Wow, the way he describes her is like she's nothing to him, like little servant made to serve him.

Imagine having to read this in the original language. The effect of the message is way worse, emotionally, compared to translating it. I can't think how the son felt after treating his mother so poorly after that small incident, how he can finally come to his senses that she was all alone majority of her life..

This hit me.. HARD. I can speak and read mandarin, so this hits home for me. Having to read that sentence, my heart started to ache for the mother. The son is so self absorbed, selfish and arrogant, he doesn't see how much his mom is suffering.. that angers me!

This hit me. The way she did not miss a beat when saying this makes me think that she's been through a lot in her life. How she has to pretend and can never truly be herself.. that sucks. She can say she loves him in english but its not the same when she says it in mandarin.

I thought this was rather interesting! A simple word that can be altered to change its idea of it. Reminds me of the Mandarin, where a simple change in the intonation of the word "mài" which means sell, to "mǎi" which means buy, changes the meaning of the word entirely!

I guess this stigma has changed over the years. I bet in my grandparents were twice as stern compared to parents. They pride in being respected, losing it will make them go crazy. But i do think that with the time and exposure from others, my parents did not adopt that need to uphold that clean title and the need to be respected at all time like my grandparents.

I thought this was a nice phrase to sum the situation that was happening. How they are out of their comfort zone with their video screen and transitioning into someone else's familiarity like the heptapods communicative glass.