Introduction: NABEA’s Japan Chat Club is a community-driven program founded and led by Ashley Hayes and supported by Harvey Beasley; it was created in June of 2021, just 2 years after NABEA’s founding in 2019. As part of NABEA’s mission
Why I Joined NABEA – Brandy Darling

The Black girl that speaks Chinese. That was the way people identified me in my small, predominantly-white college in Connecticut. At first, it really bothered me because what did race have to do with my intellectual ability? Nothing. Little did
Why I Joined NABEA – Payge Jennings

Being Black and studying in Asia never seemed weird to me until other people told me it was. Growing up in Maryland, I had a lot of classmates who were of Asian descent. More specifically, I had a lot of
Why I Joined NABEA – Obio Ntia

All views expressed are Obio’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State. My introduction to formal Mandarin language learning was during my first days as a college freshman in 2000. My Chinese professor founded the
Why I Joined NABEA – Shahn Savino

I never wanted to learn Mandarin. It was my school’s first year offering the language and I had no interest in it. As a proud Haitian-American, I wanted to learn French. It would help me with Creole and I could