This May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. According to the 2020 census, 24 million people identify as Asian in the United States — making them the fastest-growing racial group in the country.

Data from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health States that nearly 31% of Asian Americans are not fluent in English, creating large language barriers in the community

Loan Nguyen and her brother Hiep would do anything for their mother Xuan.

In the last two years that she’s lived in an Orlando nursing home, they have never missed a visit.

Their mother has dementia and needs constant help, a difficult diagnosis made even harder by the fact that no one in their family speaks English, only Vietnamese. Despite the challenges and the heartbreak that Xuan does not remember them, Loan looks on the bright side.

She shared every time she comes to the nursing home, she is able to feed her and take care of her mother, it makes her happy, said Loan, in Vietnamese.

Their family fled Vietnam one by one after the fall of Saigon in search of freedom, eventually coming together again in Orlando to build new lives. While they’re happy to now live in the United States, the language barrier is now something they deal with every day.

Her brother Hipe shared that everybody wants to learn English but because they were older when they came to the United States and done with school, they had to start thinking about how to find a job and make money to survive, which was much more important.

 Of course, they can understand a little bit of English and know basic words to communicate the best they can at their jobs, but they don’t have the time and money to devote to learning English when they are trying to work as much as they can. Now they look for jobs with younger people that can step up and translate for them.

The fact that their mom is now sick makes the language barrier more stressful for them.

Loan said it is really hard and frustrating because every time that you go into the hospital or talk to the doctor, Loan says it can be frustrating when they don’t understand because they need to know everything that is going on with their mom so they can make the best decision. While the hospital has translators, it would be better if they could understand directly.

Loan knew they couldn’t wait any longer and needed to ask for help when the paperwork started pouring in.

“Medicare, Medicaid, everything paper, everything English,” said Loan.

She was able to connect to Vi Ma, president of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, who shared she helps about 10 other people who struggle with the same problems navigating in the English-speaking community.

“So she mailed it to me. This is her Vietnamese word that say, ‘Please take a look at this paperwork, please it belongs to my mom’ and she said, ‘Thank you,’” said Vi Ma.

Loan knows that she is not alone and hopes to learn more English little by little through interactions like this one. But through it all, she’s grateful for those willing to help her family live their American dream.

Vi Ma shared that it is tough to get an estimate of how many Asians here locally struggle with the language barrier, as she believes many are too embarrassed to ask for help and rely on younger generations to translate for them.

She says anyone struggling should reach out to the chamber and she will help connect them with the available resources.