My dad wasn't super happy about it.

我爸爸對此並不太高興。

Hi everyone, my name is Janie.

大家好，我叫珍妮。

My Chinese name is Janie.

我的中文名字叫簡妮。

Born and raised here.

在這裡出生，在這裡長大。

My mom is Filipino-Chinese.

我媽媽是菲律賓華裔。

Ended up working at a dentist and then ended up marrying the dentist.

最後在牙醫那裡工作，然後嫁給了牙醫。

Your dad.

你爸爸

My dad.

我爸爸

I only started to realize that, oh, I think it's maybe a little bit different when I went to elementary school.

我上小學時才開始意識到，哦，我想這可能有點不同。

You know, because we had English class.

你知道，因為我們有英語課。

It was always the easiest class for me.

對我來說，這門課總是最簡單的。

My teachers would clock it or my classmates would also notice it and then they would be curious about my background.

老師會打卡，同學也會注意到，然後他們就會對我的背景感到好奇。

It was interesting you were raised in pretty much an English environment.

有趣的是，你幾乎是在英國環境中長大的。

So I think my dad is His methods were pretty extreme.

所以我覺得我爸爸的方法很極端。

He asked my mom to speak strictly in English with me.

他讓我媽媽嚴格用英語和我交流。

Didn't allow me to watch any Chinese cartoons.

不允許我看任何中國卡通片。

He didn't allow me to read any Chinese books.

他不允許我讀任何中文書籍。

It was all English.

都是英語。

They would also teach me like grammar at home.

他們還會在家裡教我文法。

He was pretty harsh on me.

他對我很嚴厲。

Very, very intentional.

非常非常用心。

So learning English wasn't necessarily just a happy memory.

是以，學習英語並不一定只是快樂的回憶。

Oh no, it wasn't.

哦，不，不是這樣的。

If I'm being sat there like five hours doing grammar, like I'm gonna cry.

如果我在那裡坐五個小時做文法，我就會哭出來。

Five hours.

五個小時

Yeah.

是啊

He would sit me down, tell me to read things, tell me to remember vocabulary.

他會讓我坐下，讓我讀東西，讓我記單詞。

He would read novels for me first.

他會先為我讀小說。

Mark down the words that he thinks that I wouldn't know.

記下他認為我不知道的單詞。

He basically wrote dictionaries for me.

他基本上是為我寫字典。

Wow.

哇

And this is on top of having a career. Jesus.

這還是在有事業的基礎上。 天哪

Yes.

是的。

The present perfect tense.

現在完成時態

Yeah.

是啊

Oh my God, I could not get that for the life of me when I was a kid.

天哪，我小時候怎麼也想不通。

Did he know it though?

他知道嗎？

He knew I didn't like it.

他知道我不喜歡這樣。

No, no, no.

不，不，不

Did he know the present perfect tense?

他知道現在完成時態嗎？

Um, I think he did.

嗯，我想是的。

He just can't really use the language very well, which is a very common thing for Taiwanese people learning English.

他只是不太會使用語言，這對學習英語的臺灣人來說很常見。

Did your parents ever tell you why they sent you to local school?

你的父母有沒有告訴過你為什麼把你送到當地的學校？

This is also like one of my dad's crazy strategies.

這也是我爸爸的瘋狂策略之一。

Basically graduated valedictorian from my high school and I was able to get into NTNU with a much lower score.

我基本上是高中畢業的告別演說者，而我能以更低的分數考入北師大。

You grew up in Neihu though.

你可是在內湖長大的。

What do you mean?

什麼意思？

This is the hood back then?

這就是當年的引擎蓋？

Yeah, it was like the metro wasn't there.

是啊，地鐵就像不存在一樣。

Okay.

好的

Things have changed.

情況發生了變化。

Things have changed, yeah.

是的，情況變了。

When I say Neihu, people think that I'm like, I'm like, mm.

當我說內湖時，人們會認為我就像，我就像，嗯。

I think my dad was like very specifically helping me carve out like my whole life.

我覺得我的父親就像非常明確地在幫我開創我的整個人生。

Didn't really have like particular plans for me to go study abroad.

我並沒有出國留學的特別計劃。

So in college, halfway I was like, I'm not gonna be a teacher.

所以到了大學，中途我就想，我不會當老師的。

But then you ended up studying that in the States.

但後來你在美國學習了這門課程。

Or was it just an excuse to go abroad kind of thing?

或者這只是出國的一個藉口？

Sort of, yes.

算是吧，是的。

Like I found a scholarship, this is my chance.

就像我找到了獎學金一樣，這是我的機會。

Teaching was Chinese pedagogy.

教學是中國的教學法。

And you went to Indiana.

你去了印第安納

I went to Indiana.

我去了印第安納州。

Yeah, I went to Indiana.

是的，我去了印第安納。

You must have been desperate.

你一定是走投無路了。

Wow.

哇

When I was in Indiana, I was like the drill session teacher.

在印第安納州時，我就像操練課的老師。

The students who enroll, who choose to enroll in Chinese, they do it voluntarily.

選擇就讀中文系的學生都是自願的。

When they get to like really high level of Chinese, speaking gets quite good.

當他們的中文水準達到相當高的程度時，口語就會變得相當好。

And it made me think about like how Taiwanese people learn English in Taiwan.

這讓我想到臺灣人在臺灣是如何學習英語的。

Going to a new education system and being in a new environment, it made me see how intentional education can be.

進入一個新的教育體系，置身於一個新的環境，讓我看到了教育的用心程度。

How people can actually think for themselves and make decisions.

人們如何才能真正獨立思考並做出決定。

After I went to college and then I studied abroad.

上大學後，我出國留學。

And the way that you say that is kind of like, ugh, damn.

你說這話的口氣就像，唉，該死。

Yeah, a little bit.

是的，一點點。

And he went.

然後他就走了。

I wonder if that's common for people that have this ambition for their kids to study abroad, learn English, be exposed, get like guo ji guan.

我在想，那些有志於讓孩子出國留學、學習英語、增長見識、成為郭繼光那樣的人，是否也會有這樣的想法？

And then they come back.

然後他們又回來了。

I have different opinions about things.

我對事物有不同的看法。

Especially the type of dating that you like to do.

尤其是你喜歡的約會類型。

Yeah, the type of, what are you referring to?

是的，你指的是什麼類型？

I'm non-monogamous.

我不是一夫一妻制。

It's definitely more common in like bigger cities in the US or like in Europe, for example.

在美國的大城市或歐洲等地，這種情況肯定更常見。

People think that, oh, you're non-monogamous.

人們認為，哦，你不是一夫一妻制。

You just want to sleep with everyone.

你只想和每個人上床。

I get it.

我明白了。

I get how it sounds.

我明白這聽起來的感覺。

I mean, in a way, when I hear that, it sounds like you better be putting your best foot forward all the time.

我的意思是，在某種程度上，當我聽到這句話時，聽起來就像你最好一直把你最好的一面展現出來。

Otherwise, I'm gonna look for something else.

否則，我就去找別的東西了。

I'm not gonna just chill because I know that you're with me.

我不會因為知道你和我在一起就放鬆下來。

I want to be actively choosing someone to be with them every day.

我想積極地選擇一個人，每天和他在一起。

That seems like a lot of pressure.

這似乎是很大的壓力。

But relationships are hard work.

但人際關係是一項艱苦的工作。

And like within non-monogamy, it's like kind of the same as a gay person.

在非一夫一妻制的情況下，這就像同性戀者一樣。

It's not like you meet one gay person and you like them too, right?

又不是你遇到一個同性戀者，你也喜歡他們，對吧？

Yeah.

是啊

Ex-pats is a whole different set of problems.

前僑民的問題則完全不同。

They're like, here, sure, sorry.

他們會說，給你，當然，對不起。

Gotta get into their family of origin, all their trauma, why are you here?

必須瞭解他們的原生家庭，他們的所有創傷，你為什麼在這裡？

What do your parents think about all this?

你的父母對此有何看法？

My dad, I think he's okay with it.

我爸爸，我覺得他沒問題。

My mom, she's Christian.

我媽媽是基督徒

She's very conservative.

她非常保守。

I don't think I can ever really tell her.

我想我永遠無法真正告訴她。

But I told you last time.

但我上次告訴過你

Wow.

哇

The shame.

恥辱

Like, when you tell me that, I'm just like, oh, that seems normal.

當你告訴我這些的時候，我就想，哦，這似乎很正常。

Oh, okay.

哦，好吧

Yeah, and for me, it's like fine.

是啊，對我來說，這就像罰款。

I mean, I see my parents once a year.

我是說，我每年都會去看父母一次。

But I've heard friends here say about, I was like, damn, that is harsh.

但我聽這裡的朋友說起，我就想，該死的，這太殘酷了。

Yo.

喲。

I think maybe that's why I don't want kids.

我想，也許這就是我不想要孩子的原因。

It's like, there's so many things that can go wrong.

這就像，有太多的事情會出錯。

It's funny because like growing up, I was like, oh, like Southeast Asian.

這很有趣，因為在我的成長過程中，我就像東南亞人一樣。

And I always felt like I was less than people.

我總覺得自己不如別人。

And now suddenly because of my English, people are like, oh, it's like you're better than us.

現在突然因為我的英語，人們會說，哦，好像你比我們強。

What am I?

我是什麼？

Yeah, exactly.

是啊，沒錯。

I'm like, what changed?

我就想，怎麼變了？

Do you think that Taiwanese people actually want to learn English?

您認為臺灣人真的想學英語嗎？

I don't think it's because people want to learn English.

我認為這不是因為人們想學英語。

I think it's just because the status of English.

我認為這只是因為英語的地位問題。

It is a lingua franca, right?

這是一種通用語言，對嗎？

In terms of like social class, the stereotype that comes with it is just richer, entitled, privileged.

就像社會階層一樣，人們對它的刻板印象就是更富有、更有權利、更有特權。

And there are also some people who like, Lao English, right?

還有一些人喜歡寮國英語，對嗎？

I feel like on one hand, there is this expectation in Taiwan that everybody should learn English.

我覺得，一方面，在臺灣，人們期望每個人都應該學習英語。

But I don't think everyone can.

但我不認為每個人都能做到。

And that's okay.

沒關係。

You kind of almost have to have some sort of special ability to learn English to that level in Taiwan.

在臺灣，你幾乎必須具備某種特殊能力，才能把英語學到這種程度。

It took me a while to get used to even.

我甚至花了一段時間才適應。

Socializing, like a Chinese context is so different in an English context.

社交，就像中文語境中的社交一樣，在英語語境中是如此不同。

So when we go to the US, definitely gonna suck at small talk because we don't have that in Chinese.

所以，當我們去美國時，肯定會很不擅長閒聊，因為我們的中文裡沒有這些。

Quite frankly, a very essential part of living in America.

坦率地說，這是在美國生活必不可少的一部分。

But because I think I've had a solid foundation in English, it was easier for me to bridge that gap.

但是，由於我認為自己的英語基礎很紮實，所以我比較容易彌補這一差距。

I've never told him this because like he just has a really big ego already.

我從沒跟他說過這些，因為他已經很自負了。

But I am very, very grateful for my dad for putting that much effort into my English.

但我非常非常感謝我的父親，他為我的英語付出了那麼多努力。

I can say that it has paid off.

我可以說，這已經得到了回報。

Talking about this, my dad really is a crazy man.

說起這個，我爸還真是個瘋子。

He just has like all these like unconventional ways of like raising a child.

他有很多非常規的養育孩子的方法。

I wonder if he got heat for that ever.

不知道他是否是以受到過責備。

I mean, it worked.

我是說，它成功了。

Did it work though?

它有用嗎？

Oh.

哦。

Did it?

有嗎？

I mean, it depends on what the metrics are.

我的意思是，這取決於衡量標準是什麼。

Yeah.

是啊

Like you're a successful, seem like a well-adjusted human, but you're not like Shao Chun.

就像你是個成功人士，看起來是個適應良好的人，但你不像少春。

Ha!

哈

Pfft.

噗。

Ha ha ha ha ha.

哈哈哈哈

Yeah, it's rough being my parents.

是啊，做我的父母真不容易。

Ha ha ha ha.

哈哈哈哈

Hmm.

嗯

Yeah.

是啊

Do you think you're better than everyone?

你覺得自己比誰都強嗎？

Oh my God.

我的天啊

I'm just kidding.

我開玩笑的。

Ha ha.

哈哈。