Samuel Zheng

I am a Chinese American who likes reading novels and short stories. This phrase sound simple to anyone else, but I would say that it encompasses most of my connection to my language and culture.

My love for reading novels and short stories started in middle school when I first started getting into reading some of the classical nonfiction series such as Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games. These books served as the guiding light to my literary adventure. On the other hand, I was also continuing my Chinese education, albeit half-heartedly, at a local Chinese school near my area. To the little me, the extra classes on the weekends and the extra homework crushed any positive feelings I had for my language. The classes seemed like they were the biggest waste of time, and I was foolishly content with being to hold simple conversation with my parents.

When high school started, I had seemingly exhausted many of the books that people were recommending me, and I was seeking new excitement. That is when I started getting into reading translated web novels (boy was I obsessed with them). They served as the perfect relaxation activity that counterweighted the stress that high school brought upon me. Soon, I got tired of waiting for the translation groups taking too long to push out new chapters, so I decided to embark on the task of reading Chinese untranslated novels.

When I first started reading the original works, I was shocked by how illiterate I was. Common characters in Chinese served as obstacles that stopped me from even being able to understand the simplest of sentences in the work that I was reading. Nevertheless, I persisted. Every time I reached a character that I didn't know, I searched it up and tried my best to learn it. It was a slow and painful process in the beginning, but it became much easier the more characters I memorized. It was also through the process of relearning my language that I started learning Chinese history and reconnected my culture.

Given many months of effort, I was finally able to reach a proficient level in reading and writing. It was only then that I could proudly declare to others that I was fluent in my language!