Many bilinguals are not bicultural, but some are. What factors make a bilingual bicultural?

COLOMBIAN EDUCATIONAL

Argumentative Essay

JESUS JAVIER CAICEDO ARROYO

GROUP 9

TUTOR

ANGIE LORENA SALGADO

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA – UNAD

NOVEMBER  2019

     The words "bicultural" and "biculturalism" are occasionally used, but it is evident that their meanings are not clearly understood. In Japan "bicultural" is often a label in preference to "half" for children of mixed parentage regardless of their actual personality. For most basically, "bicultural" should mean that two cultures are operative in one person, or at least that one person can operate in two cultures.

       Then "biculturalism" can refer to either the academic study of cultures in contact or, as an -ism, the conviction that recognizing two or more cultures in individuals and society is beneficial. By comparison, "monoculturalism" can mean simply having no exposure to other cultures or, as an -ism, intolerance of people who are different because of fear (xenophobia) or assumed superiority of one's culture (a kind of chauvinism). Scholars may shy away from researching biculturalism because cultural factors cannot be precisely isolated or measured. Indeed, although one may read about it, "being bicultural" may be nearly impossible to understand unless one has experienced shifting gears between two cultures in oneself. Common misconceptions about bilingualism, plus monocultural politics seeping into education, have added to the confusion about cross-cultural terms. This article therefore aims to illustrate these issues and shed light on what it means for a child or an adult to bicultural.

Bicultural Children

       A child is raised in a certain culture, an unconscious process termed "enculturation." Note that it is also quite possible to have two or more native languages and cultures. Then a person at any age can adapt to another culture ("acculturation"). In the latter case, an adult or young person able to compare the two cultures can consciously choose between characteristics of the two cultures. It could be a personality preference, but more likely it is the reactions of others that convince a person that the behavioral norms of one of the cultures work more smoothly or achieve goals more effectively in the given circumstances. Because of social pressures, a person's cultural identity, or what cultural set a person identifies with, may not reflect the actual cultural composition of the individual. Identity can change and should be encouraged to evolve, rather than being like loyalty to a brand. However, identity depends on social and psychological factors, some of which may be unconscious or beyond a person's control. As a result, a person may variously prefer a certain combination of the two cultures, or identify with only one side as if the person were monocultural.

     The cultures of each parent or caregiver, and the proportion of time spent interacting with the child, determine the pattern of enculturation until a child enters the institutional culture of a school or day care center. Languages actually used with the child also carry cultural meanings. In the case of an international marriage in Japan, if the mother or main caregiver is from a foreign culture and willingly bonds with the infant in her native language, then the child can naturally absorb two different cultures. Japanese culture emanates from the Japanese parent, the community, and mass media in any case. Thus if the foreign parent goes to work full-time, it takes much extra effort to raise a child bilingually and biculturally. What seemed to work with an infant can stop working when the child enters a Japanese school and starts to feel social pressure. Therefore such families may need to regularly visit foreign relatives or live abroad so that the child has a personal stake in the other culture. A final factor is that children have genetic predispositions that match or clash with certain cultural norms. If parents try to determine the cultural identity of a child, it could have disempowering effects such as discouraging initiative. No outcomes such as bilingualism and biculturalism are guaranteed, so calling all such kids bicultural is unwarranted. Personality development, as a complex process of interaction among inborn factors, family, environment, individual choices and their consequences, needs to be allowed to unfold as a natural process.

 

     Recently in Japan, traditional pressures to conform have escalated, particularly due to camera-equipped and Internet-enabled mobile phones. It is so important to young people to stay connected with their peer group that they keep their mobile phones switched on even at night. If, as increasingly happens, they are harassed or bullied through ubiquitous networks, then even their own room no longer provides a sanctuary, which has led in some cases to suicide (Wada, 2009).

           Besides appearance, language is most revealing of differences, whether it is a lack of fluency that marks one as a foreigner or a Japanese dialect from the countryside. A Japanese child who has recently returned from living abroad (kikoku shijo), or someone of Japanese descent raised abroad (Nikkeijin), like other foreigners cannot read the atmosphere, so they cannot avoid being different, at least until they adjust themselves. Even if they are toyed with as a sort of celebrity, they are marked by cultural and linguistic differences as outsiders, although most such children would prefer not to be conspicuous. Appearances trigger automatic assumptions about others, which can make communication difficult for someone with a Japanese face who is not fluent in Japanese, or for someone who does not look Japanese but is fluent in Japanese. Regardless of appearances, those who were raised in Japan and currently in the school system generally can, for better or worse, read the atmosphere.

       Any child who cannot act on behavioral cues as expected by the group would be vulnerable in any culture, dependent on the goodwill of others. They are liable to have stress, and might sacrifice self-expression for a safer silence, at the risk of appearing gloomy and prolonging their own exile. There are also children who naturally charm other people and can ride their celebrity status through an enjoyable childhood.

 Cultures in Contact.
      The degree or kind of biculturalism possible is also affected by characteristics of the two cultures and the relationship between them. For example, if the two cultures are geopolitical enemies or rivals, it is difficult for individuals to go beyond instrumental motivation to integrative motivation where elements of the other culture could be incorporated into oneself. The permeability of cultures also differs, where some cultures are more open to acculturating foreigners, for instance because they value people for their individual qualities, whereas other cultures are tribal, valuing bloodlines, and feel that cultural allegiance is a matter of patriotism. In the latter type of culture, there may be no real conception of biculturalism or no acceptance of plural cultures in an individual. Where cultural allegiance is mutually exclusive, individuals are seen as either belonging within the fold of their culture or crossing over to the outside. Japan has tended to be a case of an impermeable culture, with a nearly insuperable wall maintained between the Japanese and non-Japanese realms. This way of thinking, strongest among public officials, affects education, with English fluency and internationalization subordinated thus far to maintaining Japaneseness. Thus Japanese individuals tend to fear being perceived as crossing over, for example being called a foreigner if they speak fluent English. Under such circumstances, bilingualism is not seriously considered the goal that it should be, let alone biculturalism.    

 Bilingualism and Multiculturalism in Canada.

       Many countries in Europe and elsewhere show that governments need not be hostile to the diversity that results from the immigration that they need. A positive example is Canada, which has two official languages and a policy of multiculturalism. Canada has large groups of native English and French speakers, plus indigenous people, European immigrants, and conspicuous minorities from Asia and Africa. Canadian researchers have shown the benefits of bilingual education, particularly content-based immersion methods where over half of classes are taught in the children's second language. Shapson (1984) reports that multicultural education was defined in the Ontario Legislature as "education in which the individual child of whatever origin finds, not mere acceptance or tolerance, but respect and understanding (p. 8) ... cultural diversity is seen and used as a valuable resource to enrich the lives of all." It appeals to the better nature of people to see languages and cultures not as problems to be solved by assimilation but rather as human rights and resources for mutual enrichment.

Benefits of Becoming Bilingual and Bicultural

      At the individual level, the author researched 195 Japanese and English native speaking informants who were bilingual to some extent in the two languages. Among the quantitative results, about 83% of both groups reported positive effects on their cultural identity. Most reported that their repertoire of thought and behavior had been expanded, while some enjoyed a completely positive bicultural identity. The qualitative results on how respondents were affected by the two languages and cultures in themselves were also almost entirely positive. The research was conducted bilingually and published in Japanese (McCarty, 1999). The author interprets the results as showing ethical as well as cognitive benefits of becoming bilingual and bicultural.

        In conclusion even more than becoming bilingual, if not started as a small child, becoming bicultural seems to be both an advanced attainment and difficult to understand if one has not experienced it. Given positive social attitudes toward linguistic and cultural diversity, the second language and culture do not take anything away from one's native heritage but are additive and enriching. For someone bilingual to an extent in Japanese and English, for example, being bicultural is like being able to see the same situation through both Japanese and Western eyes, then having the choice of which way to respond. Having more than one language and culture is a resource for the society and gives the individual more choices in behavior and thought, therefore more freedom.

REFERENCES

This article builds on a base of previous works that are mostly available online at the Bilingualism and Japanology Intersection: http://waoe.org/steve/epublist.html, or in Japanese: http://waoe.org/steve/jpublist.html. There are links to articles on Japanese and other Asian cultures as well as research on bilingualism. It may be particularly helpful to read McCarty (1998) on East-West biculturalism and McCarty (2003) on East-West cultural differences (see the References below