What is Cultural Assimilation? Cultural assimilation is the process by which a person or a group's language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group. The term is used to refer to both individuals and groups, and in the latter case it can refer to either immigrant diasporas or native residents that come to be culturally dominated by another society.
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How does it affect the identity of bilingual speakers?According to the article, Bilingualism: When Education and Assimilation Clash, "many teachers believe that in order to learn English one must assimilate to the American culture and abandon one's own cultural practices."( Melinda Anderson). For students who may be learning English as a second language, to simply abandon their own cultural practices to fully get a grasp of the American culture and English language they could lose a big part of their identity both personal and cultural.
Some students may even experience the difficulties learning a second language in school and they can even feel isolated from their peers. Melinda D. Anderson states in her article, "'I felt dumb and left out when we did advanced math because my teacher wouldn’t let me do it even though I knew I could,' says Yaye, a bright 14-year-old who speaks Wolof, the most widely spoken language in Senegal, at home.". It can be seen how this young student not being allowed to participate in an academic activity because of a language barrier may be caused to assimilate culturally in order to make friends, and excel in school, by not only having to learn English but also only speaking it while out in public. Christina Gomez, et al.. state in their article, "Over generations, immigrant groups were thought to shed their old traditional folk-society ways in favor of moving irreversibly toward a common American culture."(Assimilation Versus Multiculturalism).It seen here, that assimilation does not just occur over night in fact it occurs throughout generations, but while it may take time to shed traditions eventually if this were to continue, the many culture of the American Society could be lost. Eventually leading to more and more generations losing touch of their cultural roots and language, an important part of the American society would fade as more and more people lose touch of who they are and where they come from. Can it be true that while there are many different cultures and races in America, we should converge into only one nationality? Christina Gomez, et al.. state, "every nation at some point in its history was a melting pot that brought together different races and cultures, either by invasion or mass migration, and with the passage of time sifted these peoples into one solid nationality; and the same should be true for America." (Assimilation Versus Multiculturalism). Once again it can be said that while those who live in America are Americans it does not mean that peoples must assimilate completely to be able to fit in. This is the land of the free, where people have freedom to express themselves and should be able to proudly call themselves American. All while also being able to hold onto ones cultural beliefs, language, traditions, all while still being able to be united and accepted. |