http://www.buyartsuppliesonline.org/oriental-rare/
How comes Black people don't or rarely speak another language like latinos, orientals and other minorities?
I know alot of ghanaian and Jamacian people, in my teenage age group (18-25) but most of them aren't taught their own language in comparision to Latinos and orientals parents who teach their children their original language.
I find it really rare, to find a black girl/boy my age, that speaks an african language..
my chinees and japanese friends get upset when I mistake, and call them both, they told me to call them oriental.. What shall I call them east asian instead?
First of all, please don't call people "oriental". Rugs or dishes can be described as "oriental", but it's grossly offensive to call a person "oriental" as if they are a commodity. In the past, when China was referred to as "the orient", it was more 'acceptable' (to Americans) to call people Chinese people "oriental", but because so much of America ignorantly thinks "all Asian people look alike", the term has spread to be more inclusive of the entire pan-Asian population. Ultimately, it's unacceptable to call anyone "oriental" at this point, but enough on that. (I'm black btw).
But in response to your question, it's really hard to say. First of all, there are larger pockets of Latino and Asian populations in the United States. More people to talk to, the more likely you're going to retain your language. With Mexico being so close a neighbor, we've never really been short on Spanish-speaking persons in the United States. There are some pockets of America with African and Caribbean communities, but these are much smaller.
I would imagine that, along with the larger population to begin with, there are a lot of first-generation Latinos and Asians as well. If you've just left your country to come here, you're extremely likely to know the language of your homeland as well as English. Depending on how you feel about your struggles in the United States, you may or may not choose to teach your children the language of your place of birth.
Additionally, this country has a tendency to assume that all "black" people are African American. If you're assumed to be African American and don't want to be seen as an "other" even further beyond being non-white, you'll probably be more likely to assimilate into the African American community for several reasons - to make friends, feel more comfortable, etc.
There are several reasons why people assimilate to an American culture (mainstream or otherwise) once immigrating to the United States, so it's difficult to give a direct answer...as difficult as it is to speak about these things so generally. But I would say that the reasons have a lot to do with population density (a bunch of people speaking a language living in close proximity to one another) and ethnoracial/phenotypical assumptions from society that lump people into groups of which they may or may not feel a particular kinship to (Africans, Islanders, and African Americans).
EDIT: You also have to consider that most of the Western Hemisphere speaks Spanish, as well as in Spain. Africa has tons of languages and dialects, and I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that Caribbean languages are quite different from one another as well. There are simply a LOT of people that speak Spanish. China is also a rather large country (though it has several dialects as well, but I believe they similar "enough" for people to communicate across regions with relative ease). Africa is huge of course, but I'm not sure that enough people immigrate from a single country at a large enough rate to have large communities here for any one of the several African languages to flourish in the US.
And I agree with the people that have said that prior knowledge of English is also key.
US $124.95
| Account limit of 2000 requests per hour exceeded. |