The Actual Fluency Podcast for Language Learners · Kris Broholm

AFP 189 - Emily Harris: Language Learning, Culture, and Perfectionism as a Transracial Adoptee

·58 min·3 clips

Emily says she does not plan to learn Chinese for fluency first, but for the process and the reflection it triggers.

1. The Actual Fluency Podcast episode centers on Emily Harris, a transracial adoptee discussing language learning, culture, and identity. 2. Emily Harris is the guest, Chris is the host, and her adoption from southern China gives the episode its personal stakes. 3. The episode asks what language learning means when a Chinese birth history, an Arkansas upbringing, and perfectionism collide. 4. Emily says she was born in southern China, left on the steps of a Buddhist temple, and adopted at 16 months. 5. She says her mom brought her back to Arkansas, where she grew up surrounded by American culture. 6. Emily describes herself as both a transnational adoptee and a transracial adoptee, with Chinese ethnicity and a white family. 7. She says people in Germany and Italy often treated her ethnic identity as more important than her cultural identity. 8. Emily says she first learned German at 18, studied abroad, went to a German university, and later majored in German. 9. She also says she picked up Italian, Spanish, Turkish, and Arabic while living in Germany. 10. She explains that the pandemic pushed her to reflect on how her adoption history shaped her language choices and her sense of self. 11. Emily says she used to define herself solely through language learning and perfectionism. 12. She says Chinese has felt loaded because other people mocked the language and connected it to her appearance. 13. She says she recently started Chinese on Mango Languages and stopped every 10 minutes to write down reflections. 14. Emily says she does not yet see herself as Chinese, but she is open to discovering what could have been. 15. She says her current goal is not fluency first, but a process that lets her examine frustration and identity. 16. Emily says learning Chinese feels like taking control on her own terms instead of following outside pressure. 17. The interview is conversational and reflective, with Chris asking follow-up questions about identity, heritage language, and practical motivation. 18. Emily’s tone is open and self-aware, while Chris responds with personal parallels about English, Danish, and living abroad. 19. Listeners interested in adoption, heritage language, or identity. 20. Listeners looking for a fast technical language-learning lesson.

As heard by us

A reflective conversation about language, identity, and what it means to feel split between worlds.

Emily Harris keeps the episode grounded in personal experience as she talks about being a transracial adoptee and the way culture, identity, and language can feel split apart.

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Why you'd press play

If language and identity feel tangled, this conversation meets you there.

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