Heritage Language Series
Heritage Language: Complexity Is Not a Flaw. But We’re Making This Harder Than It Needs to Be | Ep. 40
We often treat human complexity like a problem to solve instead of a normal part of being alive. In this final mini-episode of our Heritage Language Spotlight Month, Michelle explores the hidden assumptions people project onto heritage language speakers — and why these misunderstandings are not harm...
Family Gave Me the Language. Life Shaped the Rest. | Ep. 39 with Mai I.
Family gave us the language. Life shaped everything else. In this episode of WeCultivate: The Pod, Michelle sits down with her longtime friend Mai for a deeply personal conversation on heritage language, identity, belonging, and growing up between cultures as Asian American women. Together, they exp...
Heritage Language: Labels Cannot Tell Individual Stories | Ep. 38
In Mini Episode 3 of our Heritage Language Spotlight Month, Michelle explores the limitations of labels and the growing problem of cultural gatekeeping within heritage language conversations. From “not Asian enough” rhetoric to assumptions about fluency, culture, and belonging, this episode examines...
Heritage Language: There Is No Universal Experience | Ep. 37
In this second mini episode of our Heritage Language Spotlight Month series, Michelle explores a reality that often goes unspoken in multilingual and immigrant communities: There is no universal heritage language experience. Even people raised in the same household can develop completely different r...
Heritage Language: Why Does This Matter? | Ep. 36
It’s officially heritage language month on WeCultivate. In this first mini episode, Michelle introduces the new Inherited, Interrupted series and explores why heritage language deserves a deeper and more nuanced conversation. From passive bilingualism and multilingual identity to classroom experienc...