Fertility & Parenting in Mandarin ft. Crystal Hsia: What ABCs Actually Need to Know | Real You Mandarin Podcast EP12

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When Crystal and I sat down to talk about fertility and parenting for this episode, we both knew this was going to be one of the most important conversations we've had on the podcast. These are topics that so many of us need to discuss with our families in Chinese, whether it's about our own fertility journey, raising bilingual kids, or navigating generational differences in parenting styles. And yet, these might be the topics where our Mandarin fails us the most.

The Vocabulary Gap That Hits Hardest at Home

This episode covers the third module of our Self-Expression course, 生育與教養 / 生育与教养 / shēng yù yǔ jiào yǎng / fertility and parenting. And honestly, making this one felt personal. A lot of the American-Born Chinese (ABCs) and American-Born Taiwanese (ABTs) who follow Real You Mandarin are in their thirties and forties. This is the stage of life where conversations about having kids, raising kids, and dealing with your parents' opinions about both of those things become unavoidable.

One of the most interesting things Crystal brought up is that this isn't just a language gap. It's a generational gap layered on top of a cultural gap. Concepts like 溫和教養 / 温和教养 / wēn hé jiào yǎng / gentle parenting didn't exist in our parents' generation. The word itself is relatively new in Mandarin. So when you try to explain to your mom or dad why you're parenting differently than they did, it's not just that you don't know the Chinese words. It's that the concepts themselves might not translate into their worldview. Crystal joked that if you mentioned gentle parenting to some parents, they'd respond with "can you eat that?" It got a laugh, but it's also real.

We also spent time talking about fertility, specifically how the conversation around reproductive medicine has shifted in Taiwan and in Chinese-speaking communities more broadly. Crystal shared that when she was building this module, she actually consulted with friends working in reproductive medicine in Taiwan. Even just a decade ago, topics like IVF carried stigma. The attitude was: if you need medical help to have a baby, something must be wrong with you. But that's changing, and having the vocabulary to talk about it matters, especially if you're going back to Taiwan for treatment and need to communicate with doctors and family.

One of the key reasons we decided to create this course content was for the parents who came to Real You Mandarin specifically because they wanted to raise bilingual kids. They grew up speaking Chinese at home, let it slide as adults, and then suddenly had children and realized: if my Chinese isn't good enough, how will I teach it to my kids? That motivation, wanting to pass the language on to the next generation, is one of the most powerful reasons people find us. And it's why this module covers not just fertility vocabulary but also everyday parenting language, from bedtime stories to setting boundaries with your own parents about how you're raising your children.

Crystal made a point that I really loved. She said that even if you can't perfectly replicate every sentence from a lesson, just getting closer to the language, just feeling like Chinese isn't so out of reach, is what matters. We're not robots. The goal is to feel more comfortable, not to be perfect.

Key Vocab From This Episode

生育 | shēng yù (fertility / childbearing)

教養 / 教养 | jiào yǎng (parenting / upbringing)

溫和教養 / 温和教养 | wēn hé jiào yǎng (gentle parenting)

生殖醫學 / 生殖医学 | shēng zhí yī xué (reproductive medicine)

試管嬰兒 / 试管婴儿 | shì guǎn yīng ér (IVF / test-tube baby)

世代之間 / 世代之间 | shì dài zhī jiān (between generations / generational)

沈浸式 / 沉浸式 | chén jìn shì (immersion, i.e., immersion school)

動機 / 动机 | dòng jī (motivation / motive)

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.

Shoutout to Crystal Hsia, who poured her heart into researching and building this module, and who makes every conversation feel honest and grounded.

Ready to Go Deeper?

If this episode resonated with you and you want to go deeper, this is exactly the kind of content we cover in our course Real You Mandarin: Self-Expression. It's 5 modules, 43 video lessons, and 1300+ flashcards covering everything from expressing your emotions and navigating interpersonal relationships to parenting, aging parents, and self-growth. Basically, all the conversations that actually matter in your life.

Not sure if it's for you yet? Try a free lesson first. No commitment, just a taste of what learning Mandarin can feel like when the content is actually relevant to your life.

Get the Full Transcript

Want the full transcript of this episode in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Pinyin, and English with key vocab highlighted? Check out our Podcast Transcript Membership. Or download the free EP1 transcript to see what it's like.

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