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Chapter 11:MANDARIN

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I am a master’s level student majoring in speech‐language pathology and also a

sequential Mandarin‐English bilingual speaker. I grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, and finished my

undergraduate schooling there. I began learning English when I was 10 years old, but not until

I came to the U.S. for my master’s program did I truly understand what “English” is. When I

first went to a party here, I did not understand any words that my classmates were speaking,

even though I had been studying English for over 10 years. I felt frustrated and frightened by

the idioms and fast speech rate. However, it is also my classmates who helped me overcome

my fear of English vocabulary and American culture.

As a speech‐language pathology student, I was required to dramatically improve my

English skills in a short period of time. Therefore, I tried various strategies to polish my English

and looked for opportunities to practice. I also participated in an accent modification rotation

in our clinic to change my accent and intonation. This experience not only helped me improve

the language but also let me understand how it feels to be a client sitting in the therapy room.

As a matter of fact, when my professors were talking about the clients’ perspectives and

speech and language struggles, I was thrilled and surprised because I could empathize. It is

exactly how I felt when I went to a party where communication made no sense to me, and I

did not even have the ability to ask for help.

I am fortunate to be supported by so many people. This has increased my

determination to be a bilingual speech‐language pathologist. I am also grateful to be a

bilingual speaker as well as a second‐language learner and hope to build a bridge between

two cultures. I appreciate that I have this opportunity to be immersed in different languages

and cultures, and I’ve never felt negative towards choosing a profession that makes me
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confront so many language challenges. After all, these challenges have prepared me for being

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