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Language & Identity | ||
Tags: Cultural Identity | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Jar-ptitsa Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5898 days ago 980 posts - 1006 votes  Speaks: French*, Dutch, German | Message 9 of 25 09 May 2009 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | ||
Shut up and leave me alone. I did NOT say they are stupid: i said they're wrong. They are wrong when their ancestors had immigrated in 1700 or 1800 form Italy, but since all the ancestors live in the US and speak English, live in the US culture. Those people are Amercians not Italians. If the perosn's parents or grand-parents immigrated it's differnt: I refer only the people whose family live since some centuries in the US, for example 200 or 300 years. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jar-ptitsa Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5898 days ago 980 posts - 1006 votes Speaks: French*, Dutch, German | Message 10 of 25 09 May 2009 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree with you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Olympia Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5981 days ago 195 posts - 244 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Old English, French | Message 11 of 25 19 June 2009 at 9:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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My last name is a Danish last name, and I also have English, Dutch, German, and Native American ancestry, as well
as probably a few other nationalities. I don't really identify with any of these nationalities, and if people ask me what my heritage is, I would say, "My ancestors were..." and then name the nationalities, rather than saying, "I am..." It's kind of weird, though, most people I know of Italian or Greek ancestry or some other Southern/Eastern European country will say often, "I am Italian," or "I am Greek," or "I am Polish," even if they or even their parents or grandparents don't speak a word of the language. It also sometimes happens with people of Asian descent that I know, but more often they or their parents can speak the language and have preserved a lot of the culture. I don't know why it is that people with ancestors from those parts of Europe feel more connected to their ancestry. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| DavidW Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6526 days ago 318 posts - 458 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French, Italian, Persian, Malay Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese, German, Urdu | Message 12 of 25 20 June 2009 at 11:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Culture (values, mores, body language, acknowledged roles in society etc.) is something you assimilate from people around you given you have a favourable disposition torwards it.. I don't think your 'culture' is nessarily fixed in childhood, although its perhaps uncommon that adults are willing to give up on the investment they have in their current 'culture' or identity.. their friends and families etc., and go against resistance to change unless they had a special reason. A swiss man spends six months a year in brazil for a number of years, and acknowledges that he has assimilated into the culture. Is he brazilian? Can he be, given his passport is swiss? Well, thats just a argument over the definition of words. Culture is one thing, nationality is another. Having ancestors from such-and-such a place doesn't have any real consequence in the present time unless you assimilated the culture, appart from an influence in your physical appearance.. I think.
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| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5766 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 13 of 25 20 June 2009 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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So to be super correct people should say "I am Italian American" or "I am Greek born American" or "I am Dutch" when refering to culture of ancestry/culture of early childhood and ancestry/culture of ancestry, childhood and maybe parts of adult life, or what? :o
(Yes it was a joke. Just in case you think it sounds German enough fofr me to mean it that way.) Edited by Bao on 20 June 2009 at 11:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| anytram Bilingual Tetraglot Groupie France Joined 5669 days ago 85 posts - 89 votes Speaks: German*, Polish*, French, English Studies: Japanese | Message 14 of 25 21 June 2009 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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Bao, imagine how difficult it would be for me to explain in a simple phrase!*laughs* Well, I settle with "I'm European.". :) Edited by anytram on 21 June 2009 at 3:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tritone Senior Member United States reflectionsinpo Joined 6120 days ago 246 posts - 385 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, French | Message 15 of 25 22 June 2009 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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In the U.S, people don't actually know the meaning of the word "nationality", and think its inherited genetically from your ancestors.
Example conversation: a)"What's your nationality? b)"I'm American, I was born here." a)"I know but what Nationality are you, where are you from? " b) "...?" 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Rafaelodias Tetraglot Newbie BrazilRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5393 days ago 11 posts - 17 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Italian, Spanish, English Studies: Japanese | Message 16 of 25 20 February 2010 at 1:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Let me give my observation about the subject Language & Identity. I think it depends on the country. I'm Brazilian and I feel 100% Brazilian, all my family was born in Brazil and therefore everyone in my family speaks Brazilian Portuguese and nothing else. Being Brazil an ex-European colony, so many people around over the world came here to be part of the new country and I could say that all of those people have adopted the Brazilian identity and the new language instead of keeping their own cultures. They mixed with the local population and all the cultures together we had here made up the Brazilian culture. Although there are still some people that insist to claim their backgrounds, especially European ones. Anyone who was born in Brazil is considered as a Brazilian. When I lived in the Netherlands I noticed that if someone with an other background even they speak Dutch as a mother tongue they are not considered as Dutch people at all and I think this point of view is current in so many other countries as well. In my opinion the most important thing that defines your identity is the language you speak as mother tongue and the country from you have acquired the culture. In my case I know about my Portuguese background but I don't feel Portuguese in anything and I haven't been in Portugal yet, besides that Portugueses and Brazilians are quite different from each other. Does the background define the cultural identity? I say no... Edited by Rafaelodias on 25 February 2010 at 6:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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