AREA HOME TO MANY OF ASIAN DESCENT; BUSINESS OWNERS FIND LIFE OUTSIDE BIG CITIES REWARDING, CHALLENGING

Business owners from Asian countries have the same concerns as any American entrepreneur -- the cold weather's effect on consumers, a late shipment from suppliers and so on.

But they have different concerns, too: They admit that learning English is sometimes a problem.

As more Asian-owned businesses open in Cape Girardeau, the language barrier is coming down. Asians sell everything from Chinese cuisine to fake nails, and most customers are willing to listen a little harder to get the goods and services offered by such businesses.

MiMi Nguyen, 27, operates L.A. Nails in West Park Mall. She moved to California from Vietnam seven years ago and, as is the case with many other immigrants, she hires other Vietnamese to work in her shop.

"We had relatives come here 15 years ago," Nguyen said. "They help you out when you come to your second country."

She got her cosmetology license in California four years ago and worked in her mother's shop. Later, after she married, she approached the L.A. Nails Co. owner and asked to operate her own shop. He picked Cape Girardeau, and the Nguyen's shop opened three months ago.

Now she is trying to build her customer base by word-of-mouth advertising. Nguyen said she hopes American customers are understanding of their Vietnamese manicurists.

"If customers come in, they may wonder why nobody talked to them," she said. "It is because the workers have a problem with the language."

Another Asian business owner, Andy Lui, said living in Cape Girardeau has helped his family learn English better and faster.

He and his wife, Dorothy, and their son, Herman, moved to Cape Girardeau from Hong Kong in 1987. They spoke Chinese and broken English.

Lui came here to start a shoe factory -- a branch of one in Hong Kong -- and he picked Cape Girardeau because it was along Interstate 55. Several Brown Shoe Co. factories also lined the interstate, meaning more trained workers would be available.

The factory, Young Step, didn't work out, but Lui and his family opened a retail business at 36 N. Main, Step-by-Step Shoes.

Things have been difficult, Lui said, but living in Cape Girardeau has been beneficial to his family. If they had moved to a large city, there would have been many Chinese to make friends with and less need to learn English.

"When I brought my boy to see the principal at St. Mary's School, he could not even answer simple questions about his name and age," Lui said. "Now he is in the seventh grade, and he is a good student. He speaks English just like an American. Ninety nine percent of his friends are American."

He said that he and his family enjoy their new lives in Cape Girardeau -- everything except the slow pace of business lately.

Lui said his race hasn't been a problem at all since he moved here. "I like everything here," Lui said. "I like my boy's education. I don't mind to live in an area like this."