My name is Tammy Tang. I am from the big city of San Francisco in California, where I grew up with my parents and two younger brothers. My parents immigrated from Hong Kong and China, so I identify as Chinese American and speak Cantonese at home. Because my extended family lives in Hong Kong and China, I grew up making biannual visits to Asia, where I was able to appreciate and value my Chinese heritage.
At the University of California, Davis, I decided to major in Chinese to improve my Mandarin and continue learning about my history. My love for language learning led me to apply for the Critical Language Scholarship. I was accepted and spent eight weeks in Tainan, Taiwan (a twelve-hour plane ride from California) studying and speaking Mandarin every day with my teachers, classmates and host family.
After Taiwan, I continued learning Mandarin at Peking University in Beijing, China for three months with the UCEAP program, a study abroad program at my college. China and Taiwan are two very different places, so I had to quickly adapt. For example, in China, the Chinese accent is heavier than the Taiwanese accent. However, by the end of my semester abroad, I was proficient in Mandarin.
After graduation, I moved back home to San Francisco and spent one year working with AmeriCorps with Reading Partners.
