Europerism Vs Eurocentrism

All languages are important and realizing it will make you become a stronger, more diverse human being. We need take make an effort not only for ourselves but for other citizens living in the United States who don’t speak English; we need to make them feel welcomed into our country. Marjorie Agosín described that,”here in the United States, where I have lived since I was a young girl, the solitude of exile makes me feel that so little is mine, that not even the sky has the same constellations, the trees and the fauna the same names or sounds, or the rubbish the same smell. These are the dilemmas of one who writes in Spanish and lives in translation”(Agosin 599). Agosín has lived in the United States for quite some time now, yet still feels like she is living a life through “translation”. She should not feel this way, Agosin should feel apart of our country and feel as if she is a citizen. It is important for us to take a stand now to make language become apart of the curriculum within our school systems starting in Kindergarten, so that our children have a more diverse life filled with opportunities. One thing we know about the future for sure is that we will still have our knowledge about language, but it is how we use that knowledge that will depict how we will succeed in life and as a

The growth of English language has increased tremendously over the years and has become the most widely spoken languages in the United States. This observation aims to explore why when moving to the United States, many non-English speakers feel the social pressure to learn English and what difficulties they encounter. After my observation, I found that many feel the need to learn English in order to assimilate into a community, and though straddling two languages is difficult, it opens more opportunities, and language privilege.

(447). Dissolving fear in the post 9/11 era is, perhaps, the country?s most pressing need. The inability to help out a fellow American in a time when help is needed brings fear to many Americans. Examples of instances when help would be needed could be an attack on a building or a group of people on a street minding their own business. Communicating in the same language, so the group of people trying to help out can understand each other relieves stress in the minds of frantic compatriots of the situation. English as the official legal language will unite all citizens and will prove communication in a single language really is a unifying factor. To get through the troubled times, communication has eased the fears and heartache, but the separation of languages within cities still keep some of the startled citizens from a feeling of complete comfort since the attacks on the Twin Towers. The dissolved distrust and fear due to unifying everyone with the English language carries a message to the rest of the world that our country is made of an array of backgrounds brought together by a common language, which is not afraid. Immigrants coming to our cities today along with families that past on their heritage for generations need to come to a consensus on a very important concept to our American society: communication in a single language will promote a message that the country is striving forward

Those who believe a shared language shows a country’s identity do so because of the cultural assimilation this provides. Because language is a large part of culture, to learn one language is to culturally unite all of those people in a country with the same shared language. Henry Ford, the creator of Ford automobiles, believed in such an ideal; he was even famous for his English school which taught newly-migrated immigrants to learn the “language of America” while also providing them with jobs and wages. However, shared language does not always mean unity. For example, even in the US where English makes up the majority of spoken language, there are always ideological disparities today between people—like the disparities between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, and religious groups and non-religious groups. Likewise, multiple languages does not lend itself to disunity. Even the US Bill of Rights’s guaranteed protection of the “freedom of speech” is not limited to the English language, supporting the idea of a united yet pluralistic society. Throughout the years, though, there have been laws made in America that have either supported or gone against the use of only

Although the founding fathers decided to leave the idea of establishing a national language out of the Constitution, there have been several movements to establish English as the national language since then. Even though none of these movements could garnish enough support to make this into a reality, they have been influential in that English is the official language in 31 states. In recent years, five additional states have considered legislation that would mandate English as well (Schwarz 2014). Since many individual states have sided on the issue, it poses the question of if the national government should follow the trend as well. A strong argument can be made that the United States should make English as the official language because it would promote unity and patriotism among Americans, be economically beneficial for the nation while rightfully placing the responsibility to learn English on the non-English speaking immigrants.

A common joke says “What do you call someone who speaks two languages?” in which the person being asked the question would usually respond with “bilingual.” It goes on to ask about those who speak three or four languages, but then there is a kicker. “What does one call someone who only speaks one language?” to which the punch line is “an American.” According to the 2006 General Social Survey, only 25 percent of American adults are fluent in a foreign language, while only 7 percent cite the source of this education to formal schooling (Devlin 1). Large amounts of evidence point to the benefits of being multilingual. Although the United States has a few laws that help immigrants assimilate through dual language programs, there is little to be

    Many people have questioned why the United States does not have a national language, and more specifically, why English is not the national language. Among these people is Dennis Baron, who publishes his thoughts on this topic very often. One of his essays, considered a proposal, is titled “Don’t Make English Official - Ban It Instead” and discusses a new way of approaching English as the national language: banning English completely in America. Baron examines other opinions and their flaws and then establishes contrasting points that are subtly sarcastic. He is immensely effective in addressing his points and argument through the use of various techniques. The author conveys his ideas not only through his words, but through

Raff also speaks of high failure rates of Hispanics but he fails to account for any success of

Immigration, legal or not, has been a problem for the United States for a long time. In the U.S., promoters of bilingualism have supported the use of other languages for public services, including government documents, hospitals services, voting ballots, and bilingual education. In their essays “A Nation Divided by One Language” and “Viva Bilingualism”, James Crawford and James Fallows claim that it is not necessary to declare English the official language of the U.S. On the other hand, in their essays “English Should Be the Only Language” and “Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language”, S. I. Hayakawa and Mauro E. Mujica argue that English should be made the official language. They contend that

Language is considered a vital tool in the construction of someone’s identity and an expression of culture. English is the most widely spoken language in the world. The number of people who speak it as a second language is increasing dramatically. In the last couple of decades immigrants have chosen to make the United States their home, but some proceeded with caution by slowly adapting to the English language and culture. Others don’t want to learn and adapt to the English culture simply because they believe it will separate them from their own cultures and traditions. Therefore, the question struggling to be answered is, should English be the official language in the United States?

Language has clearly become a powerful force in many countries where different communities actually want to split apart on the sole basis on the language they speak. An article about Spain’s language diversity explains how people feel so passionate about their native languages that the country had to create autonomous regions for each of the major languages, and people are still fighting to have their language become the dominant dialect (Berdichevsky 276). This is also seen repeatedly in America’s history where immigrants to the country struggle to keep their languages alive. These immigrants realize the important role that language plays in keeping a community together, and many immigrants from the same country will choose to live by each other in America and are resentful when they are forced to learn English. My own great-grandparents chose to live in an Italian neighborhood in Ohio when they first came from Italy so that their culture would not be lost. This allowed my grandma to learn Italian as well as English, and even though she was going to an English school she was still taught the morals of her culture because she was able to talk with the older Italian people who did not speak English. My grandma says that this has helped her throughout life because even though she lives in America she says, “I respect my Italian heritage,” and that it has helped “build my confidence” (12 April 2003).

“If Only We All Spoke Two Languages” is an segment written by Ariel Dorfman that discusses the benefits of the United States becoming a bilingual and or a multilingual society. The piece was written in March 2004 and first appeared in the novel “Everything’s an Argument with Readings”. In the portion author Ariel Dorfman criticized Americans for being monolingual. The author illustrates how learning a second language “builds a bridge” to the English language. Dorfman continues to give statements of how advantages being multi or bilingual can be stating that it offers people “economic and political edge” and assists them in “understand someone else's culture.” The author concludes that if Americans do not follow through with procedures to increase

The United States is commonly know as a melting pot of nations, in which people from around the world have emigrated to form a homogeneous yet varied culture. Although we come from different ethnic groups, we are usually bound together through our common English language. This becomes an issue, however, when immigrants are not familiar with English and American culture, and instead attempt to keep their own heritage alive. They are often torn between identities through language, the one they speak at home which they are familiar with, and the one they must adhere to in public. This often leads to struggle and conflict on both sides, dealing with different cultures and how people react when assimilation occurs. Because of this, living in the United States often requires us to completely accept only one identity, even though hints of the other may spill over at times.

Preconceived notions of Western-European forms of kinship and societal relations influence anthropological studies of kinship in different cultures (Schneider). Morgan theorized that a sexual relationship between female and male constituted marriage. In addition to this, Morgan considered the biological reproduction of offspring the key determinant in kinship classification as parents of said offspring. This paradigm has influenced the viewpoint of anthropologists’ studying other forms of kinship in different cultures. Rather than examining what kinship is to those being studied, anthropologists attempt to classify it into familiar categories. Two ethnographies that attempt eliminate this Western-European bias are “Biology Unmoored” by Sandra Bamford and “Sport of Kings” by Rebecca Cassidy. “Biology Unmoored” examines the Kamea, an indigenous people of the Papa New Guinea Highlands. The Kamea do not solely base kinship on reproduction; rather, kinship and societal relations are based on the human relationship with the plant environment. Using the viewpoint of the Kamea, Bamford analyzes the biological paradigm proposed by Morgan, which has influenced many anthropological studies. In the ethnography “Sport of Kings” Rebecca Cassidy examines the British racing industry in Newmarket, the international headquarters of horse racing. Cassidy claims that by analyzing the relationship between humans and animals we may better understand kinship and social relations between humans. By

Language is universal. People voice their ideas, emotions, and thoughts across to the world through language. Multitudes of people across the country speak a varierty of languages. However, a foreigner is reduced to their native language, and sometimes has difficulties mainstreaming English into their dialect. A native language is a foreigner's blueprint for the world to hear. Native language gives homage to a foreigner's culture and home life. Native tongues open doors for education and job opprutunities. A native tongue is translated in books and plastered on signs across the communites. Imagine if language decreased to just English, and no another language existed. People would mirror each other, and have no idea of diversity. So where