Something a little different today: America is home to many immigrants and here with a tale of one of them is a guest blogger – Alvina Lopez. Without ado, over to Alvina…
Learning English and Losing a Culture
My close friend Annie was the first child in her family to be born on American soil, and the first to master English. When she began school, she spoke only Cantonese and she struggled in the English program she was placed in. So her family began learning English with her and every evening Annie sat with her father listening to rented English tutorial cassette tapes. Around the house, they spoke nothing but English to help her along. In two years, Annie had gained fluency in English, but it came at a price. Cantonese words and expressions began to slip away.
After graduating and coming home to attend the first Chinese New Year gathering with her family in years, she found herself at a loss when her mother addressed her in Cantonese. “Tell your grandmother about what you learned in school,” her mother said. Annie opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her eyes widened when she realized she had no idea how to talk about grades, studying, and classes. Her grandmother waited expectantly, but Annie could only stammer broken sentences, mangled with English words in place of Chinese ones she had forgotten or never known. She found herself with the complex thoughts of a 26 year old woman, but the language proficiency of a four-year-old child.
“My granddaughter, your Chinese has deteriorated,” her grandmother said in Cantonese, laughing. “Soon, we will not be able to speak any longer!” But Annie’s parents didn’t find it funny. “You’re not Chinese anymore,” they scolded her after they’d left the party. “You are American!”
But does forgetting the language truly mean that she’s no longer Chinese? She is close with her Chinese parents and she still celebrates Chinese customs, so how much does language have to do with identity? Her extended family is more distant to her now and she suspects that some of them may not trust her any longer because they cannot speak together. Formerly close grandparents, aunts, and uncles feel more like strangers as Annie finds herself unable to express her thoughts.
One Chinese New Year, Annie took me to Chinatown for the celebrations. As we watched the lion dancers performing their number, once in a while a Chinese announcer would shout something that made the crowd hoot and holler. Annie and I did the same, but afterwards when I asked her why exactly we were cheering, she shrugged.
“I don’t really know. I can’t understand what the announcers say anymore, so I just cheer when everyone else cheers,” she said.
By: Ivan Bandura
Annie feels language is a big part of her identity. “I speak American English fluently, and it is the only language I speak fluently, so that must mean that I am American. I also think like a lot of Americans do, and I do the same things that Americans like to do and eat the same things, too,” she says. But Annie also still knows some Chinese, so she still feels that a part of her is Chinese as well. “I have made peace with the fact that I lost a part of my Chinese cultural identity when I learned English. It makes for a more accurate representation of who I really am now anyway, and I am someone whose culture is no longer 100% Chinese, but actually part American and part Chinese.”
This guest post is contributed by Alvina Lopez, who writes on the topics of accredited online schools. She welcomes your comments here and at her email: alvina.lopez @gmail.com.
I’m fascinated by this, as a parent to two Japanese boys who are currently speaking mostly English but catching up fast in the language of kindergarten…. My wife and I are both firmly aware of our own cultural identities, but for the kids I guess it will be more fluid. Sometimes that might be hard, sometimes wonderful. I suppose we’ll find out in the years ahead….
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Karenne Sylvester, Darren Elliott. Darren Elliott said: RT @kalinagoenglish: via @vickihollett Culture and identity #beltfree […]
This is very interesting to me. I’m experiencing something similar–and yet very different–as an American living in Germany.
I’ve also had to choose which of the languages I’ll speak fluently (English, of course! Though my German is pretty good) and which ‘team’ I’ll belong to. . .
What’s interesting to me is that I really expect a lot of Americans would tell Annie that becoming American means no longer being Chinese. Or, at the most, being Chinese-American. Most of us, I think, see ourselves as Something-American.
I, though, have the opposite problem: I’ve reached a point where ‘my’ Americans (friends, family) refer to me as a German, or as mine as the ‘German branch’ of the family. . . and yet, in Germany, I’m still very much ‘the American.’ So, I get grumpy about not really being accepted on either side of the proverbial ‘pond.’
If Annie reads this, I’d like to ask her why she can’t work on her Cantonese to the point where she can at least speak with her grandmother. I feel like it’s an insensitive thing to ask, but that’s something I’m curious to know.
Thanks for posting this. It’s an issue that is very close to my heart.
As an immigrant myself, now resident outside my country of origin for nearly 20 years (gulp!) I can identify with the pressures that Annie’s parents felt to help her ‘integrate’ into the host culture by suppressing their own L1.
My girls (5 and 3) are growing up trilingual; English at home and Spanish and Catalan in the community. Children start school here at 3 (yes, don’t ask!) and the eldest was immediately labelled ‘slow’ because she didn’t follow the classes in Catalan. She hated being different and, as a parent, you instinctively want to do everything possible to help your child fit in and feel normal.
We once had a fruitless discussion with her class teacher who tried to convince us to speak only Catalan at home so that Moira wouldn’t be ‘left behind’. She was only 4 at the time.
Fortunately, I was armed with sufficient knowledge to hold my ground but it wasn’t easy. There are seven L1s in Moira’s class alone, but the issue of the Catalan language as representative of historical, social and political identity is a sensitive area.
Add to this the question of the context of bilingual acquisition; MLaH, like us or OPOL as is the case for the majority of my (male) colleagues, and the issue becomes further complicated. There are children who have actively rejected English despite their father’s best efforts.
For me, continuing contact with the parents’ culture is one of the keys; family, TV, books etc. Obviously, the UK is just an easyJet flight away for me, many immigrant residents simply don’t have that option.
Wow, thank you everyone for liking the article and Annie’s story! I talked to her recently about this and she’s ecstatic that you all can relate.
Darren, good luck with raising your sons! It can be tricky balancing allowing them to speak English in order to “integrate” into English-speaking cultures and having them retain their Japanese proficiency.
Toby, I showed Annie your comment (she’s too shy to comment here) and she understands your dilemma as well. When she is with her American peers, they label her as Chinese, yet when she is with her Chinese family members, they label her as American. As for speaking Cantonese, Annie is working on it, but as a working professional and having no one to speak Cantonese with on a regular basis (her fiance only speaks English), it is a challenge to learn enough to converse with her grandmother on a deep level.
Jessica, wow, starting school at 3! I wish you the best of luck in helping your children succeed in school while still maintaining strong ties with their culture! It is going to be a difficult process for sure, but hopefully one that you will not regret.
Darren, Toby and Jessica – thank you so much for these really interesting comments and thoughts. You’ve all deepened my interest further.
I’m hoping Alvina will respond soon, and also hopefully, Annie.
This is probably a little off topic but I wonder how much time is an issue. We’re living in a much more connected world – I mean, look at us all coming together and talking about this now. But how many relationships can a human being maintain, and is it inevitable that traditional networks and relationships have to suffer as new relationships are formed I wonder?
Alvina – sorry your reply has been late showing up. The spam checker had been over-diligent!