Assimilation By Richard Rodriguez Analysis

When Rodriguez’s brings up his bilingual childhood, at the time when he had difficulties with English, he tells about how he only spoke Spanish while at home using it as “my private language, my family’s language,” informing the reader that while at home he was able to speak Spanish with an ease feeling that he belonged (Rodriguez 573). However, whenever outside of his house he sensed that “the sounds of the gringo, reminded me that in this so-big world I was a foreigner,” still new to the language, he felt that he did not belong (Rodriguez 593-594). Only after his parents began speaking to him in English and asking him “speak to us en ingles” Rodriguez felt encouraged to learn classroom English, which led to him taking a leap and answering a question in class giving him “the calming assurance, that I belong in public,” feeling part of the classroom when he was understood by the others (Rodriguez 577). He also had thoughts like “I finally came to accept what had been technically true since my birth:

Assimilation is achieving wealth or economic status, allowing African Americans to immerse in American culture. Some examples of assimilation include having professional success, being in an affluent family, and living in a wealthy neighborhood. The problem is the majority of African Americans struggle overcoming numerous hurdles involving money, class, etc. African Americans need to deny their heritage to fully assimilate because it consumes time and energy to economically and socially progress.

The next step of the assimilation cycle is to live by people who share a similar language

Where are you from? It is a simple question yet; it is difficult to answer as an immigrant who has lived in multiple places. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria. A few years after my birth, my dad's job required my family to move to the United States. My family first "settled" down in Walnut Creek, California; however, less than a year later, we moved down to Houston where just like in California, we lived for less than a year before being catapulted to the beautiful yet cold country to the north of the border: Canada. After living in so many places and being exposed to many different societies, I never found a culture that I fully identified with. Instead, I now identify as not only a first generation Nigerian immigrant but also as a global citizen.

My cultural identity, as I know is Mexican American because both my parents are born in Mexico and I was born here. I can also be defined as a Chicana because that is another way used to call a Mexican American. My culture can be seen in so many different ways like for example it can be seen in food, music, religion, dance, art, festivals, and even more. Most of these traditions have changed a little bit over time as they were brought to the U.S. What I mean by that is that some of those traditions were brought from Mexico, and had a little change into them because they were combined with some traditions that have already been here in the U.S.

Another reason is that children learn a language by imitating the sounds they hear (mimicry) without an accent. This enables children to obtain a correct diction. Here a child has a positive experience and is able to assimilate with ease. On the other hand, an elderly person will find the learning process a challenge and to a certain extent the situation might even be so burdensome that one loses interest in learning. In Amy Tan?s speech My Mother?s English, she explains the difficulties her mother faced because she (Tan?s mother) was unable to clearly express herself. She (Tan) also felt the effects of this as a child. Not only did Tan?s mother find speaking English a barrier in the process of assimilation, but Tan herself felt her mother limited her perception (Tan 45). Since Tan?s mother was unable to speak English properly people would not give her good service and would not treat her seriously even to the extant that people ?pretended not to understand her or even acted as if they did not hear her,?(Tan 45). This is just one example of many that shows how some people have had negative experiences assimilating into American society.

The assimilation of Cuban Americans has come rather slowly due to the discrimination that this group has faced. Like most other immigrating groups, Cubans have seen themselves rejected and discriminated by the dominant group, making them embrace their own culture and straying away from the dominant expectations for several years. In order to maintain their culture, and as an effort to reject discrimination, Cuban Americans have opened various organizations and enclaves that help promote their heritage. The stratification between Cubans and white Americans is quite high in places like Florida. In fact, affluent Anglos are usually placed in elite private schools that are populated by little to none Latinos. Due to the fact that many Cuban Americans consider themselves to be exiles, their assimilation has come rather slowly. According to Gordon’s assimilation theory, cultural and identification assimilation have come at a slow pace. To elaborate, Cuban American immigrants have faced much discrimination and stereotyping that has led them to stay away from assimilating to the dominant culture. In fact, their cultural patterns have been kept sturdy by promoting their heritage in organizations, clubs and enclaves. With new U.S. born generations, there can be a sense of cultural assimilation, but for the most part, Cuban Americans have not completely assimilated culturally. In the same sense, identification assimilation has not come hastily. As mentioned, Cuban

If I could describe my own racial identity, I would describe myself as a twenty-one year old girl who is causation. I was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania my whole life with my two sisters. I come from a middle class working family. My cultural background is, I come from the Irish and German heritage. I have green eyes, brown hair and my skin color is light. When it comes to my extended families, racial history is most of my family members were from Ireland and came over the America to raise their families. My great grandmother was born in Ireland, but she lived Czechoslovakia for a few years, before she moved to America. So my most of my extended family that I know are Irish on my father’s side of the family, my mother’s family is German. My parents raised my sisters and I, in a house where religion was very important, my parents raised us as Catholics. My parents were really strict and old school when it came to certain things. How I feel about my racial identity is, I love the person I am and I would not want to change myself at all. I enjoyed the way I was raised; it helped me shape me into the person I am today.

In “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents” by Julia Alvarez, It’s shown how being engulfed into a new culture can cause people to struggle with keeping their own culture alive since they are around so many people that are living a different culture. Even though there are so many different races and religions in America, we all as Americans grew up here and know how Americans live, therefore, it can be tough for a different culture to live out their own ways in such a mixed country. It’s impossible to adjust to a culture without changing and being exposed to cultural discrimination. At the beginning of the book Yolanda is a grown woman and visiting her family in the Dominican.

What is assimilation you might ask. Well i'd be glad to tell u. It means the process of adapting or adjusting to the culture of a group or nation or the state of being so adapted. I think assimilation is okay as long as it's not forced assimilation. Here are a few reasons why i think forced assimilation is not okay the first reason is if they're not willing to learn a new language and my second reason is what if they don't want to leave then your taking away someone's liberty. Those are two reasons why i think force assimilation is bad and shouldn't be

Assimilation by any standard is conversion. A type of conversion into another’s culture with new beliefs, morals, and traditions that changes an individual. Forced or willingly done, this act of assimilation is a loss of a person’s identity within his/or her own culture, whether he/or she is African, Native American, Chinese or Latino. However, who says that one must fully assimilate into another culture, taking on another’s entire way of living and committing to those beliefs, ridding oneself of one’s own heritage? In Lee Schweninger’s essay, “Back when I used to be Indian: Native American Authenticity and Postcolonial Discourse,” he acknowledges “the importance of tribal identity, an identity maintained despite and separate from those

Most immigrants weren’t able to socialize as well as others could. They have the choice to either develop the American culture and forget their own or stay true to what they were born into. Cultural assimilation is fitting into a new culture that is a dominant culture in a certain country that everyone follows.

The concept of cultural assimilation is not limited to the idea of Mexican immigration, nor is it inherently inaccurate. From a linguistic perspective, as globalization increases,

Entering a room and understanding everything that is being said is an ability not everyone in America possess. There are bilingual individuals that understand one language better than another and are not able to express or understand fully what is being said causing these bilinguals to compromise the individual within to understand the second language. Furthermore, this leads to a bigger question: does assimilation lead to the loss of individualism?

“Cultural assimilation is the process by which a person or a group 's language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group.” (Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)