Ok, now that we've all refreshed our memories about one facet of our recent history, we have to recognize that "our" land once belonged to someone else and yet someone else before that. Our history is full of rich culture, progress, development and constantly changing. Growth is expected; it's organic and shows what was and what is possible.
The same goes for language. As of late, Internet-based sibling to Oxford English Dictionary released its latest batch of new words including our lastest online vernacular like lolz, lifecasting and redic. On a community level in most major cities in the US, we're seeing a greater diversity of people; people from places we hardly ever saw ten years ago. Today, it's not uncommon to meet someone from India, China, Russia, Iraq and of course South America. Hell, the State of CT used to be know for its WASPs, but today in Stamford, CT it's not uncommon to hear Russian, Spanish, Hindi and English all spoken on the same street corner.
As a result of growing up in a bicultural and bilingual environment, spending time at a young age in Panamá and purposefully surrounding myself with a diverse group of friends, I celebrate this diverse "state!" However, I know that my perspective isn't always shared by the masses. An ethnocentric disposition stills seems to permeate parts of our community where people are some how offended by other people speaking a second language where non-speakers are present. Some monolinguals think it's rude as if we were secretly plotting an ingenious plan to take over the world or better yet turn them into magically elves. While they feel emphatic about it, I came to realize recently that I feel the same way. The other day, having encountered this very situation, I felt my blood boiling over and thought "wow" where did that come from as few things make me feel that way (other than my X)?
In further examining my disposition, I came to realize that my second language is the very thing that makes me who I am, what I think about myself and identifies me as part of my own clan. Upon feeling threatened, my own ethnocentric attitude fully revealed itself. As human beings it's fundamentally important that we feel part of something; for this reason it's vitally important to respect one another's cultures and languages that are different from our own. One might even learn a few new things about each other's history and pick up a few new words, proven to enhance our cognitive develop. Cheers!
Written by Deborah Castillero
Nice article, makes me want to find my old t-shirt that I enjoyed wearing so much because of what it stated to everyone that saw me, " speak Spanish, you are in America. " ok, so maybe we can edit a little to include all cultures, but I will continue to celebrate mine allowing for others to do same.
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