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 explore what people often misunderstand about heritage language experiences: that exposure does not automatically create ease, confidence, or belonging. From navigating professional Japanese versus family Japanese, to being labeled “whitewashed,” to carrying the pressure of representation in predominantly white spaces, this conversation examines the invisible social layers surrounding multilingual identity.
Mai also reflects on:
growing up in Colorado after leaving a large Japanese community in California
language loss and reconnection
Ivy League assumptions and class perceptions
code-switching across cultures and disciplines
how humor, personality, and communication shift across languages
AI, education, and the future of learning
This episode is part of our ongoing heritage language spotlight series and our broader exploration of multilingual communication beyond the classroom.