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stranger
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stranger
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Although I think that it is a great, wonderful language, I think that it has too put too much pressure on those who have moved to this country that do not speak the language. My mother failed to teach me her native language to prevent confusing herself while trying to learn English. She tried very hard to speak English perfectly. Now that she does speak great English (20 years later), she is not able to even dream in her native language (Korean).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It is obviously a painful process to learn English well as a second language. But the price of not doing so may be worse, such as being limited to in some sort of ghetto.
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stranger
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stranger
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Being born and raised in the US, English is my first language, but not the first language of my parents. They tried hard to teach me their language (Korean), but it is not reinforced in the environment in the US. It seems that even if I meet other "Korean" people (especially second or third generations), they tend to want to speak in English, too. As a result, I realize that I've lost a lot of the culture, because a lot of the culture is contained in the language. I'm what my parents call "Americanized," and I don't understand or relate to the Korean culture much at all because I don't understand the language. I watched a tv show recently about some hearing implants. Deaf people don't view themselves as disabled, and they tend to favor against getting their children these implants to hear because they say that the children won't understand "deaf culture." It was really an eye opener... because then I realized more about how my parents feel when I don't communicate with them or other relatives in their own language.
I do notice, however, that as English is taught more and more in Korea, that the American popular culture (clothes, music, movies, etc.) tends to infiltrate their society. When I visited the big cities there, it reminded me a lot of New York City.
Also as a side note, the mixture of Korean and English words when spoken is called, "Konglish." My mom speaks it really well.
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stranger
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stranger
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I agree that that language may be a barrier to achieving global peace, but do you honestly subscribe to the idea that we shall EVER attain world peace? A common language may cause few (FEW, I say) spats between people of different languages, but I think most of the time any skirmishes are from cultural differences or other moral deficiencies, which are NOT bound by seperate languages.
This possibly sounds rather rude, so I apologize. I only intend to assert my opinions on this. I hope I cause no offense.
Daniel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
While language plays a part in the loss of culture-- i think the immigrant experience is so overwhelming, that language is only one part of it.
Both my parents are immigrants, and both grew up in an english speaking culture--but Irish culture is not the same as English. and there was a good deal of culture lost. Partly, there exist an "irish-American" culture that has aspects of irish culture, but is not the same. Irish-Americans were "surprised" that my parent didn't "know irish songs"-- Of course they did know irish songs-- but not irish american songs.. "Danny Boy" is typical-- it this country it is considered an "irish" song-- but in Ireland, it is an "irish-American" song. there are many Irish Amercan songs that are unknown in ireland-- Tura-lura-lura, the irish lulabye is a good example.
I learned irish culture- and i learned, from second cousins (who had been in this country 60 years before my parents came--both side of the family!), and other irish amercans--irish american culture. But i fought learning real irish culture till i was an adult-- I wanted to "fit in" and be "normal".
My parents too, didn't presure us-- they wanted us to grow up and be American-- Ireland was their past, but America was my future. So even though we shared a language-- i learned most of what i know about irish culture as an adult. I was helped by having first cousins and Aunt and Uncles still alive in ireland, and by having visited ireland--both as a child, and as adult. But i also made a point of reading and learning about irish common law-- a very different concept of law than English common law-- but echo's of it could be found in my parents "solutions" to inequities.
My family is rich in culture-- my mothers fathers family can be traced back 500 years in the city of Dublin-- and all of it has been documented in a two volume series-- This same grandfather was a top sargent under Michael Collins, in the Irish Free State Army--my mother was born in the army barracks of Dublin Castle! But these things where not talked about when i was a child--it was only when the movie was made about Michael Collins, that my mother mentioned, that as top sargent, it fell to my grandfather, (a the leader had a public ceremony) to get the keys from the British Sargent at Arms, and to unlock all the doors of Dublin Castle, and secure the site. If the movie hadn't been made, i wonder if i would have every learned that! Not that all my relatives where so noble-- when asked what part he played in the Easter uprising-- one uncle replied--"Part? You know the bloody english where using live ammo? I stayed the hell away!"--but that too it part of my culture--the recognision that most of the irish didn't get involved in the uprising-- they wanted the English out, but not at the cost of their lives!.
It falls to the children of immigrants to work to keep their parents culture.. Its infinately harder, when you have also lost your parents language-- but English is not the the reason for culture loss-- it is a much broader problem, of which language is one of the most evident markers.
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newbie
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newbie
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It falls to the children of immigrants to work to keep their parents culture.. Its infinately harder, when you have also lost your parents language-- but English is not the the reason for culture loss-- it is a much broader problem, of which language is one of the most evident markers.
Hopefully the current climate of it being socially ok to have ethincity will stay with us for a long time. My girls and I have made family project of finding out more about our heritage. I am 2nd,3rd, or 4th generation US depending on which grand /great grandparent we look at. Most of whom in order to fit in, so they deleted as much of their prior country traditions as possible. Of course one of the nice parts of rebuilding our ethnicty is being able to chose the traditions we like, without the "but we always done it that way" argument.
CJ
CJ
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
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It falls to the children of immigrants to work to keep their parents culture.. Its infinately harder, when you have also lost your parents language-- but English is not the the reason for culture loss-- it is a much broader problem, of which language is one of the most evident markers.
One of the reasons for culture loss for immigrants is the lack of the luxury of time. There is just not enough time for the pleasures of culture, your own or otherwise, when in order to achieve your dreams in your new country you have to expend all your time in the honing of your skills and one of the most important skill is to have a good grasp of the medium of expression which is your new country's language.
chronist
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old hand
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old hand
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Nice article by Crum in The Observer ( http://www.observer.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,458371,00.html). Interesting to see that most Europeans (including the French!) haven't just accepted English, but appear to be embracing it. Long live Global English - the second language of the world. I wonder if we'll see the day when it's the first language of nobody... hmmm... [adopting-pose-of-Dante-as-thinker emoticon] cheer the sunshine warrior
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
Great article, thank you shanks. Can any one of our linguists explain this statement from the article:
With the disappearance of some versions of, for instance, Maori languages the loss is not just linguistic.
What versions of Maori have disappeared? I know of two main "versions" of Maori, NZ Maori (with its several regional variants) and Cook Island Maori, aka Rarotongan. Neither Maori has disappeared, and NZ Maori is undergoing a renaissance, not a withering. Given that it is once again not hard to find children who cannot speak English, and who remain inmonolingually Maori schools until they are around eleven, the idea of Maori "versions" disappearing caught me by surprise. Cook Island Maori does not seem to be disappearing either, though my perceptions may be coloured by knowing dozens of people for whom it is their first language, and several others who have learned it. What other "versions" of Maori were there, and when did they disappear? NicholasW, anybody, please?
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old hand
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old hand
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Max
I'd venture the guess that this is akin to the "Whose Chinese is bigger?" question. One assumes (the Royal 'one', of course) that there was greater dialectical differentiation of Maori in NZ before the Western settlement of it - and it is this variety that is being lost - no longer is one village virtually unintelligible to the one in the next valley, and so on.
I dunno. Maybe I'm just babbling - but I'm sleepy and mildly hungover, so I'm indulging myself.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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