The Languages of the United States of America

What language does the United States of America actually speaks? Are there other languages that the United States would use and/or speak along with their principal language? Well, English is the official and the primary language of the United States of America, everybody who comes to live, do business, and/or come to visit for a descent amount of time should know and be able to speak English fluently while they can keep their native or origin language that is not English mostly at home. Yes, here in the United States we have secondary, tertiary, and other list of order of languages that are spoken a lot here. The secondary language for example here in the United States is mostly Spanish, but there are areas where French and maybe even German and some Native American Indian languages are the secondary.

   
                    Courtesy of Google Images                                          Courtesy of Google Images

In the United States of America we primarily, uniformly, and officially speak English. English is America's language, but there are variations of other languages that immigrants and descendant groups would speak at home and or on a certain occasion but they would speak English in the public and the business matters since they are living in the United States. In America we do have secondary languages as well as tertiary. Our secondary language is Spanish, perhaps Spanish in most places. Some places we have French, Portuguese, and maybe even German and some Native American languages that plays as the secondary over Spanish. Most of all French is our tertiary while the other languages comes after in the list of orders. In the Southwestern region of the United States as well as Southern Florida, New York, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, Connecticut, the Chicago area, the DMV (D.C-Maryland-Virginia), the Carolinas and Georgia are where Spanish largely plays as the secondary language. That's why Spanish is America's true secondary language. Now in areas like Louisiana, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, French is the secondary language for those places of the United States. That's how French earned its spot as the tertiary language in our country. In many Native American Indians reservations which they are usually in the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Basin Deserts regions as well as the Native Eskimos or Inuit in Alaska are where their native languages would be their secondary language or even their primary and official while English should be their important secondary. There are some places but mainly communities in Southern Florida and a few other places in the United States where Portuguese would play as the secondary language in those areas due to the large percentage of Brazilian immigrants and/or descendants as well as Portuguese people from Portugal. In other places like in some parts of North and South Dakota, Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania is where German could play as the secondary language but a lot of that among the regular American people is dying. Mostly the Amish and the Mennonites in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia could fluently speak German and/or Dutch with their own dialect as both the primary/official and the secondary language, they would only and/or mostly speak English to the outsiders of their community. http://cis.org/record-one-in-five-us-residents-speaks-language-other-than-english-at-home

Finally, we have smaller communities of other small minority groups that would speak another language that is other than Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Native American. In those smaller minority sect, they would speak English as their primary and official language but would also speak their native origin language as a secondary unless they're newly arrived immigrants where it's the other way around. Even if they're newly arrived immigrants to our country where English would be their second language but the next generation of theirs would have English as their first language and their parents language as the second and so forth. For example, other minority languages or groups in the U.S that are smaller than the others would be Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Turk, Russian, Ukrainian, Italian, Irish, Polish, Czech, and etc..  http://cis.org/record-one-in-five-us-residents-speaks-language-other-than-english-at-home

  
                         Courtesy of Google Images                                                                                 Courtesy of Google Images

So these are the many different languages that America could really speak and use. Those group of dozens and dozens of foreign languages and/or Native American languages that are spoken here in the United States only makes up the smaller fraction of the language usage population. Languages like Spanish, French, a little bit of German and Chinese, and possibly Portuguese and Dutch would make up the larger fraction out of the minority languages in the United States. English is the majority language of the United States of America which is why English has its spot as the principal language of America since the birth of our nation in 1776.

 
                           Courtesy of Google Images
   
                                         Courtesy of Google Images

A Culture with a Lack of Education

A few days ago, I shared a video entitled "Living with a Mental Disorder" on my Facebook wall. To my surprise the post received a few likes and shares within a couple of minutes. Yet, the most intriguing part about sharing the post with my Facebook friends was a response I received from a coworker of mine. I received a message from him saying, "You posted a couple of things about mental disorders, so I was wondering if you have one." I responded back my explaining to him that I had been diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) when I was younger. He responded back by stating, "It's just that when we met one of the very first things we talked was that you weren't crazy because you had the same name as my ex but when I saw that I was like wait I thought she wasn't crazy."

Crazy. Last time I checked just because someone has been diagnosed with a mental illness does not mean they are crazy. However, as infuriated as I was with him I realized that it was not his fault, but rather the result of the lack of education on mental health within our culture(s).

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Being diagnosed with OCD and GAD at a young age was a difficult time for me. I vaguely remember being trapped in a cycle of thoughts that seemed irrational to me at the time and then the obsessions manifesting into compulsions, which included the urge to wash my hands, using my foot to open doors, not shaking people's hands, taking showers when I got home every time I went out, repeatedly checking things to make sure they were done right and other rituals that slowly started becoming a normal part of my daily routine. Not to mention all the additional symptoms brought on by my anxiety.  

The worst part was not understanding why I was doing the things I was doing or the overwhelming thoughts that took control over me. Furthermore, there was also the fear of talking to anyone about what I was going though because I thought people were going to think I was crazy or making things up. In addition, my parents did not understand what I was going through and would often get mad at my bizarre behaviors and mindset because in the Hispanic culture socioeconomic, religious, cultural, and other factors have placed a stigma mental illnesses. Truth be told that my parents were loving and supporting after my diagnosis, but when family members found out that I had been diagnosed with OCD and GAD, they would often say it was all in my head, called me loca and then encourage me to try to stop the obsessions and compulsions by reminding me that I was a very smart, strong girl. It took a couple of years for my family to understand and accept that I was battling with OCD and GAD, but with patience and education on mental health they began to be more open minded and supporting. 

However, the older I got, the more I began to realize that a lot of people lack education on mental health. I remember getting upset, even to this day, when people made statements about having or being OCD because they always had to tidy up things or they had to have things done a certain way without even an idea of what battling with OCD really meant or without a proper medical diagnosis. Furthermore, it was not just statements about OCD, but other mental disorders. I do not think I can count the number of times I have heard people using the words "depressed" or "bipolar" loosely as if it was just another adjective to describe an individual. What agitates me the most was how through the years I saw and heard how people stigmatized mental illnesses and then suddenly began to glamorize and romanticize mental illnesses. 

    

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I reiterate that it is not people who are to blame, but the culture we live in. We live in a culture where we are afraid to be different based on what society defines as normal, a culture that stigmatizes mental illnesses without the proper education on mental health and a culture in which people who suffer from mental illnesses are afraid to speak up. I believe that raising awareness and increasing mental health programs will improve this neglected aspect of our culture. 

The Import Scene

Almost everywhere you look, you see headlines claiming that the Car Culture has died. Elizabeth Rosenthal of The New York Times claimed that "America has passed peak driving." in an article titled, "The End of Car Culture." And also the Washington Post has the same opinion that Car Culture is "Cruising toward Oblivion." Now some may agree with these claims, people don't care as much about cars as they used to when they were younger, but a new generation is coming up. Many guys and girls in this new generation have a huge love for cars, especially import cars. Mix together a bunch of young people and some import cars and you get a culture known by many different terms like Stanced, JDM, Slammed, Car Modding, Tuner Scene, or Import Scene.

Customizing and modding cars has always been popular not just in the US, but everywhere in the world. In the two articles above, clearly that have car culture highly confused with commuter culture. The youth is at work on their cars, building and buying. Usually, they are buying cheap cars and building them with after market parts to create something totally unique and custom to them, then going to car shows to show off their hard work and dedication, not to mention paychecks. The articles above believe that if you are not spending a ton of money on a classic car and taking extremely good service care on it, then you are not an enthusiast and know nothing about the culture. Which is totally wrong and not the case.

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Most cars that are modded by the youth are either Japanese like, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and Subaru. Or German such as, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Audi. American cars like Dodge, Ford and Chevy. And for the rich enthusiast they would mod the legendary Italian cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati. Of course Japanese being the most affordable, these are common among the youth. There are also many young YouTubers who talk about the car culture and work on their cars on Youtube. TJ Hunt is one of my favorites. All these bloggers and Youtubers that can be found from a quick search proves that our Car Culture is not dead and wont be dead for a very long time.

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Is Racism Part Of Culture? ...

Our society in the United States has so much diversity from all over the world begin represented daily. Our country is like a melting pot with different cultures mixed into one. The United States has a great diversity it is not really common with in other nations, but that is what makes us great. People who move here from all over the world bring their cultures from their countries. After years of living here people will start grasping the American culture they will start being part of it. They may start forming a family with their partners, so their children will become native born and raised.

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Discrimination began since slavery people viewed the African Americans as animals instead of human begins. They were mistreated and abused as humans by Caucasian males that owned plantations. After awhile the slaves revolted against the Caucasian males and realized that they no longer wanted to enslaved or belong to anyone.

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After African Americans were freed they were facing another obstacle which Caucasian would describe as "Separate, but equal" in reality it was not equal. They were facing segregation everywhere they went from water fountains, bus seats, restrooms, and they could only dine "black" restaurants. Children that went to school during that time had the most ripped/old books which sometimes had pages missing. They did not have bus transportation most of the time they would have to walk to school. During that period of time Civil Right activist started to protest and stand up for what they believed in and damaged changed because of all the inequality they were putting up with. Some of the major Civil Right activists are Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X , Rosa Parks, etc.

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Now we are living in the 21st Century yet racism is still alive. We are in 2016 dealing with people that in live ignorance and think of they are superior to others because of their wealth and skin color.
These people mostly target minorities. During 2015 we were experiencing police men brutality on African American citizen all over the United States. After seeing how African Americans were treated by police men people started "Black Lives Matter" movement. The "Black Lives Matter" movement became a huge thing that it also became a hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. It is still a big movement going on in our country. The shooting of Michael Brown occurred on August 9th, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. He was only 18 year old who was killed at the hands of Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson. He was fired from his job and has received multiple death threats. The people of Ferguson were dissatisfied because at the end of the day no one will be able to bring Micheal Brown back to life. Micheal Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner have all been killed and that's why people not just African Americans want to stop Police Brutality and for Police Men to be held responsible for their actions. There is no reason in world it is excusable for Police Men to kill someone and especially they way they have been treating African Americans. Eric Garner clearly said after being put in an illegal chock hold for NYPD Officer to use that he could not breath yet they still kept holding him down like if he was an animal. All he did wrong was breaking a fight yet that action caused him is life sad, but true.

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We are in 2016 dealing with the Presidential Elections. We have a candidate that has hurt most of the minorities with such nasty words and racial slurs. Donald Trump is running for the Presidential office. Most minorities are really against him because what he has said and he in general had this ego of superiority. Anytime he speaks its all ignorance and has no clue of what he even is talking about.He is always talking about Mexicans... yet not everyone that is Hispanic is Mexican. He just generalizes that we all are Mexican. He has spoken badly about the Muslim community calling them terrorist and just in negative connotation. He is honestly a great example of  "Islam phobia". Islam phobia meaning is dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force. He doesn't notice, but all the hate words that he has put out there is just going to cause something bigger later on. I think people like that should never be allowed to be taken seriously. He's slogan is "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!". Just that saying gives me the chill the thing the United States hasn't ever been great we still have a lot change and over come to ever be great as a nation. 

                                             

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How can we have someone like this run our nation ? When we are dealing with racism and it is one of our major issues. I'm just talking about the minorities this also includes those who are seen different such as transgenders and the mentally ill. Why does he not talk about real issues besides if you think about it most of the illegal immigrants that come here from all parts of Latin America take the jobs most people do not want. He is has made a mockery out of this presidential election and its sad that we still have people with such ignorant and arrogant persona. 

The question is racism of our culture in the United States? It seem that it is and it hasn't change after so many things have happen in the past. A side note is that everyone technically is an immigrant because the native Americans were here first, but yet does not seem many people remember that when stating "go back were you came from". 

    

Team lightskin vs Team Darkskin

In America, there is definitely discrimination involving one or a few ethnicities towards another. This discrimination is visible in American culture; you can see the acts of discrimination in social media, in schools, and all around us. There are often rallies and social media movements to fight against the social injustice.   But many Americans don't talk about the discrimination between individuals of the same race.

Black Americans have gone through and continue to go through various types of discrimination. African Americans fight for their rights against other races, but don't speak out on the discrimination within their own race. Light-skinned and dark-skinned African American’s issues of division began during American slavery in the south.

Slavery

During slavery the Africans were separated by skin tone. According to Allison Samuels, a writer for Newsweek.com, "Since the days of slavery, skin color has been used as a tool of separation and preferential treatment within the black community." Job specialization was based on the shade of their skin. A dark-skinned slave would work out in the fields and the lighter skinned slave would work in the home of the slave master. The working conditions between working in the fields and working in the home were drastically different. Light skinned slaves were given better working conditions like being able to have meals like the slave owners just smaller or not having to work in the hot sun all day to  Darker skinned slaves had poor working conditions and often suffered more physical abuse. Multiracial Individuals,a online history textbook, says "Darker-skinned slaves tended to work in the fields, while lighter-skinned slaves tended to work in the house."
  Although, slave owners still considered lighter skin slaves as beneath them, they overall treated the light skin slave better.

Slave masters did on most occasions rape their female slaves and often produced children. According to Bowdoin.edu,  a website for the college of Bowdoin in Main,"Slave women were forced to comply with sexual advances by their masters on a very regular basis." The babies would be born lighter because of their mix of ethnic background. Many times these children would become the house slaves. This was a way for the Slave owners to still treat them like property, but at the same time give them somewhat of an upper hand to cover the shame and guilt for, without openly admitting what they had done.  After all the law was one-eighth drop of black blood made you black.

 In the Now

Overtime the issue between light skin and dark skin black Americans has grown to more of an issues between the two sub categories and not an issue with whites. In the black community, many believe that light-skinned African Americans are prettier or more beautiful than a darker African American.  The slavery separation of the shades of skin started a self-hatred within the American black community. Light skin or "mixed" African Americans are viewed as superior to individual identified as black American.   Black Americans wanting to have at least some percentage of another race within them to seem more attractive has become todays culture.

African American women have also started to bleach their own skin to be seen as more beautiful and lighter. These chemicals used to bleach the skin are very dangerous and harmful, but many black women will ignore the possible health issues to be viewed as beautiful with in their community. According to WebMD,  "1 out of every 4 skin lighteners made in Asia and sold outside the U.S. contained mercury."  When mercury is applied to the skin there are numerous dangers that can lead to skin cancer or in some cases death. For the most part, black Americans feel that the whiter you look or seem the better of you will be.  Although the light skin culture is predominantly seen as superior of dark skin black Americans, overall the white American culture is viewed as superior to black culture when being view by the majority of the African American community.

Recently, the issue has become a war between light skin and dark skin African Americans. The most popular hashtags for this issue is, #Teamlightskin and #TeamDarkskin. When looking up these hashtags on social medial it is easy to access arguments on why one shade of skin is better than the other. Memes stereotyping a certain shade of an African American can also be found. You may also find darker skin individuals shamming light skin individuals for not looking "100% black" Some memes on this issue can even be suggesting certain shades have certain sexual preferences. the list goes on, on what can be found looking at these hashtags.

In conclusion, my question is how can we, as black Americans fight against other races who discriminate us if we are discriminating our own people? No matter what we see, other races will treat us the same no matter the shade. African Americans fight back when discriminatory actions against their own race take place in America. But, when it comes to discriminating within their ethnic community, African Americans allow this enigma from slavery define their lifestyles by continuing to separate themselves.

South Korea Culture

According to dictionary.com the definition of culture is: “the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group”. I am an “Army Brat” and I am proud to be a part of this culture group. Home for an Army Brat is where the Army decides to relocate the military parent or parents. Our family of four traveled around the Contiguous United States (CONUS) and Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) for over twenty-eight years. As an Army Brat we resided in many different places state side and overseas. Every place has different culture beliefs; including CONUS and OCONUS.

  As an Army Brat I lived in South Korea for two years and I respect their culture. South Korean culture and American culture is different. We both celebrate New Year’s Day; however, we celebrate this special day differently. On New Year’s Eve the majority of American’s host parties or attend special events to bring in the New Year. For example, New Year’s Eve celebrations consist of peach drop in Atlanta, Georgia, ball drop in Times Square in Manhattan, New York City, and acorn drop in Raleigh, North Carolina then shout Happy New Year.

   In South Korea, on New Year’s Day children bow down to elders and relatives and say Happy New Year. The bowing is different than the normal bow. Girls bow down on one knee and boys bow down on both knees to say Happy New Year. South Korean relatives give advice to the children and give them money. Both South Korean and Americans show respect to elders. South Korean’s show respect by greeting elders with a bow and Americans show respect to elders by recognizing them as Mr., Mrs., Miss, and etc.

Another culture difference between American and South Korea is how we celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14. In South Korea Valentine’s Day is all about the men and in American it’s all the women. Korean women shower the men with chocolates and American men shower their woman with chocolates, jewelry, flowers, cards, and etc. On March 14, South Koreans celebrate White Day and on this day men shower women with candy. Also on April 14, South Koreans celebrate Black Day for the single individuals and on this special day they eat noodles with their friends at local restaurants. They have a special day it is on April 14. There day is called Black Day. On this special day is where they eat noodles with their friends.

For school system they have six years’ primary, three years of middle and high school and lastly four years of college. Education is very important to the parents and they try to get their kids into the best schools. Bottom line there are some inherent cultural differences.

HBCUs VS PWIs

Deciding whether to attend an HBCU or a PWI can be both an easy or hard decision for some. Both have many different aspects which help define both. These aspects provide individuals with more information and can help with their decision on where to attend.  Let's dig deeper and take a look at both HBCUs and PWIs and their similarities and differences.

HBCU's vs PWI's

HBCUs:

HBCU stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. According to the  US Department of Education, "HBCUs are a source of accomplishment and great pride for the African American community as well as the entire nation. The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.” HBCUs offer all students, regardless of race, an opportunity to develop their skills and talents. These institutions train young people who go on to serve domestically and internationally in the professions as entrepreneurs and in the public and private sectors".
HBCU

HBCUs have many different contributing factors. HBCU's are known for having a strong history. Reading over The Network Journal- Black Professionals and Small Business News page and the information they include on HBCUs, they mainly discuss HBCUs and their strong history. They mention how "HBCUs are responsible for 22 percent of current bachelor’s degrees granted to Blacks. Among Blacks, 40 percent of all congressmen, 12.5 percent of CEOs, 40 percent of engineers, 50 percent of professors at non-HBCUs, 50 percent of lawyers and 80 percent of judges are HBCU graduates". They also mention the "top 21 undergraduate producers of Blacks with doctoral degrees are HBCUs. W.E.B. Dubois (Wilberforce), Ralph Ellison (Tuskegee), Martin Luther King, Jr. (Morehouse), Thurgood Marshall (Lincoln), Ruth Simmons (Dillard), and Oprah Winfrey (Tennessee State) headline a long list of famous HBCU alumni". 

An example of a HBCU with strong History is Hampton University. As stated by The Network Journal- Black Professionals and Small Business News, "Hampton University is one of oldest privately funded historical black colleges & universities on the east coast. This well-established HBCU offers undergrad, masters and doctoral courses in technical and liberal arts fields. Hampton University has been rated among the top African American universities in the world, with a community of students from 35 countries and territories and nearly every state in America, making it one of the most popular black colleges".
I love my HBCU

There are many other factors and aspects of HBCUs besides its strong history. They are also known to have good sports teams and a great band attracting more students. Videos of different HBCU bands can be found on Social media sites, like twitter.  HBCUs also have many scholarship opportunities and alumni organizations offered to help and encourage African American students, as well as other races, receive an education and get their degree. They tend to have smaller class sizes, depending on the university as well. Some HBCUs even offer programs to help find opportunities and jobs for African American students after college. HBCUs are said to be a big family across the country and support one another through their cultural and historical background.

Going to a HBCU can be a great experience for many individuals, but not everyone might be in favor for them. Sometimes many don't like the fact that they're not as diverse as PWIs. Also, some HBCUs may lack the necessary technology or simply may be out of date with certain resources leaving many individuals hesitant to attend.  Many individuals aren't fond of the appearance on certain campuses ranging from the dorms, to classrooms, to amenities, making this another negative factor. Another con is the fact that although many scholarships are given, this does not mean everyone is entitled to receive one or even receive a full scholarship.

Although, the list goes on for negatives aspects of HBCUs, there are still plenty of positive reasons and why one should attend and if you are interested, I encourage you to definitely look up and visit many HBCUs websites to receive more information.

                                                                   PWIs:                                                 Diversity

PWI stands for Predominately White Institutions. According to M. Christopher Brown II & T. Elon Dancy II, "Predominantly white institution (PWI) is the term used to describe institutions of higher learning in which Whites account for 50% or greater of the student enrollment. However, the majority of these institutions may also be understood as historically White institutions in recognition of the binarism and exclusion supported by the United States prior to 1964".

PWIs have many contributing factors and aspects as well. They are said to have better reputations than HBCUs. Some PWIs are said to have prettier campuses as well, attracting more individuals.  By this I mean, newer technology, updated amenities and facilities, nicer dorms, and ETC. PWIs are more prestige and excel in sports as well. They offer scholarships, both for academics and sports wise to help bring in more students. Many individuals say, PWIs have great professors who deliver great teaching allowing for the students to receive a good education. PWIs also offer a better variety of majors and programs to the students, allowing for many more students to be attracted to the school.

PWI's
Although PWIs, as well bring great contributing factors, they still have negative aspects as well. For one, many individuals say PWIs are diverse. I beg to differ. Not all universities are. With that being said racism has been said to be a common issue as well within PWIs pushing many individuals away. Because of this, you don't see many individuals who look like you striving to make a mark and difference at that school. Additionally, PWIs aren't as understanding for African American individuals as well as other minorities. Their expectations can sometimes be higher, leaving many individuals unable to attend. Class sizes again can be larger which can be a negative factor as well. The list goes on for negative factors, but remember there are good factors and aspects of PWIs as well. Again, I  encourage you to take a look at some more PWIs and gain more information to help in your decision, as well as allow you to get a better idea on Predominately White Institutions.

Here are some Additional PWIs: Radford University, Rutgers University, Stanford University, California State University, Virginia Common Wealth University, University of Virginia, Florida State University, George Mason, William and Mary, and Virginia Tech.