Essay On Cultural Assimilation

Improved Essays
Language is a key factor in cultural assimilation or representation. While the United States has no official language, English is predominate in most areas of the country. Despite this, there are a number of areas where a significant portion of the population is bilingual or trilingual. Parts of Houston have street signs in more than one language, and even ballots are translated into four or more languages. This is far from a unique perspective in most major metropolitan areas.. The generally accepted idea is that America is a melting pot of cultures from all over the world, where all ideas are welcome and celebrated in equal measure. The base that the founders built our government itself is borrowed from other cultures. Our holiday …show more content…
Americans “other” the troublemakers and take in those who go quietly. These troublemakers are discarded and villainized. Some are still segregated, such as the Native Americans on reservations. Assimilate at your own peril seems to be the motif of his essay. His views against multiculturalism are ironic and satirical, calling for respect for all parts of other cultures, not just those parts that are convenient to adopt, or nothing at all. This would, of course, be very hard to accomplish since many views are conflicting from different cultures. His opinion piece jars with the other academic essays in this selection, as his prose is overblown and hyperbolic.
As Rachel Swarns cites in her essay “A Bilingual America?”, the children and grandchildren of Hispanic immigrants choose English almost exclusively according to data from the most recent census (Swarns, 354). However, some studies have shown that this is in addition to their retainage of traditional culture and language not instead of total cultural assimilation (Swarns, 355). She suggests that bilingualism is being kept alive in many of these families deliberately so as to retain their ties to their culture but will never overtake the English language in the United

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