Reverse Culture Shocks As A Taiwanese Immigrant ft. Crystal Hsia | Real You Mandarin Podcast EP03

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When Crystal Hsia and I sat down for this episode, it was actually part two of a conversation we'd started in the previous episode about U.S. culture shocks. This time, we flipped it: after living in America for ten years, what shocks Crystal when she goes back to Taiwan? Turns out, quite a lot

The Switch That Flips When You Go "Home"

Crystal described something that really resonated with me. She said going back to Taiwan feels like flipping a 開關 / 开关 / kāi guān / a switch. There's a "Taiwan Crystal" and a "U.S. Crystal," and the transition between them happens almost instantly. In Taiwan, she speaks more quietly, uses fewer gestures, cares more about how she looks. In the U.S., she 放飛自我 / 放飞自我 / fàng fēi zì wǒ / lets herself go, says what she wants, and generally feels freer to express herself.

For American-Born Chinese (ABCs) and American-Born Taiwanese (ABTs), this kind of code-switching is something we know well, just from the other direction. We do it between home and school, between talking to our parents and talking to our friends. Crystal called it 身份的轉換 / 身份的转换 / shēn fèn de zhuǎn huàn / identity switching, and hearing her name it in Chinese gave me a new way to think about something I've always felt but never had the vocabulary for.

Fashion, Appearance, and "Asian Mom Love"

One of the funniest and most relatable moments in this episode was about fashion. Crystal lives in Southern California, where dressing comfortably is basically the culture. Leggings, casual clothes, whatever feels good. But the moment she lands in Taiwan, her mom's first words are: "Did you gain weight again? Are you wearing pajamas?"

Crystal laughed it off as 亞洲父母的愛 / 亚洲父母的爱 / yà zhōu fù mǔ de ài / "Asian parental love." If you grew up with Asian parents, you know exactly what she means. The comments about your weight, your hair, your outfit. It's not malicious, but it is a shock when you've spent years in a culture where nobody comments on your body or appearance.

What surprised me was how Crystal explained her own shift. In Taiwan, she naturally starts caring more about what others think, specifically 別人的眼光 / 别人的眼光 / bié rén de yǎn guāng / how others see you. In the U.S., she barely thinks about it. She described it as a clear behavioral pattern, 行為模式 / 行为模式 / xíng wéi mó shì, that activates depending on where she is. She's not performing. It's just that the environment triggers a different version of herself.

When "Nosy" Means "I Care About You"

We also got into something I found really interesting: the concept of minding other people's business. Crystal shared a story about a student of hers in Taiwan whose neighbor reported his surfboard being stored in the parking garage to building management. In the U.S., that would feel invasive. In Taiwan, it's more complicated.

Crystal used the phrase 愛管閒事 / 爱管闲事 / ài guǎn xián shì / to be nosy, to stick your nose in others' business. But she made the point that sometimes this nosiness comes from genuine care. If something actually happened to you, your neighbors would notice because they're paying attention. The line between "nosy" and "looking out for each other" is blurry, and where you draw it depends on which culture you're standing in at that moment. As ABCs, we tend to default to the American view that minding your own business is a virtue. But hearing Crystal describe the other side of it made me rethink that a little.

The Third Culture Reality

Crystal brought up something called 第三文化的人 / dì sān wén huà de rén / third culture people, and I think it applies to all of us. Whether you're an immigrant who moved to the U.S. as an adult or an ABC who grew up between two worlds, you end up creating a third version of yourself that doesn't fully belong to either culture. Crystal feels it when she's too American for Taiwan and too Taiwanese for America. We feel it when we're too American for our parents and too Asian for our non-Asian peers.

The episode ends with Crystal describing how she now feels more free in expressing herself in the U.S., but when she returns to Taiwan, she instinctively holds back. Hearing her describe that tension in Chinese gave it a weight that I don't think English captures the same way.

Key Vocab From This Episode

風格 / 风格 | fēng gé (style, e.g., fashion style)

行為模式 / 行为模式 | xíng wéi mó shì (behavioral pattern)

愛管閒事 / 爱管闲事 | ài guǎn xián shì (to be nosy / to mind other people's business)

批評 / 批评 | pī píng (to criticize (negative connotation))

評價 / 评价 | píng jià (to judge / to evaluate)

轉換 / 转换 | zhuǎn huàn (to switch / to convert)

距離 / 距离 | jù lí (distance)

欲罷不能 / 欲罢不能 | yù bà bù néng (to be unable to stop once you've started)

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.

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