What is Culture Worth?
So my friend B introduced me to one of his online friend in the area, hoping that I can have someone to hang out with in San Diego. This friend of his is also from Hong Kong, but man do I have a hard time carrying on a conversation with her. First off I am not sure if it's her English skill or general comprehension, I could have been speaking Greek to her and it wouldn't have made much difference.
Conversation was difficult:
"Who's your favorite artist (implied HK artist)?"
I don't know. I've been in the states for over 10 years, I honestly can't name a new singer from the past 10 years.
"Where's your family?"
Not that it's her fault or anything, but anyone who knows me know that I rarely ever talk about my family. It's a big no-no.
"What? Aren't you planning on teaching your kids Chinese (language & culture)?"
Ummmmmm. Nope. Had it been so important to me, I wouldn't have married a white guy to begin with.
And this is something that I never get. To some people it's really important to preserve their cultures and traditions even after emmigrating to another country. Well, first off, might not be fair for me to say this, if you embrace your culture so much, why leave your country in the first place?
Okay, regardless of that, I am sure some of them have legitimate reasons to leave. But I just don't think this whole idea of preserving your culture in another country is going to work out very well. For starters, rarely do I know a first generation ABC (American Born Chinese) who happily attended Chinese school. Base on my own lazy personality, I don't think it's fair to force kids to go to Chinese school on Sundays after the regular five days of school. And most of them can hardly write even their own names in Chinese, not that it's very important. I simply don't see the point. In all fairness. I do have an ABC friend who minored in Chinese in college and able to read and write some.
But have any one of you ever met a second generation of any ethnicity who can still speak, read, or write their "native" language? I haven't. Most first generations who emmigrate here will marry someone who speaks the same language and share the same culture, for obvious reasons. First generation born here will still tend to marry within the same race. From the second generation on, it's all fair game. At the end, we'll all be assimilated and resistance is simply futile.
Conversation was difficult:
"Who's your favorite artist (implied HK artist)?"
I don't know. I've been in the states for over 10 years, I honestly can't name a new singer from the past 10 years.
"Where's your family?"
Not that it's her fault or anything, but anyone who knows me know that I rarely ever talk about my family. It's a big no-no.
"What? Aren't you planning on teaching your kids Chinese (language & culture)?"
Ummmmmm. Nope. Had it been so important to me, I wouldn't have married a white guy to begin with.
And this is something that I never get. To some people it's really important to preserve their cultures and traditions even after emmigrating to another country. Well, first off, might not be fair for me to say this, if you embrace your culture so much, why leave your country in the first place?
Okay, regardless of that, I am sure some of them have legitimate reasons to leave. But I just don't think this whole idea of preserving your culture in another country is going to work out very well. For starters, rarely do I know a first generation ABC (American Born Chinese) who happily attended Chinese school. Base on my own lazy personality, I don't think it's fair to force kids to go to Chinese school on Sundays after the regular five days of school. And most of them can hardly write even their own names in Chinese, not that it's very important. I simply don't see the point. In all fairness. I do have an ABC friend who minored in Chinese in college and able to read and write some.
But have any one of you ever met a second generation of any ethnicity who can still speak, read, or write their "native" language? I haven't. Most first generations who emmigrate here will marry someone who speaks the same language and share the same culture, for obvious reasons. First generation born here will still tend to marry within the same race. From the second generation on, it's all fair game. At the end, we'll all be assimilated and resistance is simply futile.
posted by cahalan @ 12:00
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