"The inability to express and defend myself against hurtful comments due to language barriers was such a painful experience that I was determined to learn and master English so my voice would no longer be silenced."

"as I was going through school and then working for companies, I started to realize that many immigrants, classmates, and co-workers whose first language is not English face the same obstacles as I did back in high school."

"The fear of being called upon by coworkers to chat but not knowing the most appropriate way to respond, the embarrassment of having to make up excuses to skip a session that requires public speaking in a different language, and the nervousness of group conversations and not understanding the content nor when to chime in -  This is what a lot of immigrants have to deal with everyday."

"Having lived in both worlds and having gone through the pain of language barriers myself, I deeply relate to the frustration and loneliness of not being able to understand and directly communicate with the people you love / care about the most."

"75% of the world’s population do not speak English at all. 1 in 5 Americans speak a language other than English at home. 97% of US immigrants speak a native language that is not English."

"why don’t we try to use AI for good to help people break down language barriers and bring the world closer?"

"I named the app, Byrdhouse, because when I think of immigrants, I think of a nest of birds. Birds don’t stay in their nest forever. Every year they go out of their comfort zone, fly 600 hours to migrate to another destination for various reasons, just like how multilingual families may have family members who migrate from their own country to another country with completely different culture(s) and language(s) for their own reasons."

"Accessibility to language and being able to understand and talk to your loved ones should not be a privilege."

"where speaking different languages is no longer a barrier to building deep and lasting relationships."

"“is this how you are going to spend the rest of your life? Have you tried your best to figure out who you are and why you exist?”"

"Life is short. I know people always say that, but I never understood what that meant until now. An average human only lives 30,000 days, a tiny fraction (0.0000006%) of the current lifespan of the universe. If we deduct the days we spent with our parents before college and deduct sleeping, eating, and exercising, we are only left with 10,400 days. That’s only 28 years. Have you ever thought about if there were only 28 years left in your life, how would you spend them?"

"Money is not the most important asset in life. Time is. Money can be earned back but time is the one thing that can never be retrieved."

"I thought that’s what I had to sacrifice in order to become “successful”. I have no doubt that there are many people who do thrive in this lifestyle and are able to create a huge impact, but I started to realize that it’s not who I am and it doesn’t make me feel fulfilled."

"She hasn’t changed much over the years. I see the sparkles in her eyes when she works on creating something meaningful that helps people or makes people happy."

"She told me that there’s no perfect timing. Life is too short to work on someone else’s dream."

"Pay attention to your inner child, for your inner child knows you best."

"if you only have 28 years on earth, how would you spend this time? How do you want people to remember you? What are the things that if you don’t do, you’d feel regretful on your deathbed."

"At that time, I wished that my peers and teachers would understand mandarin so I could speak in my own native language to comfortably and freely express my reasonings and emotions."

"Most native English-speakers that I know often underestimate how difficult it is for people to learn English or a new language from a completely different language system."

"Don’t assume people who speak different languages acquire the skill easily, it takes hard work and tons of effort to get there."

"But as I was going through school and then working for companies, I started to realize that many immigrants, classmates, and co-workers whose first language is not English face the same obstacles as I did back in high school."

"I feel powerless seeing my dad, often witty and wise in his native language, struggling to express himself and share the simplest things in life with my family here in English."

"75% of the world’s population do not speak English at all. 1 in 5 Americans speak a language other than English at home."

"97% of US immigrants speak a native language that is not English."

"Instead of using AI on ads recommendations, why don’t we try to use AI for good to help people break down language barriers and bring the world closer?"

"I named the app, Byrdhouse, because when I think of immigrants, I think of a nest of birds."

"Birds don’t stay in their nest forever."

"Every year they go out of their comfort zone, fly 600 hours to migrate to another destination for various reasons, just like how multilingual families may have family members who migrate from their own country to another country with completely different culture(s) and language(s) for their own reasons."

"We want to start here, and continue to create a world where everyone can express themselves freely and understand each other instantaneously no matter what language they speak, where people can enjoy equal language access if they don’t have the resources to learn a new language, and where speaking different languages is no longer a barrier to building deep and lasting relationships."

"And then I repeat this cycle for another year, and another…But I acutely feel that something important is lacking in my life."

"There’s a voice that’s asking me “is this how you are going to spend the rest of your life? Have you tried your best to figure out who you are and why you exist?”"

"Life is short. I know people always say that, but I never understood what that meant until now. An average human only lives 30,000 days, a tiny fraction (0.0000006%) of the current lifespan of the universe."

"If we deduct the days we spent with our parents before college and deduct sleeping, eating, and exercising, we are only left with 10,400 days. That’s only 28 years."

"Money is not the most important asset in life. Time is."

"From that moment on, I only want to spend the limited amount of time on earth doing what I value the most."

"And then one afternoon during my therapy session, I finally figured out the voice in my head that kept asking me thought provoking questions about myself and the meaning of life. That was the younger me, and I was scared of facing her."

"She was screaming, trying so hard to talk to me, yearning to be heard, but I kept ignoring her."

"Then I started to listen more to my inner child because she knows me better than anyone else. She hasn’t changed much over the years."

"She never gives up searching and exploring herself and the universe around her. Now her and I are making decisions together in life."

"I wrote this blog post because when I felt trapped and burned out, nearly everyone around me told me that I should wait longer and keep climbing the ladder because I was in a “very good situation at work” or “very close to getting to the next stage of my career” except for one person."