|
 |
Language & Identity | ||
Tags: Cultural Identity | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| jbbar Senior Member Belgium Joined 5800 days ago 192 posts - 210 votes  Speaks: English | Message 1 of 25 02 May 2009 at 11:52pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I'm afraid the original topic will get locked. Because this is a very interesting topic I wanted to revamp the discussion by opening a new thread. I hope this time this can be done without resorting to personal attacks or off-topic political nonsense.
Here's the original question by LorenzoGuapo:
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| paparaciii Diglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 6336 days ago 204 posts - 223 votes Speaks: Latvian*, Russian Studies: English | Message 2 of 25 03 May 2009 at 1:10pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I don't think there is a precise definition of what 'ethnicity' and 'nationality' mean and those terms are used in such a different sense in different parts of the world that it is impossible to have any perfect explanation what they REALLY mean.
When American says that he/she is Italian, he/she most likely understands that it isn't exactly the same as a guy from Rome saying 'I'm Italian'. Jar-ptitsa should take it into account that if other people from other countries have perceptions that don't match hers, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are stupid. They're just different. Jar-ptitsa simply has different standarts of the term 'Italian' than many people in America and other (immigrant)countries. There are Ukrainians and Belarussians in my country who claim to be Russians(because their first language is Russian), others claim to be Latvians(because they live in areas where most people are Latvian-speakers and their main language is Latvian), and others identify themselves as Belarussians or Ukrainians(because their parents came from there). Who has the right answer? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| anamsc Triglot Senior Member Andorra Joined 6203 days ago 296 posts - 382 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French | Message 3 of 25 03 May 2009 at 4:55pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I agreed with those people who said that there is a distinction between between "ethnicity" and "nationality". In my case, I can say that I'm X ethnicity, even though I can speak about four words in X language, I'm not a member of the traditional religion, etc. When I say I'm X, I'm just stating something interesting about my background, or explaining why I know how to make some food or why my grandparents speak with accents or why I have certain physical features, or stuff like that. I don't think, as somebody suggested in the other thread, that in the Country X everybody speaks only English or that the Country X only exists in enclaves in the US. In fact, I don't identify with the group "X ethnicity from the Country X" at all. I identify with "X-Americans" (as well as with "Americans"), which I realize is another thing all together. (Sorry about all the X's, I just wanted to make it general!)
I don't think this is an American phenomenon. Since I've been here in Catalonia, I've noticed that people who descend from immigrants from other parts of Spain often will say that they're Manchego, Galician, etc. (in addition to saying that they're Catalan), even if their grandparents were born in Catalonia, and that people often tend to identify with their "pueblos." I think this has to do with the fact that Catalan culture is very closed in that they'll accept anybody, but only if they act according to the strict rules of Catalan culture. Therefore, those that don't meet all the Catalan requirements have to explain why, and to claim another culture to identify with. I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense. This may also be true for the US, but it's hard for me to generalize, since I'm from there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6659 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 4 of 25 04 May 2009 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I don't think I've ever heard anyone in the USA ask me about my ethnicity, but I have been asked about my nationality. It was clear to me that it was a question about my ancestry, not my citizenship. Sometimes the question is simply "What are you?"
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eoinda Tetraglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5948 days ago 101 posts - 113 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, Spanish, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 5 of 25 07 May 2009 at 8:24pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I think you come from the country in which you have spent the major part of your childhood but that you have
another culture and ethnic background, why can't many different cultures live under the same roof (it's called a multicultural society). I personally would consider a person who have lived the whole of her life in the US an american, but if this person has another culture, religion and/or language s/he is ethically something else. The problem in some cases is the opposite of what you are talking about. For example I'm Swedish no one can dispute that. I'm born in Sweden, I speak Swedish, have the same culture as most people here and I "look" Swedish. On the other hand I've got a friend who is adopted from Vietnam but have lived in Sweden the whole of her life she speaks Swedish has Swedish (adoptive) parents and have never been to Vietnam. It bothers her when people ask her where she is from and don't settle with "from Sweden". According to me she is just as Swedish as I am but people don't seem to agree. :( 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 6 of 25 08 May 2009 at 12:19pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Eoinda, gosh yeah, I know some people like your adopted friend too. It's two women, both adopted from countries in the Orient.
Based on their experiences I am not sure if I think it's such a good idea to adopt a baby that looks completely different from the country where it's going to live.. Or perhaps it works better in a more "international" pluralistic kind of country, like North America. The amount of idiotic, rude and racist comments that my friends have had, even from people with no particular ill-intent is unbelievable. They are good sports about it, but it must be a daily frustration that is hard to imagine. Linda (one of these friends) actually travelled at her own cost to Korea, but there she was a stranger too since she was not familiar with the country or the language. Talk about caught between two worlds! I'd DEFINITELY categorise people like these two as Swedish though. Number 1 criteria is they speak Swedish with no accent and they always behave like they are Swedish (i.e. culturally integrated). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6659 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 7 of 25 08 May 2009 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | ||
North America may tend to be pluralistic, but people whose looks don't blend in here are also asked where they're from. I think it's ignorance more than anything else. Especially in some smaller or more remote towns, there are people who have rarely if ever seen someone of Asian descent in person. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ninja Bunny Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5792 days ago 42 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Dutch, Danish, Mandarin, Afrikaans, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French | Message 8 of 25 08 May 2009 at 9:08pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I think it depends on the intent. If the person is asking 'what is your ancestry' the same way they would ask anyone their ancestry - "your family excaped the chaos of the Meiji Restoration? Cool! Mine were escaping the potato famine in Ireland!" - then it's not that bad, although the person being asked may hear something coded that the asker did not intend.
But if the asker ignorantly assumes someone is a recent immigrant when in fact the family has been in the country for generations (some of my Chinese and Japanese friends whose families came over more than a 130 years ago have encountered this) then it can get unpleasant. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
