Should Asian immigrants assimilate?

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It would be better for America if more Americans spoke multiple languages.

I think that the amount of assimilation that can be done by first-generation, adult immigrants is limited; it's very, very difficult to learn new languages as adults (compared to kids), and adults tend to be more settled in their ways. The second generation, or those who came to this country as kids, are much more likely to be assimilated; they are, in fact, likely to assimilate more than their parents wish unless there is a very large community of people from the old country with which they can socialize fairly exclusively. If they go to American schools, they're going to end up being Americans more than immigrants, regardless of what their parents might wish.

I am not really concerned by xenophobia against foreign people, as I myself am a 2nd-generation immigrant of my country. Discriminating other countries is not something in my interest.

I am concerned with whether I am able to do both adapting to the way of life in my current country, and also trying to keep my roots, values my parents and ancestors keep.

Even when I have to be transferred to Hong Kong (another Asian country) to work, most likely I have to learn Cantonese as much as I can, since I look so 'yellow'. (I currently speak Mandarin and English). What more if I have a chance to make a living in another country like France, Spain - though I cannot really hide my Asian-ness and may suffer discrimination, due to different looks, no matter how hard I try.

A certain amount of assimilation / integration is required for a society to remain cohesive. In the US we'll likely wind up with a SW that is to the US what Quebec is to Canada....at best.

And there are examples where the melting pot utterly failed. In mid 20th century Detroit you had southern rural blacks moving into a city filled with white urban northerners and the two cultures simply didn't mix well. The result being one of the most segregated cities in the US, if not the most. The city suffered as a result.

A certain degree of proficiency in at least one official language should be a legal requirement for citizenship.

It's not just a melting pot. It should be an idea of community in cities like Detroit.

Plus, people with different roots should preferably have a sense of belonging to a place, with similar customs that helps them most.

Even for those political refugees as a result of civil strife in Vietnam and Cambodia living in France, do you think it's good for them to just work their way to be as French as possible while keeping their customs when they're compatible with French values?

With respect, that is both patronizing, and fundamentally wrong.

First, language is inseparable from culture. Second, assimilation serves to impede ongoing links with immigrant's country of origin. Third, it strikes me as hypocritical that nations founded on the principles of freedom and liberty should impose a requirement to adopt any customs or traditions.

In Canada we given primary to freedom of thought, belief and opinion; to freedom of expression and free press; to freedom of association. These freedoms are equally--if differently--recognized in the United States.

So how do you reconcile the obligation to assimilate with these fundamental freedoms?



Adherence to law is an obligation of every person, whether citizen, permanent resident or foreign national. None but a nihilist would suggest that there is any freedom to ignore public law.

But social custom, and learning the local language do not carry the same weight as public law, and should be carefully distinguished.

I get very, very tired of the suggestion that domestic cultures are getting imposed upon. I have yet to see a cogent example of a dominant culture that has been imposed upon in any meaningful way by an immigrant culture. (Other than the decimation of aboriginal cultures by settlers, of course).



I respect the fact of your opinion, but suggest that you take some time to examine the relative cost and benefits of diversity before locking yourself into this belief. How much economic activity is put at risk by cutting off people through a failure to accommodate?

visagrunt:

"language is inseparable from culture" Fine up to the point that language is a cultural phenomenon and does not exist in a cultural background. And you can make it work a little longer if you take it to certain absurd extremes - like saying I do not speak the same language as a Torontonian electrician whose culture I do not share. But language and material culture and non-linguistic behaviors change at different rates in different directions, and bilinguals are not ipso facto bicultural.

Other than that, letting my gaze roam the room, we will consider the phenomenon seen in many immigrant communities where the incoming generation is hardly assimilated, the first native generation is often aggressively conformed to local norms, and the second or third native generation gets nostalgic and tries [often in the university] to learn the language, ways and history of its ancdestors.

The United States has no legally designated Official Language and it is not one of the powers of congress to establish one. No where in the Constitution is there even a hint of an Official Language.

Praise to the U.S. on this point.

ruveyn

In Canada, there are two official languages: English and French. To become a citizen of Canada, I believe one should be able to communicate effectively in at least one of those two languages.

An American relative of mine once told me that she believed the US did not have an official language because if they made English the official language, there would be a push to have Spanish also listed as an official language, which might be politically touchy. However, for all intents and purposes, English is at least unofficially an "official" language in the US.

English is the prevailing language in the United States, not the Official Language which does not exist here in the U.S. However there are places where Spanish is the prevailing language. For example in South Florida.

ruveyn

Actually, the Asians who assimilate are following the Taoist ethic, which is a philosophy like religion to some from Asian background.

Those who follow the Confucian style are able to be successful because Confucianism is a rather uptight philosophy/religion. It serves the Asians rather well if they follow it.

Also, Chinese are taught to have some prejudices against Westerners. If they overcome their prejudices well enough to consider going to the USA, it is already likely that 1) they are more educated than average, and 2) they are more open to assimilating.

Finally, Americans have been highly receptive of Asian culture in general, partly because their culture is so alien. In being different yet compatible, they curry interest without clashing with the norms.

Oh, and I almost forgot. The Asians are schooled in talents that are neglected in the USA, so they are useful. The USA is rife with talents that are rare in Asia, so our country is useful to them.

The gist of it is that Asian and American cultures have a natural compatibility that is actually quite precious and rare. Where they are not alike, they often complement. It is quite incidental, really.

When you move to a new nation it is you O-B-L-I-G-A-T-I-O-N to assimilate.

This does not mean flushing everything about your old life away, but it's about embracing your new home.

1. Learn the local language and use it in public and in business. You can speak whatever you wish in your own home.

2. Respect local customs. If you move someplace with a dominant Muslim faith, don't expect people to wish you Merry Christmas (or vice versa).

3. Embrace the new culture and assimilate as much of it into your lifestyle to which you feel comfortable.

After all, if you don't like doing any of these things, you should have stayed in your home country.

Per capita income in China is still rather far behind that in the U.S.

Agreed about Japan.

They should do what they want to do, I mean it is not like there is really a set way white people in the west act...I think people should really just be themselves regardless of what stereotype or group it might resemble.

And yet you're fine with Canada having official languages that do not include, say, Chinese or Vietnamese. Of course, you object to carrying over other cultural traditions, like female circumcision, too, though I believe male circumcision, also a cultural tradition, is permitted in Canada.

The truth is, some degree of assimilation and cultural adjustment for immigrants is actually quite necessary for societal cohesion. If language use becomes fragmented, lack of communication will follow, which will eventually lead to societal stresses such as crime. This is especially true where there is substantial geographic overlap between the languages, which is why enclaves like Quebec and Chinatowns cause fewer problems than mixed areas like some portions of 1980s New York.

As for imposition on the host culture, that may not have been a big issue in Canada, but there has been a tremendous amount in, for example, the UK, where large numbers of muslim immigrants use political clout to change laws to facilitate their religion, which in turn affects the nonimmigrant nonreligious and Christian populations. It's at least an annoyance in my area of the U.S., where I must constantly navigate phone menus that are partly in Spanish. I think those things are problematic.

You don't like female circumcision. If enough African immigrants arrived in Canada, though, they might have the political clout to change the laws to make it legal. How would you feel about that? That's the kind of situation that people in some parts of the world face.

With respect to the original poster's question, I think a major strength of Asian immigration, at least in the U.S., is that they have not generally impinged much on the nonimmigrants. They may keep aspects of their own culture, but they don't impose it on the dominant culture, instead interacting with the dominant culture - and the government - on the dominant culture's preexisting terms. It's when immigrants start requiring adjustments on the part of the dominant culture that problems arise.

I am not an Asian immigrant, I am American of Asian decent and I think immigrants should assimilate into whatever culture they moved into. Moving to a country means you are moving with intent to join that nation. If you lvie there btu do not consider it to be YOUR country, it kind of defeats the purpose to moving there at all.....speaking your native language and culture is all well and good but if you do not learn to assimiliate it only puts up walls between u and your neighbors and is counter productive. I understand the desire to preserve the history and identity but personally I think moving to a new country requires you to shed your old identity and take on the identity of whatever county you are moving too. that is the price you must pay for better economical status and living condition...or whatever compelled you to move in the first place.

If you leave your home country for America, Australia or wherever I think its your obligation to assimilate as best u can to your new home.

I see actual Asian people here in college and I dislike them because they all stick together and do not branch out to whites and other Americans who are not white. they go around speaking Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Farsi and Arab and its very hard to even try to start a conversation with them because they are speaking in their own lanaguges amonst each other. I know fora fact that they have considerable English skills because otherwise they couldnt study abroad in America in the 1st place, but they choose not to. they isolate themselves almost in every instance ive seen the Asian people are forming super exclusive cliques excluding Americans. I mean i guess they are not immigrants, they are students who will probably go back home to their countries after their education.....but it still bothers me when somebody leaves a mess because it is ok to do that in India or Malaysia where he or she is from....when you live in a country, you should abide by that countrys social norms and learn that language....its just practical.