Throughout my time learning about culture and society, I
will be reflecting on the knowledge I have gained that has now shaped my
ability to understand the different surroundings in today’s society. I will be
reflecting upon ‘language’ which connects to diversity in society, a common
issue that occurs on a day-to-day basis that immigrants struggle with while
integrating to host countries. The disciplines of the diversity in event
management and tourism play a common factor in this topic, while in relation I
will be contributing my consideration and understanding on what I have learnt
throughout the semester and also looking through my own lens of my intersection
towards culture, identity and society.
Language plays an immense part in day-to-day living, it helps
us to communicate and bring communities and society together. Dictionary.com
defines language as “a body of words and the systems for their use, common to people
who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the
same cultural tradition” which highlights the exact issue in the definition
stating “the same community, nation, geographical area and culture”,
immigrants face these barriers of problematic issues while integrating to a
host country without having the ability nor support to speak the language. But
this also leads to who are the immigrants? According to Dictionary.com
immigrants are defined as people who “come to a country of which one is not a
native, usually for permanent residence”, although I’m stating immigrants as a
whole, these issues do differ between age, as it is easier for a child to
integrate into a host country and pick up a different language through practice
and schooling, which is different from an older immigrant moving to a host
country with no experience nor help to learn the language. The concept towards
language being a part of culture and society shows change and diversity
evolving in today’s society. Royal Society of New Zealand (2013) state that New
Zealand has become more diverse than ever, with increases in the ethic,
cultural, social and linguistic diversity of the New Zealand wide population,
with the dramatic increase of over 160 different languages spoken, not to
mention Auckland being one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world.
Relating language to my understanding of the concept towards culture and
society, I personally find it very interesting that Auckland is one of the most
diverse cities in the world but yet there is no help or support for those who
integrate to the country dealing with language deficiencies, which is an issue
that needs to be address to improve the society, while increasing communities
to intertwine with one another.
(Michael, 2010) talks about the word ‘culture’ liberating on
the different meanings it holds, such as in one sense from his understanding,
the meaning of culture is inseparable from human life, it starts from
everything, how we dress to what we eat, from the way we speak to what
we think, is culture. The concept of language is a main factor of culture and
is a form of communication which can also illustrates the problematic issues
that its holds in society today. In week 5 we liberated on the difference of
intercultural competence in the global world, which culture shock was discussed
and language was one of the main factors that was identified. (Bennett, 2015)
emphasises the issues that language deficiency holds, such as finding
intercultural experiences more stressful, which can be affect others by lack of
language skills can lead to social isolation and frustration, which I find to
be a major issue in society. Although language is a diverse complex, according
to Isphording (2015) “language proficiency is a key driver of immigrant integration.
It increases job opportunities and facilitates social and political
participation” although these are positive aspects that language holds for some immigrants integrating into
host countries, the article continues on to state the complexities it holds for
immigrants despite the vital importance language holds, many immigrants never
reach adequate proficiency in the host country due to language, to which
creating processes and associated factors to help cater immigrants to
learn/improve language acquisition is crucial. Isphording (2015) also goes on
to stating the main message of this issue, quoting “immigrants that fail to
achieve adequate proficiency due to language in the host country generally fail
to achieve economic and social integration”, to which language skills can be
increased by time spent in the host country and job incentives. In saying that,
language shows change in today’s society by creating more diversity between
different countries and humans, creating more people, ethnicities and cultures
to intertwine with one another and gain more knowledge about our surroundings.
Choosing language as my theme has a connection towards my
identity and cultural connection to my values of being multicultural and
multilingual myself, having been born and raised in Israel for the first 7
years of my life then immigrating to New Zealand, English was a barrier for me
to begin with. As stated, going straight to school and learning language at a
young age gave me the advantage to speak English as it’s my first language not
to mention having stayed in New Zealand for 14 years endorsed me to have
increased my adaptation to the culture and language. I chose this topic specifically
because it links into my own personal background, for example; personally
having moved to New Zealand with only my family whilst having the rest of my
family back in Israel, having learnt English straight away from Hebrew allowed
me to focus on one language at a time, that being said, I lost my personal
diversity in speaking Hebrew, which has now evolved to a problematic issue that
my younger siblings and myself face, due to the fact that we are unable to communicate
with our grandparents in Israel. Although language has no major role in regards
to the Human Rights Act, and everyone has a free choice in which culture,
identity or how they perceive themselves whether its language, gender, culture
and religion.
In regards for no act towards language in the Human Right
Act doesn’t mean there should be no solution for immigrants to have the
opportunity to feel accepted while moving to a host county. Vitali (n.d) states
some of the main important factors of language while moving to a host country such
as; looking for a job and getting paid for the value of your experience as
language can limit your worth, making friends and becoming a part of the
community without the feeling of social isolation and lastly the basics of
being inclusive to live day to day, getting things done, being able to communicate
within your community. These problems can be solved if society were to address
these issues, especially putting into consideration of how diverse the world is
becoming rapidly, if society were to facilitate to these needs, by adding
solutions that can help immigrants learn English, it will become more beneficial
to the society in regards to jobs, money, schooling, day to day living and the environment
as a whole.
Combining the theme of diversity in language and analysing
the similarities of values it holds with my discipline area, which is majoring
in Event Management in the hospitality business industry intertwines within
each other. Having a back ground from not only from personal experience of multilingual
but also studying key attributes of the hospitality industry connects to the
diversity of being around multicultural
people on a day to day basis, for example, creating events in different
countries or New Zealand would focus on working with different ethnicities to which connects to culture and language,
being able to integrate with different ethnic people on my career path would
allow me more opportunities in the future but also will create an easier
working environment being able to understand one another which is very
important in events as it can be a stressful journey.
having learnt the different aspects of culture and society
has allowed me to look freely towards this issue and research different methods
that should be looked upon to raise awareness to school and society itself by
producing help for people how struggle with language as that is the key on
bringing communities and society together as one without the isolation,
discrimination and frustration between both parties.
References:
Bennett, M. J. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural
sensitivity
(revised). In R. M. Paige (Ed.),
Education for the Intercultural Experience (2nd ed. pp. 21-71). Yarmouth, Me:
Intercultural Press.
Dictionary.com - The world's favourite online English
dictionary. (2016). Dictionary.com.
Retrieved 8 June 2016, from
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/language
Isphording, I, E. (2015). What drives the language
proficiency of immigrants?
IZA World of Labor 2015 (177).
Doi:10.15185/izawol.177
Retrieved from:
http://wol.iza.org/articles/what-drives-language-proficiency-of-immigrants
Multilingualism in New Zealand. (2016). Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 2 June 2016, from
http://royalsociety.org.nz/expert-advice/papers/yr2013/languages-in-aotearoa-new-zealand/multilingualism-in-new-zealand/
Ryan, M. (2010). Preface. In Cultural studies: A practical introduction. Hoboken: Wiley,
pp.viii-xii.
Vitali, I. (2016). The Importance of Learning the Language
in a New Country.
The Importance of Learning the Language in a New Country. Retrieved 2
June 2016, from:
http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/newcountrynewlanguage.htm
