The Interdependance Between Language And Culture
I felt that I can really relate to Alina Simone who grew up in the US and refused to learn the language of her parents. It’s a struggle to learn another language especially if you have no interest in the language. Alina mentions how that was a factor to learning a language, that a person needs an interest in the language or the willingness to learn. She says in the podcast that she tried to teach her daughter Russian but slowly as her daughter grew up her Russian knowledge was slowly disappearing. That was because only her mother spoke Russian with her and no one else. Slowly both begin to lose interest in teaching or learning the language. It really demonstrates that if another culture has very little influence over the learning individual, they will end up following the culture with the most important in their current location.
The podcast really highlights the struggle of those who integrate into the US and the dominance of US culture and how it changes the generation. Alina shows this by mentioning her parents and I find that border dwellers like us who experience both cultures would find the difference and experience conflicts. I thought about how some parents and the one who will become parents and wants to pass on the culture of another country on to their kids. They will discover that it’s really hard to incorporate their culture into the next generation. Especially because of the experience they take home from their current society dominates their learning. What was relatable was that Alina did not like Russian as a kid even though, her family was Russian. She said she would take vowels of silence at home because she didn’t want to speak in Russian and during that time the Cold War was going on. She only started learning Russian after the walls came down and Cold War end and all her friends were visiting her family's origin. It just goes to show that outside factors such as what was taught in schools or, even opinion of other people can really affect on one’s decision to learn their native language or not.
Onnia another speaker who also came from Europe tells Alina that she didn’t teach her children Russian either because of the similar problems she faces. Such as the fact that the US language dominates everything like the media or TV. Also, since only one parent is Russian while the other is an American which means that one parent would feel left out at all times and add in the fact that the mom and the children’s can’t be funny or have fun speaking Russian. These fear show that the Alina wants their kid to viewed her not as an instructor but the mother and also she didn’t an image of herself as someone distant in her child's eye. Onnia is in a way similar, she said on the podcast that people think “culture does not have to do with the language” however culture is very intermingled with the said language. She brings up a good point about how people think of languages and the importance of living in that culture because a language is very connected with learning about the culture and the other way around as well. Alina also brings up a good point about how the Russian has evolved and this means even if they teach their kids Russian they would not be able to speak the slang or get the metaphors of someone who actually lives there. Not to mention their struggle with coming up with a good vocabulary or explanation that can be considered equivalent in English.
To wrap up all my thoughts I believe that the podcast was trying to share/inform us that passing down a language comes with multiple facts and conflicts that have to do with the current culture.
