February 5, 2024 • 16 mins
In today's episode I share my thought-provoking journey with languages and how it has been an integral part of my multicultural experiences. I take a deep dive into the endless opportunities and interesting encounters that learning a new language can provide.
Being multilingual can broadened understanding of different cultures, histories, and cuisines, and has helped make me a more independent traveller.
Through this conversation I am to inspire listeners to embrace challenges as potential opportunities for growth. I emphasizes the importance of shifting mindsets – from fearing change to welcoming it enthusiastically.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
My name is Carl and I'm excited to be rocking with you guys for yet another episode.
I am back. I am black and I am the black expat. Hope you guys have had an amazing start to 2024.
You have unlocked new hobbies, reaching for your goals, accomplishing milestones,
all those wonderful things. I hope you've had a great start.
I'm just excited to be talking with you guys today. I'm going to be honest.
(00:23):
You guys know I keep it a hundred with you all.
It's been a very long time since I've started recording a podcast episode and
I've had to stop and redo it.
It's been a very long time since I've done that and had to stop and redo it more than three times.
And today I've actually done that. So this is honestly the last I'm going to record this episode.
And the reason is I feel like I was overthinking it, right? I was trying to
make all these different types of connections and I really just want to keep it real.
(00:47):
I'd be very candid and straightforward and be vulnerable with you guys, which I always am.
And it's not that I wasn't in the previous recordings I've I've done over the
past 30 minutes, but it's just that I was just thinking too much about it.
And I really want to just keep this as simple as straightforward as possible,
you know, still challenging myself and, you know, hoping that it,
you know, get you guys thinking differently and I'm just challenging yourselves
as well, but I just want to, you know, just get right into it.
(01:09):
Like, I just want to really explore how language unlocks the world,
right? And where this comes from is that, you know, I speak two languages and it's great.
It's really unlocked Asia for me in a lot of different ways,
specifically mainland China and Taiwan, where the language I learned was spoken, right?
It just, it created a way for me to really understand and connect with the local
people, the culture, the history, the food, right.
(01:31):
And beyond, right. It really got me outside of my comfort zone.
So whereas when it came to exploring other areas around the world,
like that fear of what's it going to feel like when you get there and you don't
know what's going on, like I was kind of used to it. Like, oh,
okay, this is how you figure it out.
You use context clues, you use hand signals, you do a little bit of homework.
You, now we have phones and Google translate, late.
(01:51):
Like it taught me how to be self-sufficient when traveling and how,
and I really didn't, and I'm really contextualizing now how that self-sufficiency
really led to me being able to step out and travel to, you know,
50 countries and have the experiences I've been able to have.
And then, you know, I work at an amazing place.
Like if you have a list to Sarah's podcast episode that I have with her on my,
(02:11):
on my podcast, make sure you guys check it out.
But you have colleagues who speak multiple languages and, you know,
it was just fascinating.
Like I was just thinking in a meeting and listening to the places they were
going and they were just telling stories and I was like, oh yeah,
I understood what my guy was saying.
He was speaking in Arabic. Oh yeah, like I was here and you know,
they speak Spanish here and oh yeah, I was here and they speak English.
And I'm like, wait, you know, and it's, it just kind of hit me.
(02:34):
I know you guys are like, well, duh, Carl, but no, it really hit me.
They can go to so many places and navigate freely.
And understand contextually and culturally what's going on. Not be out of place,
but not feel too out of place.
Figure it out. It just unlocks so many experiences and places and people and culture and food.
(02:56):
And it unlocks so much, their ability to be multilingual.
And, you know, something, and there's so much colloquialisms in English.
Like my one phrase is, I hate and love, let's get the ball rolling.
And it's like, okay, well, if somebody who doesn't speak English hears that
phrase, so many things must go through their mind.
(03:17):
But if you've been learning English and you hear that phrase and you get it, you're like, oh man,
like I feel so much more connected because I got something that if I told my
mom, she would be confused by, or I told my friends, she would be confused by,
or he would be confused by. And it's like, but I get it.
And it just helps you feel like you're more connected to the place that you're
(03:37):
in, even though you're not from that place originally.
And as an English teacher, I went through that a lot, but all this thought around
language and, you know, honestly feeling kind of like, Hey, I need to set my
game up. I need to start learning another language and to get serious about Duolingo.
I have friends that are doing that in preparation of going to Japan.
They've been doing it for five years.
Like what can I do to better prepare myself? Like, I want to be like that.
(03:57):
And while I know I may not be able to accomplish the level that others have,
like, I don't want to not challenge myself, but it kind of got me thinking, right?
And I know there's multi-layers to this, the education system and all that,
but I don't want to talk about all that. I just want to talk about me as an individual, right?
I think as I grow up or as I grew up, I had a certain level of responsibility
to myself and how I wanted to learn, what I wanted to learn,
(04:18):
how I wanted to experience life.
And I just recall my life growing up, a lot of times saying things like, why should I?
Right. Why should I do that? Why should I eat this?
Why should I entertain going here? Or why would I do that? Why are you asking
me to do this? Why, why, why, why, why?
(04:39):
Right. And I was a victim of that. I don't even want to say a victim. I did that to myself.
Right. Why would I do this versus that? that. And, you know,
and I don't know when for me, and I don't even know if I've even,
I feel like I'm there now for sure, but I don't know when, when I was younger,
kind of the, the, I kind of changed the narrative to, you know, why wouldn't I, right.
(05:00):
To not look at it as why would I do something or why, why would I even contemplate
doing this to, you know, Hey, change the narrative.
Why wouldn't I, what could I gain? How could I have an impact?
What could I share and then bring back to where I'm from.
What can I see or do that hasn't been done before?
(05:20):
And I know you guys are thinking, I've touched on these things before,
but it's so relevant and powerful in context of language.
Because growing up, I'm trying to figure out, okay, how can I connect with people?
No matter the age, I know people who are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s learning
languages and going out there and just really seeing the world.
Had my mindset been different early on, and this is what I can control, right?
What I give to my nieces, my nephews, my future kids, people around me,
(05:44):
this is what I can give back.
Like, hey, why wouldn't you do that?
Why wouldn't you go out and do that? And the way in which you say it and the
way in which you view something could really change the trajectory of your experiences
you're going to have in your life and the skills that you develop and the connections
that you make and the places that you go and the things that you see.
And again, it's not necessarily rooted all in travel. Travel is a big component of it.
(06:05):
I feel it can be, but it's like, man, why when I was taking Spanish in high
school, why am I not taken seriously.
I dated someone who was Puerto Rican who spoke Spanish all the time,
but I never really, I never really took it upon myself to say,
you know what? I really, really want to dive deeper into that.
I really want to be more connected to that, right? Because I see how you guys
(06:26):
talk as a family and how you guys tell jokes and you know how awkward it is.
Like you guys probably have this experience.
You're, you're out with a group of people and they speak a different language.
And you know, pretty much if you're listening to this podcast,
you probably speak speak English, right?
And everyone's speaking English, speaking English. And all of a sudden,
you know, there's people within the group who maybe speak Spanish or speak Korean
(06:46):
or speak Japanese or whatever, right?
And they start saying some stuff and they get the giggling and laughing and
you're just sitting there just like, man, I wonder what they said.
And I always thought like for me, like, why wasn't my thought?
I wonder what that, well, I wonder what they said. Let me ask.
And then after I figured it out, let me learn more.
Like, why wasn't the drive for me personally, individually? Maybe some of you
guys have experienced the same thing.
(07:08):
Why wasn't the drive ever to, man, I don't know or understand that. Let me learn more.
And for me, for me personally, I hate that the answer sometimes feels like for
me was because it would be too hard. heart.
That blows my mind that in my heart of hearts, I know for some times when that's
(07:28):
happened to me, that that was my answer.
Because when it came to jumping out of an airplane, that was not my answer.
It was why wouldn't I? It was why not? Not why would I? Why wouldn't I?
When it came to moving out of the country to go and teach at 21 years old,
(07:48):
a place that no one in my family had had ever been.
A place that I'd only seen on a computer screen in a very low quality video
that I didn't even know about until I saw that video, believe it or not.
Because we were learning Chinese using simplified Chinese. It was always about China, China, China.
Taiwan wasn't even, I didn't even, people still call Taiwan, Thailand.
(08:12):
Why was my answer then yes, even though me taking Taking time out of my day,
out of my life to learn a different language would be 10 times easier from my
perspective than packing up my bags and moving to a completely new country.
Why was it so easy to do those things versus understanding the impact,
(08:35):
the knowledge, the access that knowing multiple languages would give me in life, period?
Again, let's go outside of travel. the jobs I could get, the people I could
meet. If you want to date the people you could date.
The food you could order the correct way. We've all been through that, right?
(08:57):
Like, I think, and it's such a simple concept for me, or at least I thought
it was when I said, man, how language unlocks the world.
Like, of course, of course, of course, of course, if you speak Spanish and you
go to Spain, of course, it's going to be easy for you to get around.
I mean, yeah, but beyond that, what does it do for the experience as a whole?
(09:19):
Now, I know some people sometimes like, I don't mind doing this because I love showing people travel.
Like, it is hard when you go with somebody and you're in a group and you're
the only one that speaks the language of the place that you're at and everybody's
looking at you for all the answers.
Like, I know that's annoying. But imagine if you're just by yourself.
Like, hey, you are in a point of a transition period in your life, right?
And you want to go and try something new.
(09:42):
Think about it like this. This is how I've begun to think about it.
How limited I am and where I can go. and where I would feel comfortable and
how quickly I can get to where I want to get. Think about that.
Oh, you can go work in Costa Rica. I could. A lot of barriers there,
but I could. Speak English there, but I could. It's easy, right?
But man, I really do want to go spend some time in Spain.
(10:04):
I want to spend some time in Portugal. I want to know Portuguese if I do that.
Yeah, there's ways around that because English is a very dominant language worldwide,
but man, how much could I unlock?
How many resources could I unlock? Because the very very base of this context
for me was in Taiwan, right?
So talking to my wife was always interesting because the way in which I experienced
(10:25):
living in Taiwan, she said to me, she's like, man, I thought that you just knew
and understood everything. I didn't know that you didn't understand all these things.
And I was like, man, I did know a lot, but there was so much more I didn't know.
So much more. I knew a lot and there was so much more I didn't know.
And again, I speak the language. I understood it. I studied it for almost a decade.
So if I had this issue, I'm not somebody who knows nothing. So for me,
(10:47):
it's like, man, I could go to these places, but I'm missing out on so much, right?
Like just even having the basics unlock so much more for me.
So language truly does unlock the world.
Wanting to learn more about cultures truly does unlock the world.
And that mindset that why should I versus why would I, I think I'm just trying
(11:10):
to, you know, it's honestly, guys, it's the teacher in me.
Trying to explore it man how do we shift away
shift away from that and the people that
are coming our youth our kids our friends how
do we change the narrative to why wouldn't i right and
it's really what we take in like for me i'm a big proponent of
i don't want to take in negativity i don't like reading gossip blogs i don't
(11:34):
like hearing about bad things like you know recently there's a nikki minaj megan
the stallion beef those you guys don't know what that is it's to basically artists
who are just talking bad things about each other. And it gets so much traction.
And that's that, why would I, why should I, why would I think, right?
Why, why? It's that negativity. Or it's, well, why shouldn't I?
(11:57):
Why shouldn't I apologize?
Why shouldn't I be the bigger person, right? Why shouldn't I let this go and
move on with my life in a positive way?
And man, it's just so rooted in, like, I'm just imagining myself.
Imagine if I grew up and I spoke three languages and then I still had the same path I was on.
How many more connections I could have made? How many more places I would have
(12:18):
went? How many things I would have seen?
It's truly amazing because I look at my colleagues and they're just bouncing
around from place to place, not a worry in the world about how they're going
to do something, how they're going to talk to someone.
I'm like, man, I have that in a lot of ways.
I'm in Taiwan and mainland China and here in America and English-speaking countries, I get that.
But man, I want so much more. And I think it's me just wanting so much more for myself. self.
(12:41):
When I talk about wanting to be, you know, one of the best travel planners in
the world for my areas I've been to and wanting to have one of the most informative
podcasts in the world for travel, this is what I mean.
Like, how can I really and truly
give that if I'm not continuously pushing myself to learn and do more?
And one of the ways to unlock one of those keys to be able to provide more information
(13:04):
and context and stories is through language.
Being multilingual It's weird because in my life, I'm surrounded by people who
speak Mandarin, and I barely speak it. I'm disappointed in myself.
First of all, I spent all that money on college to learn it,
(13:24):
then spent all the money to go study abroad to learn it.
Then I moved to a place where it was spoken all the time, and I got so much
better at it, and I kind of let myself down. I just stopped.
I stopped pushing myself. myself. And have I limited what I could learn? Possibly.
Has that drive shown up in other areas? Possibly.
So I think, you know, and I have my resolution on that, but I think my mindset
(13:47):
for this month and beyond and forward, but training myself, everything is why wouldn't I?
Sometimes there's a really good reason. Why wouldn't I walk in the middle of
the street in traffic, right? Because you'll die.
I mean, yeah, let's not go too far, guys. Let's be reasonable and rational.
We know when the answer is obvious why you shouldn't do something.
But when it comes to adventure, starting something new, starting a business,
(14:11):
starting a hobby, if it's within your grasp, if the answer is,
ah, man, it'll be hard, or, oh, man, I don't have the time.
Look at what you make time for. Oh, I don't have the skill.
Make time to learn that skill. I don't have the patience.
Drink some coffee. I don't know what to tell you. Like patience,
(14:32):
I learned patience through teaching little kids abroad.
It taught me all the patience in the world. I have an astronomical amount of
patience I feel like now. And it served me well at this point in my life.
But man, language really and truly unlocks the world.
It unlocks culture. It unlocks history. mystery, it unlocks understanding.
(14:52):
I can look at someone, I can meet someone, I can be around people and understand
what they're talking about.
And foundationally, isn't that all kind of what most of us want in life?
As one of our fundamental things that brings us peace, maybe not joy,
maybe a little bit of happiness, but just peace.
You understand me. My boss, they get me.
(15:14):
My My partner, they really get me. My mom and dad, they really get me.
It's through language, communication, foundation of language.
So yeah, this Monday morning, I hope you guys, thank you guys for bearing with
me. I made it through the episode, guys. I didn't have to start over. I kid you not.
I was freaking out. I was like, oh my God, Crabbe, have I lost it? Is it gone?
(15:35):
Is my podcast, what's absent now? No, I still got it, y'all.
I still got it. Don't worry.
And again, I'm really looking forward to in the future, you know,
building and creating a podcast that, you know, extends far beyond what I know now.
And as I learn and as I grow and as I do things, I just want to continue sharing
(15:56):
because, you know, we're all in this together, baby.
And the more things I learn about travel, the more things I share and the more
you guys share with me and the more I get better.
Because I'm still learning from people who are traveling and things that they're
saying. I'm like, man, I want to do that.
And I really mean it when I say it. I want to do everything.
Thing. There's not one thing I don't want to do that as relates to different places.
Okay, I take that back. Again, within reason, right? I almost ate donkey meat
(16:18):
one time. I'm cool on that, vegetarian.
But anyway, guys, that was an unnecessary rant, but thank you guys so much for
tuning in to yet another episode of The Black Expat Modest. If you have any questions,
or if you have some things or just want to learn a language,
(16:39):
share this with them. it could help them. Like you guys helped me.
I'm Carl, the Black Expat. We out ya.
My name is Carl and I'm excited to be rocking with you guys for yet another episode.
I am back. I am black and I am the black expat. Hope you guys have had an amazing start to 2024.
You have unlocked new hobbies, reaching for your goals, accomplishing milestones,
all those wonderful things. I hope you've had a great start.
I'm just excited to be talking with you guys today. I'm going to be honest.
(00:23):
You guys know I keep it a hundred with you all.
It's been a very long time since I've started recording a podcast episode and
I've had to stop and redo it.
It's been a very long time since I've done that and had to stop and redo it more than three times.
And today I've actually done that. So this is honestly the last I'm going to record this episode.
And the reason is I feel like I was overthinking it, right? I was trying to
make all these different types of connections and I really just want to keep it real.
(00:47):
I'd be very candid and straightforward and be vulnerable with you guys, which I always am.
And it's not that I wasn't in the previous recordings I've I've done over the
past 30 minutes, but it's just that I was just thinking too much about it.
And I really want to just keep this as simple as straightforward as possible,
you know, still challenging myself and, you know, hoping that it,
you know, get you guys thinking differently and I'm just challenging yourselves
as well, but I just want to, you know, just get right into it.
(01:09):
Like, I just want to really explore how language unlocks the world,
right? And where this comes from is that, you know, I speak two languages and it's great.
It's really unlocked Asia for me in a lot of different ways,
specifically mainland China and Taiwan, where the language I learned was spoken, right?
It just, it created a way for me to really understand and connect with the local
people, the culture, the history, the food, right.
(01:31):
And beyond, right. It really got me outside of my comfort zone.
So whereas when it came to exploring other areas around the world,
like that fear of what's it going to feel like when you get there and you don't
know what's going on, like I was kind of used to it. Like, oh,
okay, this is how you figure it out.
You use context clues, you use hand signals, you do a little bit of homework.
You, now we have phones and Google translate, late.
(01:51):
Like it taught me how to be self-sufficient when traveling and how,
and I really didn't, and I'm really contextualizing now how that self-sufficiency
really led to me being able to step out and travel to, you know,
50 countries and have the experiences I've been able to have.
And then, you know, I work at an amazing place.
Like if you have a list to Sarah's podcast episode that I have with her on my,
(02:11):
on my podcast, make sure you guys check it out.
But you have colleagues who speak multiple languages and, you know,
it was just fascinating.
Like I was just thinking in a meeting and listening to the places they were
going and they were just telling stories and I was like, oh yeah,
I understood what my guy was saying.
He was speaking in Arabic. Oh yeah, like I was here and you know,
they speak Spanish here and oh yeah, I was here and they speak English.
And I'm like, wait, you know, and it's, it just kind of hit me.
(02:34):
I know you guys are like, well, duh, Carl, but no, it really hit me.
They can go to so many places and navigate freely.
And understand contextually and culturally what's going on. Not be out of place,
but not feel too out of place.
Figure it out. It just unlocks so many experiences and places and people and culture and food.
(02:56):
And it unlocks so much, their ability to be multilingual.
And, you know, something, and there's so much colloquialisms in English.
Like my one phrase is, I hate and love, let's get the ball rolling.
And it's like, okay, well, if somebody who doesn't speak English hears that
phrase, so many things must go through their mind.
(03:17):
But if you've been learning English and you hear that phrase and you get it, you're like, oh man,
like I feel so much more connected because I got something that if I told my
mom, she would be confused by, or I told my friends, she would be confused by,
or he would be confused by. And it's like, but I get it.
And it just helps you feel like you're more connected to the place that you're
(03:37):
in, even though you're not from that place originally.
And as an English teacher, I went through that a lot, but all this thought around
language and, you know, honestly feeling kind of like, Hey, I need to set my
game up. I need to start learning another language and to get serious about Duolingo.
I have friends that are doing that in preparation of going to Japan.
They've been doing it for five years.
Like what can I do to better prepare myself? Like, I want to be like that.
(03:57):
And while I know I may not be able to accomplish the level that others have,
like, I don't want to not challenge myself, but it kind of got me thinking, right?
And I know there's multi-layers to this, the education system and all that,
but I don't want to talk about all that. I just want to talk about me as an individual, right?
I think as I grow up or as I grew up, I had a certain level of responsibility
to myself and how I wanted to learn, what I wanted to learn,
(04:18):
how I wanted to experience life.
And I just recall my life growing up, a lot of times saying things like, why should I?
Right. Why should I do that? Why should I eat this?
Why should I entertain going here? Or why would I do that? Why are you asking
me to do this? Why, why, why, why, why?
(04:39):
Right. And I was a victim of that. I don't even want to say a victim. I did that to myself.
Right. Why would I do this versus that? that. And, you know,
and I don't know when for me, and I don't even know if I've even,
I feel like I'm there now for sure, but I don't know when, when I was younger,
kind of the, the, I kind of changed the narrative to, you know, why wouldn't I, right.
(05:00):
To not look at it as why would I do something or why, why would I even contemplate
doing this to, you know, Hey, change the narrative.
Why wouldn't I, what could I gain? How could I have an impact?
What could I share and then bring back to where I'm from.
What can I see or do that hasn't been done before?
(05:20):
And I know you guys are thinking, I've touched on these things before,
but it's so relevant and powerful in context of language.
Because growing up, I'm trying to figure out, okay, how can I connect with people?
No matter the age, I know people who are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s learning
languages and going out there and just really seeing the world.
Had my mindset been different early on, and this is what I can control, right?
What I give to my nieces, my nephews, my future kids, people around me,
(05:44):
this is what I can give back.
Like, hey, why wouldn't you do that?
Why wouldn't you go out and do that? And the way in which you say it and the
way in which you view something could really change the trajectory of your experiences
you're going to have in your life and the skills that you develop and the connections
that you make and the places that you go and the things that you see.
And again, it's not necessarily rooted all in travel. Travel is a big component of it.
(06:05):
I feel it can be, but it's like, man, why when I was taking Spanish in high
school, why am I not taken seriously.
I dated someone who was Puerto Rican who spoke Spanish all the time,
but I never really, I never really took it upon myself to say,
you know what? I really, really want to dive deeper into that.
I really want to be more connected to that, right? Because I see how you guys
(06:26):
talk as a family and how you guys tell jokes and you know how awkward it is.
Like you guys probably have this experience.
You're, you're out with a group of people and they speak a different language.
And you know, pretty much if you're listening to this podcast,
you probably speak speak English, right?
And everyone's speaking English, speaking English. And all of a sudden,
you know, there's people within the group who maybe speak Spanish or speak Korean
(06:46):
or speak Japanese or whatever, right?
And they start saying some stuff and they get the giggling and laughing and
you're just sitting there just like, man, I wonder what they said.
And I always thought like for me, like, why wasn't my thought?
I wonder what that, well, I wonder what they said. Let me ask.
And then after I figured it out, let me learn more.
Like, why wasn't the drive for me personally, individually? Maybe some of you
guys have experienced the same thing.
(07:08):
Why wasn't the drive ever to, man, I don't know or understand that. Let me learn more.
And for me, for me personally, I hate that the answer sometimes feels like for
me was because it would be too hard. heart.
That blows my mind that in my heart of hearts, I know for some times when that's
(07:28):
happened to me, that that was my answer.
Because when it came to jumping out of an airplane, that was not my answer.
It was why wouldn't I? It was why not? Not why would I? Why wouldn't I?
When it came to moving out of the country to go and teach at 21 years old,
(07:48):
a place that no one in my family had had ever been.
A place that I'd only seen on a computer screen in a very low quality video
that I didn't even know about until I saw that video, believe it or not.
Because we were learning Chinese using simplified Chinese. It was always about China, China, China.
Taiwan wasn't even, I didn't even, people still call Taiwan, Thailand.
(08:12):
Why was my answer then yes, even though me taking Taking time out of my day,
out of my life to learn a different language would be 10 times easier from my
perspective than packing up my bags and moving to a completely new country.
Why was it so easy to do those things versus understanding the impact,
(08:35):
the knowledge, the access that knowing multiple languages would give me in life, period?
Again, let's go outside of travel. the jobs I could get, the people I could
meet. If you want to date the people you could date.
The food you could order the correct way. We've all been through that, right?
(08:57):
Like, I think, and it's such a simple concept for me, or at least I thought
it was when I said, man, how language unlocks the world.
Like, of course, of course, of course, of course, if you speak Spanish and you
go to Spain, of course, it's going to be easy for you to get around.
I mean, yeah, but beyond that, what does it do for the experience as a whole?
(09:19):
Now, I know some people sometimes like, I don't mind doing this because I love showing people travel.
Like, it is hard when you go with somebody and you're in a group and you're
the only one that speaks the language of the place that you're at and everybody's
looking at you for all the answers.
Like, I know that's annoying. But imagine if you're just by yourself.
Like, hey, you are in a point of a transition period in your life, right?
And you want to go and try something new.
(09:42):
Think about it like this. This is how I've begun to think about it.
How limited I am and where I can go. and where I would feel comfortable and
how quickly I can get to where I want to get. Think about that.
Oh, you can go work in Costa Rica. I could. A lot of barriers there,
but I could. Speak English there, but I could. It's easy, right?
But man, I really do want to go spend some time in Spain.
(10:04):
I want to spend some time in Portugal. I want to know Portuguese if I do that.
Yeah, there's ways around that because English is a very dominant language worldwide,
but man, how much could I unlock?
How many resources could I unlock? Because the very very base of this context
for me was in Taiwan, right?
So talking to my wife was always interesting because the way in which I experienced
(10:25):
living in Taiwan, she said to me, she's like, man, I thought that you just knew
and understood everything. I didn't know that you didn't understand all these things.
And I was like, man, I did know a lot, but there was so much more I didn't know.
So much more. I knew a lot and there was so much more I didn't know.
And again, I speak the language. I understood it. I studied it for almost a decade.
So if I had this issue, I'm not somebody who knows nothing. So for me,
(10:47):
it's like, man, I could go to these places, but I'm missing out on so much, right?
Like just even having the basics unlock so much more for me.
So language truly does unlock the world.
Wanting to learn more about cultures truly does unlock the world.
And that mindset that why should I versus why would I, I think I'm just trying
(11:10):
to, you know, it's honestly, guys, it's the teacher in me.
Trying to explore it man how do we shift away
shift away from that and the people that
are coming our youth our kids our friends how
do we change the narrative to why wouldn't i right and
it's really what we take in like for me i'm a big proponent of
i don't want to take in negativity i don't like reading gossip blogs i don't
(11:34):
like hearing about bad things like you know recently there's a nikki minaj megan
the stallion beef those you guys don't know what that is it's to basically artists
who are just talking bad things about each other. And it gets so much traction.
And that's that, why would I, why should I, why would I think, right?
Why, why? It's that negativity. Or it's, well, why shouldn't I?
(11:57):
Why shouldn't I apologize?
Why shouldn't I be the bigger person, right? Why shouldn't I let this go and
move on with my life in a positive way?
And man, it's just so rooted in, like, I'm just imagining myself.
Imagine if I grew up and I spoke three languages and then I still had the same path I was on.
How many more connections I could have made? How many more places I would have
(12:18):
went? How many things I would have seen?
It's truly amazing because I look at my colleagues and they're just bouncing
around from place to place, not a worry in the world about how they're going
to do something, how they're going to talk to someone.
I'm like, man, I have that in a lot of ways.
I'm in Taiwan and mainland China and here in America and English-speaking countries, I get that.
But man, I want so much more. And I think it's me just wanting so much more for myself. self.
(12:41):
When I talk about wanting to be, you know, one of the best travel planners in
the world for my areas I've been to and wanting to have one of the most informative
podcasts in the world for travel, this is what I mean.
Like, how can I really and truly
give that if I'm not continuously pushing myself to learn and do more?
And one of the ways to unlock one of those keys to be able to provide more information
(13:04):
and context and stories is through language.
Being multilingual It's weird because in my life, I'm surrounded by people who
speak Mandarin, and I barely speak it. I'm disappointed in myself.
First of all, I spent all that money on college to learn it,
(13:24):
then spent all the money to go study abroad to learn it.
Then I moved to a place where it was spoken all the time, and I got so much
better at it, and I kind of let myself down. I just stopped.
I stopped pushing myself. myself. And have I limited what I could learn? Possibly.
Has that drive shown up in other areas? Possibly.
So I think, you know, and I have my resolution on that, but I think my mindset
(13:47):
for this month and beyond and forward, but training myself, everything is why wouldn't I?
Sometimes there's a really good reason. Why wouldn't I walk in the middle of
the street in traffic, right? Because you'll die.
I mean, yeah, let's not go too far, guys. Let's be reasonable and rational.
We know when the answer is obvious why you shouldn't do something.
But when it comes to adventure, starting something new, starting a business,
(14:11):
starting a hobby, if it's within your grasp, if the answer is,
ah, man, it'll be hard, or, oh, man, I don't have the time.
Look at what you make time for. Oh, I don't have the skill.
Make time to learn that skill. I don't have the patience.
Drink some coffee. I don't know what to tell you. Like patience,
(14:32):
I learned patience through teaching little kids abroad.
It taught me all the patience in the world. I have an astronomical amount of
patience I feel like now. And it served me well at this point in my life.
But man, language really and truly unlocks the world.
It unlocks culture. It unlocks history. mystery, it unlocks understanding.
(14:52):
I can look at someone, I can meet someone, I can be around people and understand
what they're talking about.
And foundationally, isn't that all kind of what most of us want in life?
As one of our fundamental things that brings us peace, maybe not joy,
maybe a little bit of happiness, but just peace.
You understand me. My boss, they get me.
(15:14):
My My partner, they really get me. My mom and dad, they really get me.
It's through language, communication, foundation of language.
So yeah, this Monday morning, I hope you guys, thank you guys for bearing with
me. I made it through the episode, guys. I didn't have to start over. I kid you not.
I was freaking out. I was like, oh my God, Crabbe, have I lost it? Is it gone?
(15:35):
Is my podcast, what's absent now? No, I still got it, y'all.
I still got it. Don't worry.
And again, I'm really looking forward to in the future, you know,
building and creating a podcast that, you know, extends far beyond what I know now.
And as I learn and as I grow and as I do things, I just want to continue sharing
(15:56):
because, you know, we're all in this together, baby.
And the more things I learn about travel, the more things I share and the more
you guys share with me and the more I get better.
Because I'm still learning from people who are traveling and things that they're
saying. I'm like, man, I want to do that.
And I really mean it when I say it. I want to do everything.
Thing. There's not one thing I don't want to do that as relates to different places.
Okay, I take that back. Again, within reason, right? I almost ate donkey meat
(16:18):
one time. I'm cool on that, vegetarian.
But anyway, guys, that was an unnecessary rant, but thank you guys so much for
tuning in to yet another episode of The Black Expat Modest. If you have any questions,
or if you have some things or just want to learn a language,
(16:39):
share this with them. it could help them. Like you guys helped me.
I'm Carl, the Black Expat. We out ya.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.