When I was 4 years old, I was sent off to preschool with a typical Asian bob cut, a really hard-to-pronounce Korean name and the stereotypical habit of holding up the peace sign whenever someone took a picture of me. As a naive 4-year-old with limited English, when my fellow preschoolers giggled and pointed at me, I thought it was because they took interest in me. Reflecting now, I think it’s safe to say they were just making fun of me.

Thirteen years later, I’ve redeemed myself and succeeded in assimilating into the norm of an average American teenager, and so have my younger siblings. My parents on the other hand…it’s like they never left South Korea.

Maybe it’s because my family has always lived in a neighborhood full of Koreans, but they have yet to speak and understand English.

Consequently, not only have I been making phone calls to Comcast and American Express to complain about bills since the fourth grade, it has also been my job to write checks and fill out patient forms at the doctor’s office.

Whenever I brought my parents take-home letters from school, they glared at the chunks of foreign characters in utter disgust and eventually started disregarding them altogether, leaving me responsible for reminding them of important dates.

Up until my freshman year, I was forbidden to play any American music in the car because my parents couldn’t understand anything and felt “left out.”  Imagine listening to old Korean music and K-pop during road trips and the embarrassment I went through whenever I gave a non-Asian friend a ride.

My mom, who doesn’t even call me out of school when I’m sick, once dragged me to court for a ticket because she needed me to translate for her.

But I have to admit, there are some benefits I’ve acquired from living with parents who don’t speak English.

I’ve maintained a native tongue in the Korean language which has allowed me to communicate and interact with diverse groups of people.

My relatives have connected me with programs where I have taught English to kids in Korea, and I’ve also found it easier to understand and experience the Korean culture because there lay no communication barrier.

I’ve become more independent because my parents worked long hours by taking on jobs in physical labor due to a lack of English-speaking abilities; thus, I’ll probably struggle less when I’m off at college in terms of household chores and getting my schoolwork done.

Despite the countless number of phone calls I miserably made and freedoms I gave up for my parents, the advantages that I gained by moving here make me appreciate them for immigrating to the U.S. even without speaking a word of English.