Suddenly, you wake up one day and feel lost in the world you choose to be part of. Your brain hurts from trying to speak and understand a language that is not the one you were taught when you were a kid. You are going to speak with someone or try to tell a joke, but then you realize that you do not know what words to use or how to say it. When you remember the word to use, it is too late to mention it because they changed the topic or they just left. This makes you to feel unmotivated to learn a language. This is one of the obstacles that many newcomers have to face when they come to a new country and I know this because I am part of this new culture of immigrants. Throughout my cultural exchange in Canada, I have experienced challenges with …show more content…
When we immigrants want to be part of a new culture, we may change their social identity over time. Coming to a new country has some influences on the personality. This is because we want to integrate to the culture. We become to change some attitudes and behaviour to feel accept it in the new country. This was illustrated with the research that a focus on developments in social induces (Matschke and Sassenberg 115). Experiencing a new change in a culture would change the person personality eventually. In my case I always participated and talked to everyone in class back in my home country. When I had group work in class, I was able to share my thoughts with my classmates and I was not intimidated to make mistakes in front of the class. I was willing to take more risks, but that did not happen when I came to Canada. At first, I was inclined to take risks by learning the language, but just thinking that I could not express myself well or people could not understand me, influenced me in to be out of my comfort zone. I preferred not to share my ideas and to be a quiet student. Not knowing the language changed my social identity. I was amazed by how people could share their ideas without having to worry about the language. I miss having the same feeling of sharing my ideas, but with time I started forgetting that I was capable to do this too. This situation changed my personality; I was not the same girl who I was in
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
The Indian Residential schools and the assimilating of First Nations people are more than a dark spot in Canada’s history. It was a time of racist leaders, bigoted white men who saw no point in working towards a lasting relationship with ingenious people. Recognition of these past mistakes, denunciation, and prevention steps must be taking intensively. They must be held to the same standard that we hold our current government to today. Without that standard, there is no moving forward. There is no bright future for Canada if we allow these injustices to be swept aside, leaving room for similar mistakes to be made again. We must apply our standards whatever century it was, is, or will be to rebuild trust between peoples, to never allow the abuse to be repeated, and to become the great nation we dream ourselves to be,
Multiculturalism" is the existence of a culturally diversified society where people from different backgrounds and races come and live together. However an insight of this integrated society reveals that everyone seems to have a different opinion on the issue of how this diverse community should operate. One of the countries of North America called "the mosaic" is Canada. It has earned this distinct name because of the mix of races, cultures and ethnicities residing in it. Canada's geographical features and its harsh climate became a disadvantage to its population growth many years ago. Compared to its size, the population of Canada was not sufficient a few decades ago. However, when immigrants wandered about searching for a better lifestyle, Canada's population naturally increased and became more diverse when large groups of people from different parts of the world began to settle in the region. Since than the great debate of multiculturism has been going on. Some of the vital issues are states’ political policies, attitudes of canadian’s towards these policies, immigration, global ...
Gaëtan Tremblay is a professor at the University in Quebec in Montreal. As a concerned Quebecois, He wrote an article which discusses the Americanization of Canada, in particular Quebec. Tremblay seems to have a strong stand point about the future of Quebec. Using statistical and literary evidence, primary and secondary sources, he attempts to support his argument that Quebec is a victim of American cultural colonization. Tremblay fears that Canadian culture is going to disappear as a result of the Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement.
It can be said that Canada has a reputation as a culturally accepting nation. Unfortunately, in it’s past there were many mistakes made. For instance, in the 1920’s not all Canadians were free from discrimination. Although most people were embracing this time of prosperity with new inventions and exciting lifestyles, others were struggling to avoid the the overbearing push of cultural genocide. These were the Indigenous peoples of Canada. The government of Canada has made great mistakes forcing the policy of assimilation upon the indigenous communities and now want to be reconciled with those who were affected. For instance, the policy of assimilation was put into place beginning in 1878 to humanize all young Native Canadian children. However
Canada has long been called "The Mosaic", due to the fact that it is made up of a varied mix of races, cultures and ethnicities. As more and more immigrants come to Canada searching for a better life, the population naturally becomes more diverse. This has, in turn, spun a great debate over multiculturalism. Some of the issues under fire are the political state's policies concerning multiculturalism, the attitudes of Canadians around these policies, immigration, the global market, and a central point is the education and how to present the material in a way so as to offend the least amount of people. There are many variations on these themes as will be discussed in this paper.
A sudden change in one’s surroundings can result in culture shock. Culture shock refers to the anxiety and surprise a person feels when he or she is discontented with an unfamiliar setting. The majority of practices or customs are different from what a person is used to. One may experience withdrawal, homesickness, or a desire for old friends. For example, when a person goes to live in a different place with unfamiliar surroundings, they may experience culture shock. Sometimes it is the result of losing their identity. In the article “The Phases of Culture Shock”, Pamela J. Brink and Judith Saunders describe four phases of culture shock. They are: Honeymoon Phase, Disenchantment Phase, Beginning Resolution Phase, and Effective Function Phase. These phases denote some of the stages that exemplify culture shock. The four phases are illustrated in the articles “New Immigrants: Portraits in Passage” by Thomas Bentz, “Immigrant America: A Portrait” by Alejandro Portes and Ruben G. Rumbaut, “When I Was Puerto Rican” by Esmeralda Santiago, “Today’s Immigrants, Their Stories” by Thomas Kessner and Betty Boyd Caroli, and lastly, “The New Americans: Immigrant Life in Southern California” by Ulli Steltzer, and are about the experiences of some immigrants. This essay will examine the four phases of culture shock and classify the experiences of these immigrants by the different phases of culture shock identified.
Canada is a big country possessing many natural and rich resources. Since World War II, Canada’s manufacturing, mining and service sectors experienced a significant increase which transformed the country from a mainly rural economy to a mainly urban and industrial economy (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015). Immigration plays a big role in Canada’s history, starting as early as settlers from France and England. By 1960, around one-third of Canada’s population had neither a British or French origin (Government of Canada, 2011). Immigration is important to Canada as it does not only help to maintain its population growth, but it also helps the challenges it faces to a shrinking work force due to its aging population. The immigration
Multiculturalism is a significant fabric of Canadian society that defines its unique identity among the rest of the world. Enactment of the Canadian multicultural policy (1971) affirmed government position and recognition of multiculturalism as a vital element of Canada. It is imperative to understand that multiculturalism is a static concept that keeps changing overtime and has a multidimensional entity. Canadians have always and will continue to revise the concept of multiculturalism to suit the ever expanding needs of Canadian society. In this paper, I will evaluate the reasons behind Canada’s adoption of multicultural policy and assess whether the policy should be maintained or not. I will defend the thesis that Canada’s multiculturalism
Mordecai Richler. These writers are not meant to represent any ethnic group as a whole,
In American society, learning to speak English properly is a crucial factor in assimilation. People who have decided to come to America have found it rather difficult to assimilate into American society for several reasons. One reason being that learning a new language is or can be considerably difficult depending on your age. This is so because the act of learning a new language such as English, is much more difficult for an elderly person than for one who has not reached adolescence. According to Grognet, for elderly people there are several factors that affect their willingness to learn. Among those factors are, physical health, mental health, cultural expectations, attitude, motivation and finally the ability to acquire the correct diction, and to suitable articulation (Grognet 296-297). For a person who has not reached the prepubescent age, it is...
There are many differences between a person’s home culture (the main culture of a person) and the local culture (the culture of the person’s destination), whether it is the speaking of a different language, different customs, different social structures, or simply the different way a person says hello. None of these differences are wrong in anyway, however they are different from a person’s home culture and therefore can become hard to accepts and overcome. The differences in cultures, although expected, are some of the hardest challenges a person entering a new culture will ha...
... of being in a different culture. Being aware of this personal growth is also helpful. When someone knows how they have changed, it is easier to think about that in relation to the people and places they are trying to assimilate back into.
At some point in our lives we experience a culture as an outsider by moving from one culture to another.In the world today there are so many different cultures and not one of them is found to be the same.Instead they all have something that makes them unique, whether its language or even the clothes they wear and their behavior as well.The differences they have is what separates them from one another and who ever joins that particular culture must get accustomed to their way of life.In the society today we have many people immigrating to the United States to start a new and better life but what they soon begin to realize is that it’s a whole new world out there and in order to survive they have to get accustomed to the new way of life which is much different from their lives before.
Living in another country is always accompanied by change. It would illogical to deny the fact that living in another country-in another language and culture, principally leads to personal development. The different aspects of personality suspend and one takes on the mannerisms, qualities and opinions that define the people in a foreign country (Kohls 9). Nothing is wrong with the change. In the first place, it is a major reason why the individual moved to the new country-they wanted to evolve by putting...