When I was younger, I often hated getting up every Saturday to go to Chinese school. After all, in Australia, everyone was expected to read, write and speak English. What would be the point of learning a language that would not be advantageous to me in the immediate sense? To that, my mother responded that unless I underwent plastic surgery, I would be expected to attend Chinese school every Saturday to learn my mother tongue (to be honest, there were some days that I wish I did have plastic surgery so that I could look more caucasian).

For a good long while, I resented her for it. In my young mind, there was almost no advantage. Yes, I might have been able to make a few new friends outside of my usual circle of acquaintances at primary and high school – but what else could I have been doing in those three hours?  

It didn’t make sense. For all intents and purposes, I was great at speaking. Having my grandmother living with us forced me to speak Chinese (Mandarin) to her day in and day out. So what if I couldn’t read and write? 

Nevertheless, I went and attended Chinese school for 12 years at my family’s expense. And for my efforts, my skills were barely at elementary level when it came to reading and free-style writing. At least with typing, I can sound out the pinyin and then recognise the word that I want to use. 

Looking back, though, I’m thankful for my mother’s obstinate demand that I attend Chinese school. Though I’m still hopeless at reading anything beyond simple characters, I’ve come to realise how important it is to be bilingual. And, in many cases, learn about the stories culture that is my birthright. 

One of the news articles I was reading recently spoke about the regret of so many people that threw away their mother tongue when growing up in the Western world. This is particularly prevalent for fourth or fifth generation because many of their grandparents can speak English. I also strongly believe that individuals that predominantly come from Europe should also use these opportunities to gift their children with the ability to speak another language. It gives them a new way to communicate and I, to be perfectly frank, wish I could have learned more.

(I keep telling myself to learn Auslan but my time has been consumed by other hobbies and interests. ONE OF THESE DAYS!)

More important than a form of communication, language can also serve as the bridge to learning about one’s culture. Growing up, my grandmother would often tell me her own truncated and paraphrased stories of The Three Kingdoms and the occasional legends of Sun Wu Kong – the Monkey King. With some of my relatives in China, when I ever visited them, I’d also be exposed to the 1986 Journey to the West. Now, I’ll admit, I haven’t watched Netflix’s The New Adventures of Monkey but I somehow doubt they’ll hold a candle to what I expect the show to be like.

And because of the fact that I straddle both cultures, I can appreciate the movie Over the Moon with its earnest attempt at adapting the story of Chang’e or the Ne Zha film that came out a couple of years back.

In fact, sometimes I wished I had learned more about China’s myths and legends.  For many years I’d concentrated too much on Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology with little regard to the myriad of tales that could be told from my own ethnic background. Much of what I now know are scattered bits and pieces of lore from a variety of sources. Some of it has been anime because there just happened to be something about the four Chinese constellation. Others I’ve picked up because of a few films here and there like the Lotus Lantern. And while I may not like Kylie Chan’s writing style, the fact that her books were primarily focused on Chinese mythology were enough to draw my attention.

Even those from an English-speaking background should take out to learn a language. There is something empowering about being able to speak something that other’s might struggle with. In my current and previous jobs, being able to speak Chinese has been a boon, even if it’s as something as simple as directing someone to the toilet. 

As times have shifted, a lot of what my mother told me when I was young still hold true to this day. There have been many times I’ve been approached. And because I’ve been able to speak (relatively) fluently, I’ve been able to help others in need.

Now, I just need eke out some time from my very busy schedule of video games, writing, reading and watching Netflix to learn something new. It’s not enough to know only a few phrases in French and Japanese or gesticulate wildly to people that might be hard of hearing.This is my moment to seize my chance and start upon another linguistic journey (and also so that I can just eavesdrop on other people’s conversations without them being any the wiser).