|
 |
Polyglots and cultural identity | ||
Tags: Cultural Identity | Polyglot | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Iluvatar Quadrilingual Pentaglot Newbie Italy Joined 5955 days ago 17 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English*, German*, Italian*, Sinhalese*, French | Message 1 of 6 21 January 2008 at 12:17am | IP Logged | ||
|
I was raised with 4 languages (due to parents and places I've lived in) and started learning a new one when I was 13, at which I'm fluent at advanced level.
To anyone who has a similar background, or is a learned polyglot: Do you feel as if you naturally transcend any sentiment of "belonging to a country", or belonging to a specific culture? Or better, do you feel as if you're less exposed to the idea that human beings from different countries are actually that different? The reason I'm asking this is because I often feel that, especially when I was a teenager, I needed to think deeper in order to understand what people meant when they spoke about "national identity", or when they say that they're "proud of their country", and similar things... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6504 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 2 of 6 21 January 2008 at 1:16am | IP Logged | ||
|
I'll rely on borrowed history for this one: my girlfriend is a natural polyglot, having grown up with four different languages in her home and learning two through school. She feels herself to be both part of her home country and separate from it, since she is part of an ethnic minority in that country. At times she expresses a deep bitterness to the ethnic majority for the way her people have been treated, but at the same time she says everything is better in her country than anywhere else. She has not traveled extensively, however.
I think the feeling of being separate comes from having an unusual background, rather than the number of languages you speak. I personally grew up in a monolingual household and didn't really speak any other languages fluently until I was an adult, but I had a hard time understanding the people who said "America, right or wrong. America, love it or leave it." As a matter of fact, I've often said I only realized what it meant for me to be an American after I left America. I don't necessarily think it's the best country in the world, but I appreciate the parts of it that made me what I've become. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iluvatar Quadrilingual Pentaglot Newbie Italy Joined 5955 days ago 17 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English*, German*, Italian*, Sinhalese*, French | Message 3 of 6 21 January 2008 at 1:36am | IP Logged | ||
|
I think you misunderstood me.
I didn't say that I feel separate from any of the countries; it's actually the opposite. What I'm saying is that I don't feel that any of them is my "mother country". I totally relate with people from all the four countries, but I often fail to make a clear distinction in the level of relation towards them. I see all of them in the same way. Edited by Iluvatar on 21 January 2008 at 1:37am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6354 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 4 of 6 21 January 2008 at 2:15am | IP Logged | ||
|
I pretty much feel this way - you are talking about "Third Culture Kids" -- google it. Good article in wikipedia.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iluvatar Quadrilingual Pentaglot Newbie Italy Joined 5955 days ago 17 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English*, German*, Italian*, Sinhalese*, French | Message 5 of 6 21 January 2008 at 4:52am | IP Logged | ||
|
Thank you for linking that article.
When I read the article there were some expressions that hurt me a bit. It talks about it as if it was some kind of psychological condition. Or at least, it sounds to have a few negative connotations. What do you think about the following? "Many TCKs take years to readjust to their passport countries and often suffer a reverse culture shock on their return to their ancestral culture. This is due to their having lived in many countries away from home and acculturated to adapt to these new cultures." <--- Isn't this somehow denoting some identity imperialism, i.e. assuming that one necessarily has to return to their passport country? While I don't consider any of my countries to be a "mother country", it's 'discriminative' to think of them as "adoptive countries"... "TCK's tend to be very privileged, and will live in their own sub-culture, sometimes excluding native children attending their school." <--- Not true. I know others with my same "condition" but they mingle with everyone. An exception could be perhaps some students of some private international schools where, indeed, all the kids of diplomats and business people are around. "Many Third Culture Kids face an identity crisis: they don't know where they come from. It would be typical for a third culture person to say that he or she is from a country but nothing beyond their passport defines it; they usually find it difficult to answer the question." <--- I have heard this as well; the fact that I don't feel that I have or even need a "mother country" is seen by many as an identity crisis. Some of my friends suggested this as well. But to be very honest I don't feel as if it's an identity crisis. To me, a passport is just a piece of paper for bureaucratic purposes... I think this is the reason I opened the topic: do we, as individuals (especially us polyglots or "TCKs") really need to have a single cultural identity, do we really need a mother country? If yes, why? Edited by Iluvatar on 21 January 2008 at 4:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| enigma007 Newbie United States enigmatic-media.com Joined 5954 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes Speaks: German* | Message 6 of 6 21 January 2008 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I can relate to that. Even when I visit different countries, it seems as if I can easily blend in and become a "native". I see more similarities in cultures and languages than differences. I think that a lot of people hang their identity on a country or a tradition and never realize that those things have more similarities with "foreigners" than differences.
1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
