Helen Jiang is a first-year student studying plant and microbial biology with a minor in art. Both of Helen’s parents were born in China and emigrated to the United States. She was born and raised in St. Paul.
Byline: By Amelia Roessler (Editor-In-Chief)
“Obviously, I’m influenced by their [her parents] Chinese culture and stuff. And I mean, when I was younger, I was kind of an arrogant kid. I thought I was cool for two languages and being different or whatever from everyone else, because everyone else is white or whatever.
When I first went into preschool and stuff, I didn’t know any English at all. So I was kind of not able to make friends. And apparently my preschool teacher made me watch this Asian version of Dora or something. By third grade, I started to stop speaking Chinese at home, and my parents both still speak Chinese to me, but I reply to them in English. So my understanding of Chinese listening is still okay, only for basic words, though, and speaking is kind of horrible now, unfortunately. So I’m only semi-fluent at this point.
I remember, in first, second, third grade or something, I ended up being pulled out of class to go in to this extra English learning class or something, which I thought was dumb because I don’t know, I thought I was, well, from my perspective, it seemed like I was doing fine. I could understand what people were saying. I could do the assignments or whatever, but they still pulled me out to do extra English practicing.
I didn’t really think that much about it, but now thinking back, I’m like, ‘Oh, so they thought I was a dumb English kid.’ I just thought it was annoying.
And I remember going to China when I was six during Chinese New Year, and then on the streets, there’s a bunch of vendors. And then it was, there’s so much activity and excitement and energy. It’s cool to be able to see that kind of stuff, you know? And feel connected to it.
Right now I feel more American, just white, I don’t know, because obviously, I don’t live with my parents currently. I do have a dorm here, but I’ve been commuting more because I can take the train to head back, and I end up living with my boyfriend who’s still back in Becker, which is in Monticello, about an hour north from here.
One thing that’s kind of funny sometimes is like, there might be certain words that I like in everyday talk where I want to say something, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know the English word for this, but I know the Chinese word for it.’ So it’s just kind of funny sometimes where in those small situations, I don’t actually know the English word but I know the Chinese word. I mean, that happened more when I was younger, but now it’s not as much. That happens usually with vegetables that are eaten more often at home.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview by Amelia Roessler