Charles Haynes wrote:
If you read the article, you see that it is making a distinction
between bi-lingual and bi-cultural. They are seeing a difference
between people who speak two languages but only identify with a single
culture, versus people who speak two languages and identify with two
cultures.
Interesting point.
I think language and culture are certainly closely related, but in some
cases culture is the more powerful pull. I can see this easily here in
Japan. My wife is Japanese. The fact that she's bi-lingual is irrelevant
here. English has very little value here. Japanese-ness comes from being
born here, living here, speaking/writing Japanese, and doing Japanese
things. Now, there is linguistic and cultural diversity here, but it's
somewhat narrow compared to "diversity" in the west. Also, Japanese who
are born here but leave for extended periods of time are treated
differently when they return. And, Japanese born in the US to Japanese
parents and who are 100% bilingual are oftentimes treated as foreigners
when they come to live in Japan. In fact, I just met a guy like this. My
wife said his Japanese is utterly flawless and totally native. Yet, he's
an American (of Japanese parents) who has only lived in Japan for 10
years. I asked him why he's treated differently. He said, "Simple. I
/think/ differently. I'm an American. I am different." So, here's a case
of a guy born to Japanese parents in NY, genetically he's Japanese, he's
got family in Japan, he talks as native Japanese as anyone here, yet
he's not really Japanese /culturally/ because his thinking process was
formed when he was a kid living in the US.
Japan may be an extreme example, but I question the notion of
bi-cultural. Bi-lingual is easy. But bi-cultural? I think it's pretty
rare. I look at the US and Europe with all their diversity and yet I see
basically one culture -- western. Sure, it has many shades and
distinctions between states in the US and countries in Europe, but my
goodness it all looks so very similar from here because westerners think
more alike than they think differently. Saying that pisses them off
royally, I realize, but so be it. And it's interesting, they criticize
the Japanese for this very characteristic. I guess my point is that
there are many, many levels to "cultural" that are not explored in the
article.
Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/
