer in Christian based doctrines and accepts Jesus as her Savior. Her main aim and objective in life is to promote and share the love of God with others in the society.

Her multilingual story can be traced back to her desire and urge to go to Taiwan. Due to this urge and desire, she prayed a lot for God to allow her go to Taiwan and accomplish His purposes and Will.  Despite this, she had financial problems, and the goal of going to Taiwan seemed impossible to her. However, one week after her continuous praying she received a phone call from her friend who told her to go their office.  Her friend also informed her that there was a Christian based couple who was ready to offer him around $1000 to help her move to Taiwan. According to her, this was God’s help to her, and God had a mission to send her to Taiwan. She later used the $1000 financial support to start a fundraising activity to push her need for going to Taiwan. Four months later she managed to go to Taiwan, and this is where she developed more desire to learn Mandarin Chinese language. She also began to embrace and value cultural diversity in the society and showed love to various individuals in Taiwan society.

Today, Rachael Jukarainen can speak and understand United States of America English, Mandarin Chinese as well as Finnish and Japanese languages. According to her, the main factors that promoted her multilingual diversity and skills include her good social life skills. For example, her best friend is from Japan, and she is married to a man from Finland.  Her Mandarin Chinese language skills proficiency and competent is also based on her stay in Taiwan for some time and her ability to interact with various individuals in the society.

There are various challenges and problems that Rachael Jukarainen has encountered in the process of learning and acquiring these foreign languages including tongue problems especially after the beginning of pronunciation of some Mandarin Chinese words.  Memorization and regular practice which is time-consuming also form some of the challenges that Rachael Jukarainen faced in the process of acquiring these foreign languages. However, she supports that due to her desire and urge to learn these languages she found learning them easier at last.

According to her opinions and perspectives, she believes that the K-12 grade schools do not have proper and equal environmental conditions for bilingual students to learn multiple languages in the society.  She also argues that the acquisition and learning of foreign languages United States of America depends majorly in the local region and states. For example, she supports that regions such as Texas and Miami provide good and fair environment for bilingual students especially those who are interested in learning Spanish and English languages.  She also asserts that college education systems and environments should promote learning of foreign languages since most individuals from different cultural backgrounds and social, ethnic groups usually get the opportunity to learn together in colleges.  In that sense, education planner and K-12 school management systems should provide equal and fair environment for bilingual students in the society. Bilingual students should also embrace good social skills including towards making new friendships with individuals from different cultural backgrounds (De Bruin, Treccani, & Della Sala, 2015). Parents also play a major role towards motivating their children to acquire new foreign languages. Therefore, parents should aim at encouraging their children to adopt and embrace good language skills in the society. This will encourage bilingual students to desire and interest towards the acquisition and learning of foreign languages in the society.

Bilingualism and Bicultural Identity

Bilingualism refers to individual’s ability to understand and use two languages (Byers-Heinlein, & Garcia, 2015).  In most cases, bilingual individuals in the society can effectively express themselves using two languages. For example, in the case of Rachael Jukarainen she can fully express herself in both English and mandarin Chinese language.  The need for bilingual operations and activities usually vary from individual to individual in the society (Mitsunori, 2000). For example, in the case Rachael Jukarainen her main desire to learn two or more languages was based on her desire to spread the love of God and promote cultural diversity in various countries globally.  Furthermore, a number of research base studies and reports indicate that bilingual individuals are not necessarily perfect and competent towards the use of foreign languages especially due to various challenges and problems including L1 interferences (De Houwer, 2015).  Furthermore, achieving native competency and proficiency in the writing, reading as well as speaking and listening to foreign languages is usually very difficult and challenging (Gonzalez, 2012). In that sense, schools and education policy makers should provide proper environmental conditions that can encourage bilingual students to learn and acquire L2. Bilingual students should also develop high consistency, commitment and creativity towards learning new languages (Gibson, & Carrasco, 2009). Educational based studies also indicate that bilingualism can be achieved by different individuals at different stages of their life (Metis, 2008).  However, accent problems usually face adult bilingual individuals in the process of acquiring their L2 languages (Gibson, & Carrasco, 2009).

There are various advantages of acquiring bilingualism in the society. For example, it allows individuals and students to connect to a larger global cultural activities and values (Frost, Siegelman, Narkiss, & Afek, 2013). Bilingualism also promotes cognitive abilities of individuals and also reduces and controls Alzheimer disease negative language impacts (De Bruin, Treccani, & Della Sala, 2015).  Furthermore, bilingual students and individuals can multitask in their daily activities and operations (Gibson, & Carrasco, 2009).    It is also clear from a number of research-based studies and reports that being bilingual provides individuals with the linguistic devices of acquiring and learning multiple languages (Deacon, & Cain, 2011).

However, the concept of bicultural identity mainly refers to the ability of an individual to adapt to a particular cultural behaviors and beliefs based on his social, ethnic and age group (Gibson, & Carrasco, 2009).   For example, in the case of Rachael Jukarainen her cultural identity is based on her strong Christian norms and values. This has improved her positively especially towards her view of life in general. Recent research studies also indicate that language form one of the factors that promotes the cultural identity of individuals in the society (Cedden, & ?im?ek, 2014).   This is because cultural values and norms are mostly expressed through language (Mitsunori, 2000).

Language Identity

Historically, language was one of the factors that were mostly used in order to indicate the identity of individuals in the society. For example, those who speak Chinese were regarded as individuals from China. However, today different languages are used by various individuals globally. In most cases, individual identity includes their nationality, race, ethnicity, social status as well as their gender and age. According to various research based studies and reports, it is clear that people can change their identity based on the context. For example, in the case of Rachael Jukarainen she managed to change her identity in Kuwait by learning Mandarin Chinese language in order to fit in the society.

There are also personal identities that define how people talk and behave in the society.  Furthermore, it is clear that Rachael Jukarainen can effectively involve in code-switching due to her diverse knowledge and understanding of Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and English language. Language identity also plays a vital role towards individual social relationships. For example, Rachael Jukarainen has been able to keep a number of different friends including Japanese and Finland based social friends due to her multiple languages skills. Language identity defines individual’s socio-cultural perspectives and their personal views in the society.  For example, based on Rachael Jukarainen religious beliefs her main intention of acquiring many languages is to spread the love of God to all in the society.  In that sense, the language that people use forms an important part of their identity. A number of research based studies and reports also indicate that language has been used in various Christian based societies in order to spread religious activities and ideologies. Moreover, social groups and classes in various societies are mostly based on language identity factors.  For example, Rachael Jukarainen believes that she is an American citizen since her native language is English.

In that sense, language teaching and learning should be taught based on the learner’s social and cultural identities.  Languages are subject to change and teachers should promote bilingualism and other second language acquisition systems in the society.  Second language acquisition and language education can be promoted through proper language identity of the learners. Social dimensions, historical aspects as well as cultural contexts are some of the important factors that should be considered by teachers in the process of second language learning and teaching process. Learner’s desire and commitment to learn a new language can also promote the acquisition of L2 languages.

Rachael Jukarainen Culture Identity Change and Future in Language Learning

Rachael Jukarainen also agrees that the acquisition of multiple languages such as Mandarin Chinese has changed her life and built her social and cultural identity. For example, due her multiple language skills she can communicate and connect with individuals from different communities including Chinese, Japanese and individuals from Finland. According to her, it is important that individuals managed to learn more two languages in order to promote their social skills and ability to make new friends and share ideas in the global society. Learning foreign languages also promote the appreciation of other people’s cultures and values in the society.  Furthermore, Rachael Jukarainen argues that learning multiple languages provide students and individuals in the society with the opportunity to work in different regions globally.

However, according to Rachael Jukarainen she believes that she is a child and citizen of God’s Kingdom and her aim is to promote cultural diversity and various God’s values in life. She believes in Jesus Christ as the savior of her life and her main desire and mission in life is to share the love of God to all in the society. Therefore, she believes that her multilingual abilities will allow her to achieve this mission. She is also planning to learn more foreign languages in future in order to reach the promotion of God’s love to a number of communities globally.

Conclusion and recommendations

In conclusion, it is evident from this research paper that bilingualism and multicultural involves the application and use of more than one language by individuals in the society. Based on the Rachael Jukarainen interview, it is clear that Rachael Jukarainen is a multilingual since she can effectively understand and speaks Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Finnish as well as American English language. There are various factors that have promoted Rachael Jukarainen learning and acquisition of foreign languages including her good social skills, her exposure to Taiwan cultures and environments and her parental encouragement and reinforcements. According to Rachael Jukarainen, there are various challenges and problems that individuals usually face towards learning of foreign languages. However, consistency, commitment and provision of proper learning environments can encourage individuals to learn and acquire foreign languages. There are various advantages of learning and acquiring multiple languages including increasing individual’s problem-solving skills and cognitive abilities.  Furthermore, multiple language skills also promote rational and critical thinking skills of individuals in the society. In that sense, it is imperative that schools develop better policies and new language learning environments in order to encourage children and students to learn foreign languages. This will promote students memory skills, listening skills as well as reading and writing skills. K-12 grade schools should also ensure that all students receive fair and equal opportunities for learning foreign languages. This will provide the students with the capability to multi-task and to connect with the global society.  Promotion of cultural diversity is important in college education institutions as this will promote the bilingualism systems of students in schools. The acquisition of multiple languages will also allow the students to appreciate other people’s cultural values and social norms in the society. Schools should also hire competent and professional teachers from different cultural backgrounds in order to promote and encourage children to acquire and learn foreign languages. Language is one of the communication aspects that can be used promoting cultural diversity and cultural identity of various individuals in the society.

References

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Gibson, M. A., & Carrasco, S. (2009). The Education of Immigrant Youth: Some Lessons from the U.S. and Spain. Theory into Practice, 48(4), 249-257.

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Interview transcript

Your narrative:

Hello. My name is Rachael Jukarainen. I am originally from Michigan, USA. I am married to a man from Finland, and 3 years ago I moved back to USA from living in Danshui, Taiwan.

Language:

What is your native language? Are your parents bilingual or multilingual? What influence on language learning have you received from them?

My native language is American English. My parents only know English. They encouraged me to embracing/respecting people from every ethnic group because we are all equal and people’s diversity is beautiful.

How many second languages (L2s) have you learned? How many years did it take to learn them? And from what age or what grade? In what context did you learn them? From school, family or friends? What is your purpose of learning L2s? Why did you choose that language as your L2s?

I have proficiency level of Mandarin Chinese, and beginning level of Finnish and Japanese. I have been speaking Mandarin since 2011 (since Junior in College). I began to learn the language from a very basic Chinese course, which ultimately did not help me learn much. Once I moved to Taiwan, the exposure and daily life conversations/travel/making friends created the perfect atmosphere for me to learn quickly. The main purpose of learning was so that I could connect with the Taiwanese people. If I didn’t know the language, I could not survive and nothing would come out of my time in Taiwan. I wanted to be able to connect with people’s hearts and lives on a deep level and that required more than speaking English. I chose Mandarin as the language to learn because of where I was taken in life. Taiwan was where I went, and Mandarin was readily available for me to learn.

Are your language skills all at the same level of each L2, i.e. speaking, listening, reading, and writing? If not, which skills are better than the rest? In your mind, what are the reasons for that?

Since coming back to USA, my reading and writing skills have decreased and my speaking and listening skills have stood still. The reason is that I have continued to make Chinese and Taiwanese friends and am in continued conversations with them. However, my reading and writing skills haven’t been needed and I haven’t been practicing. I believe I could probably still read quite a bit, but writing has been decreasing even more. I have forgotten the stroke patterns for so many words.

Schooling:

If you had any second language learning experience in your K-12 grades, please describe your foreign language classes to me. For example, the instructional period in school, bilingual program or not, what languages did your language teachers and you use in the classroom? Are you willing to speak your L2s out of your foreign language classrooms with your classmates?

My k-12 foreign language classes involved 4 years of Spanish: 1 year from elementary school, 2 years from middle school, and 1 year from high school. These classes were a requirement and I had no interest in Spanish at the time. The teachers were typically from a Hispanic country and the course was taught from their native language experience and also a textbook for the grammar/vocabulary learning. They would typically speak 60% English and 40% Spanish. We would often have language conversation practice as well as lots of memorization of grammar and vocabulary. I unfortunately forgot most of my Spanish and regrettably will probably not remember any of the material unless I was to live in a Hispanic speaking country. At that time, I was shy with my language use of Spanish and that is one reason I don’t remember much.

In America, did you ever have contact with native speakers of that language besides your teachers and classmates? Are you willing to talk to native speakers of that language, and even hang out with them? Are there some difficulties during interaction? How did deal with these problems? What language did you use mostly when you hang out with foreign friends from your L2s communities?

I unfortunately had no contact with any Spanish speakers growing up. My language teacher was the only one and that is probably why my language skills were poor and I had no interest in getting better. As far as my Chinese language exposure, I had absolutely none growing up. Once I got to college, I was only exposed and made friends with people from Chinese backgrounds 1 year before departing to Taiwan. And my exposure to Chinese people did spark interest in learning their language because I wanted to show them I care about them. As I began to learn the language while here in USA, the biggest difficulty I had was the pronunciation. I had to reconstruct my tongue in order to make the sounds correctly and it took me a long time to do that. I dealt with this probably by constantly practicing and asking for criticism from them. While in USA, the language we used the most was English with small bits and pieces of Chinese.

Out of America, what are your experiences about that language?

It wasn’t until I was in Taiwan where 90% of the conversations were in Mandarin did my language skills take off and enhance in quality and understanding. Every day I would learn new vocabulary and practice it repetitively. There were opportunities everywhere to learn. I was overwhelmed with excitement to use my skills as they slowly gained altitude. I also took some language courses in the city especially designed for foreigners and this had incredible impact on my language learning for the first 6 months. I went from only being able to say simple greetings to having deep conversations in only that first 6 months. The second 6 months my language skills increased even more dramatically. My brain seemed to have clicked into the atmosphere’s language and I felt my mind open up to the language. It was an amazing experience.

How do you define yourself? Multi-lingual or multi-literate? Why?

I consider myself more multilingual because my reading and writing skills have decreased while my speaking and listening skills haven’t really changed.

Who are you?

I am Rachael Elizabeth Jukarainen. An American who follows Jesus and longs to share God’s love with others.

What’s your multilingual story?

My multilingual story begins with a longing to go to Taiwan for longer than a month. I secretly asked God (telling no one) if going to Taiwan was something He wanted me to do, and if so, please make it happen. I had no financial savings and it seemed like an impossible venture. One week after praying continuously, I received a phone call from a friend that I must come to their office immediately. He told me that there were a couple people who hear from God to offer me $1000 because they think God was sending me somewhere. I immediately started crying and couldn’t believe that my secret prayer actually was answered. This $1000 began my fundraising efforts, and 4 months later, I was in Taiwan. My time in Taiwan changed everything. My longing to connect with the local people and share God’s love made a huge difference. My mind opened up to the language and I felt like a sponge soaking in everything.

How many languages can you speak? I speak USA English, Mandarin, and beginning levels of Finnish and Japanese.

How do you pick up them? Taiwan: living there, Japanese: best friend is from Japan, Finnish: because my husband is from Finland.

Is it difficult for you to get there? It took much time and energy, but difficult isn’t the word I would use. I would use the words “Challenging and Rewarding Endeavor” instead.

What do you think is the biggest challenge on your journey of language learning? My biggest challenge on my language learning journey included the beginning stages. There was a lot of tongue shape changing to practice and a whole lot of Chinese characters to practice and memorize. After I built a foundation of the language, the rest was a lot easier.

Do you think the school creates a fair and equal environment for bilingual students like you? K-12 does not truly create a fair/equal environment for bilingual students for the most part. It really depends on where you live. Places in Texas, and then Miami have good bilingual (Spanish/English) environments, but for the most part, my experience was quite limited. College is different. People from all over the world come and the opportunities to learn these many languages and practice them open up like a waterfall.

What makes it easier for you to learn? The environment in Taiwan made it easier for me to learn the language. Since I couldn’t rely on English, I needed Mandarin to survive and make friends. The support was there from the locals, who saw my efforts and encouraged me. Every day was rewarding as I continued to learn new things and have more meaningful conversations with those around me.

Do you think acquisition of multiple language help build your identity? The acquisition of Mandarin changed my life. I am a different person now. I feel like I can connect with others on a deeper level and I have more appreciation for people on the rest of the planet. So many people on the rest of the planet need to learn at least 3 languages. It is amazing to me. Before, I didn’t appreciate my English language skills. I realize now that if I had to learn English as my second language, it would be quite difficult. English is complicated. I am grateful to have known it first. I also see myself as more of a global citizen. I connect with international students far more easily because I now understand what it is like to be the foreigner in a new land. Being in Taiwan and learning Mandarin opened my eyes to a whole new way of seeing things.

How do you view your own identity? I am a citizen of the God’s kingdom, here on this Earth to celebrate diversity and appreciate all cultures. I am a follower of Jesus who longs to share His love with all people. God’s mission is to bring all the nations to Himself, and I feel honored to be able to join this mission. My multilingual abilities will hopefully come into play with this mission. My hope is to be able to learn much other language depending on where I am to live in the future. I hope to be a multi-linguistic ambassador for the Lord.