U.S. Culture Shocks As A Taiwanese Immigrant ft. Crystal Hsia | Real You Mandarin Podcast EP02

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When Crystal Hsia and I sat down to record this episode, I thought we'd just swap a few funny stories about life in the U.S. versus Taiwan, but what actually happened was a real conversation about the invisible rules we all navigate, whether we grew up here or moved here, and how hard it is to talk about any of it in Mandarin.

What We Mean When We Say "Culture Shock"

One of the first things Crystal and I realized is that even the phrase "culture shock" is tricky to translate. We landed on 文化差異 / 文化差异 / wén huà chā yì / cultural difference, because the more direct translation (文化衝擊 / 文化冲击 / wén huà chōng jí / cultural impact) carries a heavier, more negative weight in Chinese than "culture shock" does in English. That kind of nuance is exactly the stuff American-Born Chinese (ABCs) and American-Born Taiwanese (ABTs) miss when we only learned Chinese at home. We know basic words, but the subtle connotations between similar terms are where we get stuck.

Crystal is a Mandarin teacher who currently works for USC. She moved from Taiwan to the Bay Area in 2015, and has been teaching Chinese for nearly fifteen years. Her main students are heritage speakers, people like us, so she really gets the gap between what we already know and what we still need.

The Classroom Culture Shock That Changed Everything

The biggest culture shock Crystal shared was about asking questions. In Taiwan's education system, at least in her generation, the teacher would ask "any questions?" at the end of class and everyone knew the correct answer was silence. Having a question meant you weren't smart enough. You didn't understand. Something was wrong with you.

Then she got to a U.S. graduate program and her professor pulled her aside to ask why she never spoke in class. Crystal told him she'd done all the readings and understood everything. His response? "If you don't ask questions, I have no way of knowing what your understanding actually is." Meanwhile, her American classmates were raising their hands left and right, not because they didn't know the material, but because asking questions was how you showed you'd done the work. Crystal even asked a classmate once, "do you really not know the answer?" and they said, "of course I know. I just want the teacher to see that I studied."

For those of us who grew up with Asian parents, this hits close to home. Even if English is our first language, many of us absorbed that same instinct: stay quiet, don't make waves, 乖乖做事就好 / guāi guāi zuò shì jiù hǎo / just keep your head down and do your work. Crystal pointed out that even ABCs she knows carry that pattern, not because of their own schooling, but because of their parents' influence at home.

Speaking Up at Work
(為自己發聲 / 为自己发声 / wèi zì jǐ fā shēng)

The conversation shifted to something that matters even more as adults: advocating for yourself at work. Crystal described how in Taiwan, if your boss asks you to do something, you do it. You pull all-nighters. You never push back. And you certainly never tell anyone how hard you work, because that's just what you're paid to do.

In the U.S., she learned the hard way that if you don't tell people what you've accomplished, nobody notices. No one is going to applaud you and say, "wow, you worked so hard, here's a raise." You have to 為自己發聲 / 为自己发声 / wèi zì jǐ fā shēng / speak up for yourself. Crystal mentioned a Taiwanese saying that perfectly captures this: 會吵的孩子有糖吃 / 会吵的孩子有糖吃 / huì chǎo de hái zi yǒu táng chī, which translates to "the noisy child gets the candy." The American equivalent? "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

What struck me during this conversation was how Crystal, a Taiwanese immigrant, and I, an ABC, have both struggled with the same thing from different angles. She felt she couldn't speak up because English wasn't her first language. Many of us feel we can't speak up because, even though English is our first language, our parents raised us with values that prioritize humility and not causing trouble for others. Either way, the result is the same: we stay quiet when we shouldn't. But now that we know those old patterns, we're done with all that!

Key Vocab From This Episode

文化差異 / 文化差异 · wén huà chā yì (cultural difference)

教育體制 / 教育体制 · jiào yù tǐ zhì (education system)

為自己發聲 / 为自己发声 · wèi zì jǐ fā shēng (to speak up for yourself / to advocate for yourself)

加薪 · jiā xīn (pay raise / salary increase)

升職 / 升职 · shēng zhí (job promotion)

過勞 / 过劳 · guò láo (overworked / burnout)

熬夜 · áo yè (to stay up late / to pull an all-nighter)

爭取 / 争取 · zhēng qǔ (to fight for / to pursue what you deserve)

These are all words from the actual episode, not textbook vocabulary, but the kind of words that come up when you're talking about real life in Mandarin.

Ready to Go Deeper?

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