Growing Up With Immigrant Parents - Part 2 - Episode 39

Welcome to part 2 of Growing Up With Immigrant Parents! This episode is a continuation of our discussion about our experiences being brought up in the U.S. as the children of immigrant parents.

 As we reflect on our journey now through the lens of adults, we realize how fortunate and privileged we are to be given so many opportunities to make our dreams a reality.

We share stories about our struggles with navigating the education system with little to no guidance, translating for our parents at a young age, and the sense of duty we feel to our family because of their sacrifices to give us a better way of life.

We believe that real progress can only be made by learning, understanding and empathizing with others who may be different from us. It is our hope that through telling our stories we can offer a fresh perspective to people who might not otherwise understand what it’s like to be immigrants and perhaps be kinder and treat them better going forward.

0:00 Intro

1:15 Welcome banter

3:29 Start of topic

6:47 Linda’s Immigrant story

10:44 ESL and learning English

12:40 Lunch time trauma

16:04 Language barrier

21:36 The importance of Chinatown

25:17 Navigating the education system

34:07 Have empathy for others

36:21 Obligation to succeed

41:10 Don’t squander your opportunities

45:56 Pay it forward

50:52 Aging parents

55:05 Takeaways & lessons learned