Culture And Identity Essay

Identity itself is asking yourself a question “ Who am I?” it might appear to be about personality, and the person you are but that’s only part of it. Although some individuals don't have other abilities, as being bilingual. There’s a lot of ways a person could find out who they are and their identity. It could be shown in your language, nationality, culture, and accent. Language has a big aspect of identity. It enables an individual to know their background. When someone is surrounded by their own kind, They able to identify where that person come from depending on the way they speak. It gives an individual confidence to be around others that speak the same language as them because it's easier to make an understanding to word if they know.
I feel like people who speak more than three languages such as, French, Creole, and English makes a better understanding of what they being asked to do or spoken to. Hearing others talk one of those languages make someone feels pleased because they able to understand them faster to where if it was in English they would struggle to understand what they are saying. “all the forms of standard english that I had learned in school and though the books the forms of english I did not use at home with my mother” (207) For instance, when I am with my Haitian friends I’m not worried because i'm able to curse people out while in public. I can say stuff that I am not able to express it in English which carries several meanings in Creole. When I talk in Creole I feel happy and proud of what I am saying, especially when people are able to identify me as Haitian. When I go to the supermarket by my house which is surrounded by a lot of other ethnicities, I could always identify others who speak the same language as me and they could help me with basic things. That is why language is a huge factor in determining who you are and where you from. Based on an article I read, Caroline Hwang stated that “ The dry-cleaning woman squinted as though trying to see past the glare of my strangeness. . . She said, doubling over with laughter. “you don’t know how to speak your name.”(63) She basically says that the cleaner was surprised that she was not able to pronounce her name in the correct way. I think it’s a shame not knowing how to pronounce your own name correctly because that’s the first thing that someone would recognize about your identity. Not knowing your background is not something to be sure about. There's a word that I call certain individuals based on their background a “mudd.” Means someone who is mixed with too many ethnicities and can’t even speak those languages.
I use to think that as someone is growing in a household that speak different languages since birth, they should be able to speak it. It’s not that the parent should have thought the kids these languages from the start, the kid should have started to make an understanding to the different languages that he or she is to talk to because they are exposed to all. For example, one of my friends from school is mixed with a lot of nationalities, but he can't speak not one of them. What's amaze me about it, his parent speaks all the different languages at home, but he can't even speak it at all, but his younger siblings know how to speak them. Culture have a big effect on identity.
It's the identity of feeling or belonging to a part of a religion, ethnicity, and the kind of social group. Culture could be represented through art, sport, custom and traditions, food, language of the community. It’s not something that a person create, you yourself have to introduce by your parents. One individual may choose to “assimilate” into a new culture by putting a lot of effort and emphasis on fitting in with the new culture and not placing a lot of importance on maintaining his or her heritage culture.Whereas someone else may choose to ‘integrate.’ They also have to keep their heritage alive while adapting to a new one. For example, back home, everyone in Haiti only thinks about soccer. Even if you don’t like soccer you had to force yourself to watch soccer because that’s the only thing parents watch when the tv on. For the kids, that's something you have to live too, because that's our land sport and you won't find other sport than soccer. People are often judgmental as soon as I enter their house cause from where i'm from I usually give the mother or the ladies a kiss on the cheek and the male a hand shake. Nationality is another thing that goes along with identity. It’s based upon where you was born and origins. Another example, it’s about me and how I was raised from another country and how nationality affect identity. In my opinion, I feel like it it figures a lot, and I think it goes for a lot of people. There’s nothing
I could never want to do, not that I want to,to become not Haitian, or even less Haitian. Haiti is where I grew up, its my friends, family, background. Everything I do its reference to the cultural background, I brought up in, even as view and my life changes, I could never be away from it.
Identity is a very important thing to anybody because everyone around the world need to know their identity. It describe a person's life to where abouts. An individual should always know their background because you want what happen to be embarrassed when you come to someone that's from your country.