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December 03, 2005
Passage Response
I think language is key in staying connected to a person's root culture because it is the common ground everyone in a certain culture have. If one lost their language then they lose connection with their native culture and a part of their identity. The passage speaks to me more so in the experience of someone else I know as opposed to personal experience.
My mother came to the United States from the Netherlands with my father maybe 25 or 30 years ago. I am sure she has some grasp of English in order to communicate with my dad because I know his Dutch is nothing to brag about (my sister and I snicker whenever he attempts to impress my mom with his Dutch). However, it must have been incredibly hard for her to live in a country without speaking her native language and even more so considering many Americans do not know any other second language that she knows, like German or French. She was forced, though willingly because she chose to move here, to become fluent in English for a means of survival.
However, I have never considered my mother's struggle in the terms Joshua Fishman uses. I know that right now living in France or the Netherlands and speaking French or Dutch all day long would give me a headache. I would become so stressed out from trying to communicate ideas and thoughts I might not know how to articulate in French/Dutch but do know how in English. My mother probably felt very vulnerable and insecure when she moved here because it was not her native language and language, to me, is the most significant or apparent manifestation of cultural differences. It can both alienate someone who is not a native speaker and embrace if they are. I know my mother felt alienated, and still does though she is fluent in English now, because she had no one to connect with culturally and linguistically.
Even now my mom gets very upset and sad from time to time when she misses Holland or my sister and I gently tease her about the pronunciation of her words. She takes offense because it is a sign she does not completely fit into this country and it makes her miss Holland where she does have a common ground with everyone--language. She becomes lonesome because she cannot do what feels most natural to her and that is communicate with people in her native language and who are part of her native culture. Following upon this, I think the fact that both my sister and I can heighten this frustration and loneliness when we cannot or do not speak with her in Dutch. I hope she doesn't feel she went wrong somewhere when my sister and I "lost" our fluency in Dutch but I feel that I went wrong in pushing Dutch away and thus pushing some of my culture away. I regret it though it is only further conviction for me to re-learn Dutch and connect with my mom so she feels better connected within the U.S.
Posted by lcisfreya at December 3, 2005 09:16 PM