When I was about seven, I asked my mom if I could go to Chinese school. She basically brushed it off and as a result the only Chinese words I know are "ni hao." My mother is a 1.5-generation-immigrant, which I actually did not really realize she was in fact an immigrant until our discussion in class a few weeks ago. She moved here from Taiwan when she was two. She speaks perfect English, and English is actually the only language she knows. I was curious about why my mom did not know Chinese despite Chinese being technically her first language, so I asked my grandparents about their immigration and learning English. They basically said that they did not consciously choose to not teach their children Chinese, but it just happened naturally because they worked with, went to Church with, and lived near mostly white people. My grandparents could read and write English before they came here, but my mother and my uncle did not know any English at all. My grandparents said that after my uncle started school, it took him one month to learn English. My uncle beginning school was also a bit of an impetus for them to speak English in the home. Within three or four months they spoke about half Chinese and half English. After about two years, they spoke mostly English, and within four years, they spoke all English.
This is a rare case with immigration, to assimilate so easily and quickly. Their age of arrival was pretty young, their time in the US now is long, and they are better educated than most. They said their first priority was "being able to communicate" so their switch to English just happened unconsciously. But I honestly kind of wish they had tried to preserve the language.
Any thoughts on language or assimilation?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have a lot of thoughts about language in the US. I often hear people complaining that "If you move here, you should speak the language." Often times they are referring to those that are from Spanish speaking countries. This has always bothered me. America is a giant melting pot. There really isn't a national language, and depending on where you live in America, you could speak many different things. I think it's too bad that your grandparents didn't try harder to keep the language of their heritage in the family, but I understand the social pressures that influenced them to quickly learn English. I guess it's unrealistic to have every immigrant who comes to America keep their own language, because how would we have public schooling? Or government? But at the same time, America IS great because of the vast differences in culture that are all mixed into part of a greater whole. I don't know what a good solution is, but I definitely don't think that people coming to America from other countries should "keep it to themselves".
ReplyDelete