Moving Beyond the Language Barrier Essay

“Our culture, our traditions, our languages are the foundations upon which we build our identity.” - Unknown. The concept of bilingualism represents several different ideas, two writers share their personal stories about learning being immersed into the English culture and learning the language. They both share their views of what Bilingualism means to them personally and make arguments about the importance of the concept.

Language is not the only factor affecting the assimilation of people into American society, but one?s traditions also have an effect on the willingness and on the degree to which one assimilates. Some people have found that certain customs they have are not accepted in American culture and might

Being American through assimilation requires two steps. It first requires learning what the surrounding people behaved. Then it requires actually doing what those people did. For example, many people around me were in a certain group or organization. Jalen is in Boy Scout. Jarrett was in Mock Trial. Jonah and Teresa are both in soccer. It seemed like that everyone around me was participating in an extracurricular activity. Knowing this, I joined some extracurricular groups, such as Envirothon and Youth in Action. I have learned what is considered exotic and what is gross when it comes to the American diet.

For immigrants in America, two radically different choices of culture exist. First, the immigrants can choose to stay loyal to their ancestral roots and deny mainstream culture. Instead of contributing to the melting pot of opinions present they isolate within themselves by refusing to learn both the English language and American culture as a whole. Because they cannot communicate with a majority of the population, they don’t maintain any amount of control over American ideals including both politically and socially. The second opportunity available would be to embrace this new found culture, no matter how foreign it is to them, and develop a sense of unity with America. If immigrants wish to break the currently controlled system of power and privilege in America and truly become a part of American customs, they must learn to assimilate culturally.

In the article, How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua describes how a person is judge based on the speak they have. The people that have English or other languages as a second language are more likely to speak a different way. Therefore, people make fun other those who cannot pronounces words right. Those people are the one that do more have a harder time speaking to people with can lead to mental trauma. These people tend to lose their identity to please others that are persuading them to speak the American language. The author discusses how people that have their second language be the common language is harder to get work that pays good. The author has experience this kind of thing where we are judged base on the way you speak a language.

We lived in such a small, culturally varied town, there were many opportunities to overhear conversations in another language. It was mostly Spanish, but our neighborhood was situated directly in the hood, so many languages through the area speaking their own languages, such as English, Chinese, Tagalog and more. The surrounding area was also the residence of many Asians, White, Asian and African American people. I grew accustomed to hearing their language spoken, as well as knowing a lot about their culture. As you can see, I’ve been exposed to a variety of languages and situations, people and places. I hope that by furthering my knowledge of other languages, cultures, and people, I can overcome many of the prejudices that I have learned from parents, friends, or associations. I hope that one day I’ll be able to interact with people of all different races.

I immigrated to the US with my family six years ago. At that time, we had a hard time adapting to the new environment because of the new language and the differences in culture. During the first few weeks after I started school, I felt really frustrated at myself as my inadequate english skills were not good enough for me to communicate with my teachers and peers. However, my parents were the ones that suffered the most. The language barrier made it difficult for them to find jobs and get through their daily life tasks. I still remember vividly that one time when my dad and I went to a pharmacy to pick up his medications. He struggled to communicate with the pharmacist and recieved juding stares for his broken English. For the first time in

Throughout my childhood, it was a normal occurrence to hear three different languages in a single conversation. My father’s native language is Korean and my mother’s native language is Chinese. From my upbringing, I got to witness one of the struggles of an immigrant, which is learning English. Although my parents’ English is very good now, it took many years of practice. I often had to serve as a translator for my parents in public settings early on in my life. Not knowing English should not have to be a source of shame for an immigrant. However, I saw the embarrassment on my parents’ faces when I had to translate publicly for them. They worked endlessly every night in their college classes to become proficient in English, a skill that is easy for native speakers to take for granted. It made me realize the obstacles that immigrants face. To this day, my parents are still self-conscious about their speaking abilities. It has even influenced my mother’s career prospects. She has decided not to progress in her career, which requires teaching because she is afraid people will not like being taught by her because of her accent. Language is required to gain friendships, good jobs, and ultimately the power to

September 28th, 2004 came by all too quickly. That is the day I landed in the United States of America at SeaTac airport. I remember growing up in Kenya and my dad used to call me and my sisters “American ladies”. He would constantly say that if he doesn't get a chance to come here he would make sure that my sisters and I would come here for a more suitable education. Growing up in Seattle life never came easy for me unlike my sisters. I barely knew how to speak English let alone my own language, Kiswahili. Juggling between the American and the Kenyan accent was a tedious task. furthermore, not being able to communicate with others turned me into an awfully reserved individual and practically branded me an outcast. Likewise, at home my supposed “safe place” also felt like I was in isolation from the other members of my family. At the moment I wasn’t at the top of my parents priority list but to some extent my parents feared for how I would be able to assimilate in the culture without being able to speak the language. Two months after our arrival I was enrolled to John Stanford Elementary, an alternative school, specifically to learn English. Going to an alternative

For years there has been controversy about how immigrants should assimilate in America. In the past, new incoming immigrants integrated themselves into the American Society based on what they believed the American culture and customs were. Sometimes they chose not to practice them because they were against their own personal beliefs (Zunz, Bodnar, and Thernstrom, p.53.). In recent arguments, some people believe that assimilation is achieved by adopting the American norms and language. While others believe immigrants should integrate their own customs and language into the American culture. These speculations have placed a dividing line in between how Americans feel immigrants should and should not assimilate.

Language is a very power thing; it can create change or destroy someone or something. Immigrants will always be made fun of because the way they sound. No matter how advance civilization will get, racial profiling will always exist. In the essay ‘Mother Tongue’, by Amy Tan, she has shared her experience growing up in an immigrant household, where everyone in her house talked a different version of English, and that she learned a different version at school. Growing up, Tan was many time asked to communicate with others over the phone, as if she was the mother, which made her feel shameful. That even though her mother speaks broken English, she still understands her well. These stories and experience help Tan prove that just because one cannot

The children in these families try to adapt to the American society, but with the difficulties of learning a new language comes the challenges of having to pick between losing their native language or trying to balance both languages together. The school system often forces the children to forget the language they grew up speaking just so they can fit in with the other kids at school. Transitioning to a new school is hard enough, but when the child does not look or sound like the other children it can make it even harder. Marjorie Agosin understands this treatment a little too well due to her family moving to America to escape the danger in their country In her article she states “A high school in the small town of Athens, Georgia, where my poor English and my accent were the cause of ridicule and insult” (600). Children should not feel ashamed for the way he or she sounds, and then feel like they need to forget about their once beloved language. These children even change their names, so they experience an easier transition at school because the other kids cannot tell they are from another country (Dumas 607). Many languages are abandoned because of the ridicule the children go through at school. The children and teachers need to learn tolerance for these children coming into the American school system. Once others learn tolerance, the children will not feel like they have to change their name and lose their native language to fit in with others at

No matter what their reasons for emigrating, where they have come from, or when they left, once here, nearly all immigrants face considerable challenges in adapting and making the United States their new home. Language barriers, unfamiliar surroundings, and sometimes hostile neighbors make it difficult for immigrants to assimilate into American society.

I arrived to the United States on August 14, I landed in the afternoon in Dallas, Texas. Language was the first thing I which I had cultural shock. I knew I would be in an Anglophone country, but at the moment when I arrived and I could not understand anything, I entered in a little moment of panic, I was alone in the third biggest airport in the USA, with a delayed flight and with low battery in my cellphone. But I realized that the best thing I could do was keep calm and do my best.

This was something that Richard Rodriguez is willing to do. Spanish was home for Richard and it was all that he knew growing up. Exposure to only that language led him to feel socially disadvantaged as a child. The Spanish speaking language was a huge part of his culture and represented home and English as a stranger. Inability to speak English made him a foreigner to the outside world. Due to his culture a separation was built between English speaking and non English speaking individuals. Richards transition was painful because the closeness and emotionless that he related to his Spanish language. They were bonded by segregation and separating themselves from the unfamiliar. It was when Rodriguez’s family left their culture behind and embraced the American language they were truly able to reap the benefits of being an “American”. Crevecoeur’s encouraged his immigrant to leave behind old traditions and created new ones with their families. Learning the English language gave the Rodriguez family the ability to do that. No longer were they bonded by segrations or only in kinship with relatives but they were opened up to the world around them. “We remained a loving family but one greatly changed. No longer so close; no longer bound tight by the pleasing and troubling knowledge of our public separateness”. (Rodriguez 5). Leaving their culture behind a being opened to assimilating a