Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Language diversity in the USA
- 2 Language contact in the USA
- 3 Native American languages in the USA
- 4 Spanish in the USA
- 5 Chinese in the USA
- 6 Tagalog in the USA
- 7 French in the USA
- 8 Vietnamese in the USA
- 9 German in the USA
- 10 Korean in the USA
- 11 Russian in the USA
- 12 Italian in the USA
- 13 Arabic in the USA
- 14 Portuguese in the USA
- 15 Polish in the USA
- 16 Language policy in the USA
- Notes
- Media resources related to the top twelve non-English languages in the USA
- References
- Index
1 - Language diversity in the USA
Dispelling common myths and appreciating advantages
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Language diversity in the USA
- 2 Language contact in the USA
- 3 Native American languages in the USA
- 4 Spanish in the USA
- 5 Chinese in the USA
- 6 Tagalog in the USA
- 7 French in the USA
- 8 Vietnamese in the USA
- 9 German in the USA
- 10 Korean in the USA
- 11 Russian in the USA
- 12 Italian in the USA
- 13 Arabic in the USA
- 14 Portuguese in the USA
- 15 Polish in the USA
- 16 Language policy in the USA
- Notes
- Media resources related to the top twelve non-English languages in the USA
- References
- Index
Summary
The official language of the US is English. But today's immigrants are not learning English as quickly as those of the past – it seems like they don't want to fit in to the American way of life. Language diversity in this country is a recent problem due to unprecedented levels of immigration, and we are at risk that the different languages spoken here threaten our national unity.
These myths regarding language are fairly prevalent in the USA at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Yet all of them are false, and both their underlying premises and their implications are damaging on several levels. They are damaging to intergroup relations because immigrants are accused of lacking the motivation or desire to integrate into mainstream US society and learn English. This often leads others to resent them or accuse them of being unpatriotic. They are damaging to immigrant families in that children who come to school speaking a Language Other than English (often referred to as “LOTEs”) are pressured into erasing that language, which can lead to academic difficulties as well as problems communicating with family members and retaining cultural traditions. They are also damaging to the nation because they squander vast linguistic resources that could benefit the USA economically, diplomatically, and culturally. This introductory chapter will explore each of these topics as it addresses these three common fallacies.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Language Diversity in the USA , pp. 1 - 24Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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