My Asian Community.
My Asian Community
On one Sunday morning, my grandma woke me up from my nap. Speaking in my native language, my grandma showed me a picture of American football players kneeling to the National Anthem. What she respond to next genuinely shocked me on the duality of the cultures I live in. “Look at these men, they love our country so much” she said, “that’s the respect I want you and all your cousins to have for our Nation.” Still feeling groggy from my interrupted nap, I ignored what she was telling me. But now, reflecting back I see the magnitude of the two cultures that I live in revealing how my Asian Community is my discourse community. Some Americans believe the NFL football players are being disrespectful to those who serve and died for our nation, while others believe it is a way of peaceful protest due to police brutality. Respect plays a crucial role in the different ways of language used among both cultures. A discourse community is defined by the articulates details of the language we speak, say and/or do with our very own actions. My family and culture in itself is very different in language compared to the society I live in.
In the Asian Culture, respect is demand. Respect is not earned, it is not given. Respect is demanded. This changes the aspects of language and communications to different discourse communities. I hear this often in the American teenagers talking to their parents. “Respect is earned not given, I don’t need to respect you.” This really differs from what I was raised and taught. In my community, my parents demand that I respected them whether or not they deserved it. Matter of fact, any authority figure is or should be respected no matter their traits. Hierarchy has huge role in the respect and what language is used when talking to authoritative figure. In Asian cultures, not only is the parent demanding of respect but the order in which each child is born should be respected among his/her siblings. In the last elections, President Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States. On the news, there was protest where young children no less than the age of 10 were speaking profanity, holding signs that cussed the President due to the fact of utter disagreement in political beliefs. This type of language is considerably rare among the Asian Culture. Even if a president was elected that had many disagreements in political beliefs, it is “improper” to use profanity to an authoritative figure. The person with the highest position whether at home or in the workplace makes the final decision and earns the utmost respect.
In American society, greater fluidity in language is presented. Relationships such as parent to child or boss to worker has more of an equal to friendship. The relationship is more relaxed and decisions are made in cooperates rather than the hierarchy. If the fluidity changes in relationships, the language changes. For