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It's general, but it works for me. I know a woman who has been in the States for many more years than she lived in Puerto Rico. Her English is accented, and she speaks Spanish to her family and some of her co-workers. Her wedding feast featured a pig roast. She likes and appreciates aspects of her background and upbringing. I respect that.
That sounds very similar to the older first generation Italian immigrants who I knew when I was young. It also sounds like the Russian and Korean immigrants of today.
Who does not speak English with an accent if they arrived here after grade school? It takes a linguistically gifted person with a tremendous amount of determination to lose the accent of their first language unless they learn their second language at a very young age.
IMO, you have to look at the third generation of a group to determine if they have assimilated. Even in my own family, my great-grandmother never really learned English and I can remember her speaking Yiddish with my father. My generation is the first in the family that does not speak Yiddish and who who wants to know nothing of schmaltz, chopped chicken liver and tongue.
You also have to look at where people grow up. Those who stay in the large cities tend to hold onto their cultures for much longer than those who head to the suburbs, regardless of which group of immigrants we are discussing.
IMO, you have to look at the third generation of a group to determine if they have assimilated. Even in my own family, my great-grandmother never really learned English and I can remember her speaking Yiddish with my father. My generation is the first in the family that does not speak Yiddish and who who wants to know nothing of schmaltz, chopped chicken liver and tongue.
You also have to look at where people grow up. Those who stay in the large cities tend to hold onto their cultures for much longer than those who head to the suburbs, regardless of which group of immigrants we are discussing.
I see what you mean but like I said this is not what I mean by assimilation. African Americans speak English, mostly do not speak African languages (unless they are African immigrants or the children or maybe even grandchildren of immigrants), and many do not know that much about Africa. African Americans as a group might be more acculturated than many whites who are ethnic whites. However, they have not assimilated the way that Euro Americans have. African Americans have a different history and different phenotypes. An African American can graduate from Harvard and be making six figures but he is still not assimilated like the Euro Americans have been assimilated. People still know he is black so it is harder for him to blend in to mainstream white culture no matter how hard he tries. A Polish immigrant can easily blend in other whites simply because he is white. Even if he has an accent if he is an a crowd of white people he will not stick out unless he speaks or people find out about his heritage. This is not the case with Asians or many Hispanics who even if they have been have here for four generations are still asked what country they are from. I remember reading a book by Yolanda Prieto that says that assimilation is a two way process. An individual has to assimilate but the dominant society still has to accept you as well in order for true assimilation to work out. So according to this definition, merely acculturating yourself to the dominant does not necessarily mean one is truly assimilated.
That sounds very similar to the older first generation Italian immigrants who I knew when I was young. It also sounds like the Russian and Korean immigrants of today.
Who does not speak English with an accent if they arrived here after grade school? It takes a linguistically gifted person with a tremendous amount of determination to lose the accent of their first language unless they learn their second language at a very young age.
Yes, it does. My husband's great grandmother never learned to speak English. His grandmother learned to speak English in elementary school. They were Sicilian. I noted that my mother-in-law had some unusual speech patterns and some blanks? There seemed to be some things which she just didn't understand. She probably spoke Italian at home when she was little.
When I was in my early 20s, my boyfriend's parents were 2nd and 3rd generation Polish and Russian. They didn't have an accent, but they had odd names for things.
I see what you mean but like I said this is not what I mean by assimilation. African Americans speak English, mostly do not speak African languages (unless they are African immigrants or the children or maybe even grandchildren of immigrants), and many do not know that much about Africa. African Americans as a group might be more acculturated than many whites who are ethnic whites. However, they have not assimilated the way that Euro Americans have. African Americans have a different history and different phenotypes. An African American can graduate from Harvard and be making six figures but he is still not assimilated like the Euro Americans have been assimilated. People still know he is black so it is harder for him to blend in to mainstream white culture no matter how hard he tries. A Polish immigrant can easily blend in other whites simply because he is white. Even if he has an accent if he is an a crowd of white people he will not stick out unless he speaks or people find out about his heritage. This is not the case with Asians or many Hispanics who even if they have been have here for four generations are still asked what country they are from. I remember reading a book by Yolanda Prieto that says that assimilation is a two way process. An individual has to assimilate but the dominant society still has to accept you as well in order for true assimilation to work out. So according to this definition, merely acculturating yourself to the dominant does not necessarily mean one is truly assimilated.
Interesting perspective. It makes sense that assimilation is a two-way street. That said, many communities have become far more tolerant of different ethnic groups in their ranks and depending on the community, pretty much anybody who participates gets absorbed. Others are more divided. As time goes on, those who choose to assimilate, will be.
Yes, it does. My husband's great grandmother never learned to speak English. His grandmother learned to speak English in elementary school. They were Sicilian. I noted that my mother-in-law had some unusual speech patterns and some blanks? There seemed to be some things which she just didn't understand. She probably spoke Italian at home when she was little.
When I was in my early 20s, my boyfriend's parents were 2nd and 3rd generation Polish and Russian. They didn't have an accent, but they had odd names for things.
That is so funny. The Italian family that I was thinking of in my previous post used to call their lawnmower "the machine". Obviously it was derived from la macchina in Italian, but it would always make me smile when they referred to it as the machine.
That is not what I meant by assimilation. By assimilation I mean when an ethnic group is absorbed into white American culture like the Irish and Italians. There are some Puerto Ricans and Hispanics who are assimilated but as a group Hispanics have not followed the same assimilation path as the Euro Americans.
But why do they have to assimilate into "mainstream WHITE american" culture when most Puerto Ricans are NOT white, but mixed. Why can't they just assimilate into general American culture but maintain their Latin culture, similar to how Black Americans maintain their blackness while assimilating into American culture.
If anything, wouldnt it make more sense if Caribbean Latin groups like Puerto Ricans & Dominicans assimilate into Black american culture instead of White american culture, due to the US one drop rule, similar socioeconomic situations, and them being mixed race.
That is so funny. The Italian family that I was thinking of in my previous post used to call their lawnmower "the machine". Obviously it was derived from la macchina in Italian, but it would always make me smile when they referred to it as the machine.
The Russian woman called cloves of garlic teeth, as in, "chop an onion and a tooth of garlic." I understood what she meant, but I wondered where the term came from.
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