Design elements
Fonts:
Smiley Sans
MonoxRegular
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Fonts:
Smiley Sans
MonoxRegular
About
Mother Tongue is my graduation work. Completed in Spring 2023.
For this project, I really think about who I am, all my life experiences; my memories, and what constitutes me. Where do I come from, and what is my next step.
After decided the topic, I did some research. I read some articles and I found that I am not the only person who has these feelings. My statement sounds a little bit serious and sad. Sad, maybe, but I don’t want to be serious. So I tried to be fun when I designed my zine.
Mother Tongue is my graduation work. Completed in Spring 2023.
For this project, I really think about who I am, all my life experiences; my memories, and what constitutes me. Where do I come from, and what is my next step.
After decided the topic, I did some research. I read some articles and I found that I am not the only person who has these feelings. My statement sounds a little bit serious and sad. Sad, maybe, but I don’t want to be serious. So I tried to be fun when I designed my zine.
Chapter (6)
~ Mother Tongue
Hanyu(Mandarin) is my mother tongue, I love her and that might be my destiny. Every moment of using a second language in a foreign country is like wandering in my mother tongue.
The mother tongue is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth. The mother tongue is "alive". You start listening to it from your mother's womb, like the air you breathe. Each language is linked to the initial feeling of the world of the person using it. “English,” my second language, is like a skill that I learned, I will use it, but I can't own it. “From the moment you start learning another language, the two language systems begin to compete with each other.”
(Monika Schmid)
As a person who speaks two languages and has been exposed to two very different cultures. I am two different personalities when I use my native language and when I use my second language. Different languages represent different ways of thinking. Speaking a different language is like experiencing a culture shock.
The longer I stay in a non-native country, the faster my native language skills deteriorate. Although my friends and I use mandarin to communicate, I often open my mouth and forget the words I want to say in mandarin. Sometimes I feel shamed to express myself in my native language, for example, it is hard to say ìI love youî in mandarin, but easy to say ìI love youî in English. Sometimes I canít find the right word to express my feelings. I was talking to a friend who spoke my native language, but we would use a lot of English words. The old poems, literary texts, and four-letter words that I had memorized in school had gradually faded from my mind. This feeling made me sad and lonely. When you are exposed to another culture, when your body and spirit become what they are after blending the two cultures. Itís never possible to go back to the original. I never regret going to a strange country to study and live, it was my choice, I just feel lost every time I use mandarin expressions.
App Prototype(click me)
Prototype
