- A bunch of kids were like making fun of me, like,
why does your mom say say your name weird?
And I was offended a little bit.
I was acting and singing in my first musical play.
I noticed that my mom was sitting right
in the restricted front row area.
She wasn't allowed to do that, ha.
But, I mean, I love it.
- I remember my teacher said that I was doing
really bad in history.
And it was just very embarrassing, too,
because I had to translate that to my mom.
- There was this time that the dryer broke.
And then my dad likes to fix everything.
But he goes to the store, comes home and he tells me,
I need a thum-o-stat.
I'm like, dad, I don't know, there's no thum-o-stat.
And he talks to the guy again and then I'm like,
you wanted a thermostat this whole time.
He was like, sometimes you just have to try
to understand what I'm saying.
- The telemarketer, they'd come, and she'd say,
hey, come talk to them, and I would stand on the phone.
I'd find out that they were trying to convince me,
like a, you know, seven to eight year old,
trying to sell me insurance and I don't know how
to respond to that.
- Every afternoon my mom would walk my brother and I
down to the park in our community.
This little girl started kicking sand in my direction.
My mom, without touching her,
she puts her hand over her legs, and she just said, stop.
She ran off.
There were four or five big women pushing each other
out of the way, grabbing each other by the shoulders saying,
let me get a piece of her, let me get a piece of her.
My mom just sort of stood there like why are you talking
to me, I don't know what's going on.
I stood in front of her, eight year old me,
and I just did this with my hands to protect my mom.
There were all these horrific things that were being said
to my mom and I had to translate all of that.
I lost it.
Now I was crying and, you know, standing behind her
holding onto her shirt.
Soon enough, boom.
Punch straight to the face.
- Because her priorities were always work, work, work
in order to survive she had no time and energy
to dedicate to learning English.
- When it comes to shame, I feel like not only do they
feel it but I get the first wave of that shame.
Having to hear things like why don't your parents
speak English?
You know, while your dad or your mom are here in
the background saying things like,
oh, that lady, she didn't treat us very well.
You know, she spoke like she was very mean.
- Since I was a young child trying to help translate
for my parents people always had this idea that I didn't
have the capabilities of understanding what the
conversation was about.
- And I know that when I was younger, I'd, oh God,
I'd get so frustrated asking my parents,
mom, can you help me write a sentence?
I'm sorry, mija, I don't know how to do that.
Go ask your dad.
Okay.
Dad, can you help me write a sentence?
I'm sorry, mija, I don't know how to do that.
- She came home from work and she was, like,
acting very frustrated and I was like, mom, what's up?
And she was like, you know Sara, you don't understand!
And I was like, what do you mean, mom?
And she was like, I'm stupid.
And she said, I'm slow.
I'm uneducated.
And that's how, like, I knew, like,
my biggest regret in my entire life is that
I didn't teach my mom more English when I was a kid.
- My dad was a veteran of Vietnam War.
My parents had to flee the country so every time
I have to translate for them I think about
why do I even have to do that and it's because
they sacrificed so much to be here for me.
- Now that I'm older I feel like they don't even
need to learn English.
Knowing more than I should know about my parents,
as a younger kid, makes me feel much more capable
to take care of them when they're older.
- I just want to tell my parents how much I'm grateful
for them regardless of sometimes this forced
responsibility of having to be there and translating
for them.
It's the least I can do to repay them for all
their sacrifices.
- Mommy!
(speaking in foreign language)
It means I love you, mom.
Very much.
(light ethereal music)