The hardest question for a third culture kid: Where is home?
Karolina Chorvath as a baby in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, left, and later in Prague, Czech Republic.
How do you answer the question, “Where are you from?”
It’s a question that Karolina Chorvath dreads and will do almost anything to avoid. This week on The World in Words podcast we make her tell us why.
We talk about growing up between parents, cultures and languages and about the growing number of people who identify as “third culture kids.”
Podcast Contents
00:10 A bat mitzvah in Japan.
1:22 “I’m half Chinese and half American … and I live in Japan.”
3:00 “I was ashamed to be a Jew.”
4:30 Karolina pronounces her name many ways.
6:05 Bouncing between languages, age three.
8:30 In Michigan, Karolina’s mum packs her a non-American lunch.
10:38 High school in Poland feels like home.
12:40 Ruth van Reken, co-author of what Karolina calls “The TCK Bible.”
13:15 Can refugees be TCKs?
13:45 Ruth’s back story.
14:40 Was returning to the US easier?
15:20 Karolina’s TCK college friend, Natasha
16:05 “I feel like a fake when I say, ‘I am Malaysian.’”
17:30 Does having TCK friends help?
18:40 Karolina begins to see the good sides of being a TCK.
19:30 “Do you have a different sense of what your mother tongue is?”
20:15 TCK singer Sirintip.
Listen to the podcast by clicking the play button above. Better yet, subscribe at Apple Podcasts.
With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities
The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!