Language and Identity
Language and Identity
First of all, Identity is the belief as “who we are and how we are” which we all have as individuals and it is based on many fundamental factors such as Ethnic group,
Racial, National, Gendered, Social Class, Language, Sexual and Religious. As it is clear that identity has many essentials and it is not made of just one fact but has something to do with many, I will focus on the relationship especially between language and identity in this paper. The concept of “identity” has talked a lot in many societies these days. It is mainly because world has been becoming more civilized and English is becoming an international language through entire societies dramatically. English has spread around the world and the fact that it is spoken and used to communicate by many non-native
English speakers is raising some controversial questions such as “Do you have to become a native English speaker in your mentality in order to speak a perfect English?”, “Are you a different person when you speak a different language?”, “Can you become a near native speaker without losing who you are when you migrate in other countries?” These questions are interesting to many people who speak more than one language other than their mother tongue because this identity crisis usually happens in second language learning. What I mean by “identity crisis” is that your identity as who you are is lost in you and you don’t feel like you belong to the place where you are. We don’t think about our own identities on dairy basis when you are in mother land or any other social places you belong to. It is because identity only becomes an issue when it is in crisis and crushed. For example, when you migrate in other nations, you might suffer with your new identity as immigrant and you might feel like you are isolated from native people because of the cultural difference and language. Language will comes first when it comes to identity crisis since you interact
First of all, Identity is the belief as “who we are and how we are” which we all have as individuals and it is based on many fundamental factors such as Ethnic group,
Racial, National, Gendered, Social Class, Language, Sexual and Religious. As it is clear that identity has many essentials and it is not made of just one fact but has something to do with many, I will focus on the relationship especially between language and identity in this paper. The concept of “identity” has talked a lot in many societies these days. It is mainly because world has been becoming more civilized and English is becoming an international language through entire societies dramatically. English has spread around the world and the fact that it is spoken and used to communicate by many non-native
English speakers is raising some controversial questions such as “Do you have to become a native English speaker in your mentality in order to speak a perfect English?”, “Are you a different person when you speak a different language?”, “Can you become a near native speaker without losing who you are when you migrate in other countries?” These questions are interesting to many people who speak more than one language other than their mother tongue because this identity crisis usually happens in second language learning. What I mean by “identity crisis” is that your identity as who you are is lost in you and you don’t feel like you belong to the place where you are. We don’t think about our own identities on dairy basis when you are in mother land or any other social places you belong to. It is because identity only becomes an issue when it is in crisis and crushed. For example, when you migrate in other nations, you might suffer with your new identity as immigrant and you might feel like you are isolated from native people because of the cultural difference and language. Language will comes first when it comes to identity crisis since you interact
References: Bailey, K.（1983）Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language learning: looking at and through the dairy studies. In H. Seliger and M.Long（eds.）Classroom-oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, MA:Newbury House.pp.67-103. Baumann, Z.（2004）Identity. Cambridge: Policy.