Why should I have to assimilate?

Question

If I speak English,already.What else do I need to do to assimilate?If I was an immigrant?And why?Why do I need to be like you to live in this country?

Answer 1

Assimilation is a word "rarely" used......well before now. Of course your question leaves out "illegal" and that is where EVERYONE is going to go......(this is Yahoo answer....immigration forum).

You don't need to be like anyone.........you just need to be you. You ARE an AMERICAN and have the RIGHT to your OWN opinion and beliefs without regret.

To end....you don't need to follow the crowd.....you just have to follow your head and your heart.

Answer 2

I think you can do both. There is a reason to 'assimilate, which is America is better than where you come from, or you wouldn't be here, right? 10 years from now will you be saying "i'm not american, I only live here?" That seems like a strech.
I think you can keep your culture and 'assimilate' at the same time. It's ok to be American, be proud. You don't have to resist it. It's not perfect here but it's still better than everywhere else. For all the discrimination here there is much more in europe and more opportunites than anywhere.

Answer 3

For one, be an American, give the USA your loyalty. Anyone from any other country can love their ancestral homeland, but not above the land that they claim as their home NOW, the country that offers so much you want to LIVE here. You have rights and freedoms, so do other Americans, don't forget that. Don't expect other Americans to give up their rights in order to accomodate people who are not Americans, especially those who are here illegally.

You don't have to be like anyone but yourself. Can you not be yourself and love and respect the USA, it's people, it's laws, all it has to offer? If being loyal to the USA means you can't be yourself, then you are in the wrong country.

An immigrant (legal) needs to assimilate in order to blend well in society, to get along with other people, to understand the people. The best way for him to do that is to learn the language, which is English. No one says he has to stop speaking his native language at home or with others who speak his language. But, he needs to learn English to be able to converse with the other people in the USA who are mostly English speaking. Ask anyone in the USA who never learned our language and I'm sure they would say they would have had life a lot better if they could have learned English. It only keeps them suppressed from the largest segment of society(TV, radio, work associates, customer service, neighbors, store clerks, etc.) How little a person can learn of a culture or the people of a country if they can't understand the language. They would be cut off from conversations with neighbors, songs on the radio, TV shows, the news, anyone giving them directions, replies from store clerks, etc.

That would be very lonely and confusing.

Answer 4

Would it be reasonable to expect any country to change for people that want to come into the country? Surely there are things, in this Country, that make it desirable to live in or come to and if that is the case I would think it would be a small cost to adopt the language and conform to the requirements that have been agreed upon by the people of that country through it's government. To also swear allegiance to that country and defend it if necessary. What should you have to? Maybe a better question is why you or others shouldn't if you indeed think this is the best country for you? If you do not feel that way then why would you want to come to a country you disagree with or don't like?

Answer 5

People fear change and differences.

That's what the Germans feared. They didn't like Jews taking over their economy and the culture. They felt threatened. There was racism there before Hitler even enter the picture. So it was a natural progression to accept a dictator who preached a white pure race.

What people don't seem to get is that you cannot have freedom without diversity, the two are a natural marriage. How can we be free and intolerant? The foundation of our freedoms are diversity and human rights, that's what makes us civilized.

I don't support our borders being open for all the world to flood in. Having said that, I also don't support bashing and dehumanizing a group of people coming here just to eek out a living. We all deserve human rights, even an illegal. All human beings deserve dignity and respect.

I totally agree with you about our culture. We play by the rules, we are citizens, we speak dual languages and we should be allowed to hold on to our heritage and our culture.

Isn't that what America is all about?

Answer 6

I agree with you, assimilation is wrong, I believe in integration. Here's a cool poem written by an Aboriginal woman living in Australia, called, Assimilation No!, Integration Yes!

Pour your pitcher of wine into the wide river
And where is your wine? There is only the river.
Must the genius of an old race die
That the race might live?
We who would be one with you, one people,
We must surrender now much that we love,
The old freedoms for new musts,
Your world for ours,
But a core is left that we must keep always.
Change and compel, slash us into shape,
But not our roots deep in the soil of old.
We are different hearts and minds
In a different body. Do not ask of us
To be deserters, to disown our mother,
To change the unchangeable.
The gum cannot be trained into an oak.
Something is gone, something surrendered, still
We will go forward and learn.
Not swamped and lost, watered away, but keeping
Our own identity, our pride of race.
Pour your pitcher of wine into the wide river
And where is your wine? There is only the river.

Answer 7

im of irish decent. I dont go around wearing a kilt and blowing bagpipes. I, like all REAL Americans stay informed on the issues, exercise my right to vote, celebrate independence day, observe memorial day, EARN a living AND pay taxes,and help my fellow Americans in the face of disaster, attack, or tragedy. Our nation is what it is because for hundreds of years immigrants have come and assimilated.When immigrants stop assimilating this nation will fracture and cease being great.

Answer 8

The only way you can be assimilated is that you want it. If you are from Puerto Rico, for example, you are a American Citizen but you aren't the typical "American", your language is Spanish and your culture is a mix. I'm know Americans that live in P. R. for more than a decade and never learn to speak Spanish and I know Puerto Ricans that live only a few years in the USA and are completely assimilated to the American culture and language.

Answer 9

You *don't* have to completely assimilate. It's great that you speak English, but you can still hang onto parts of your original culture. That's what makes America so great - the diversity of our population! We have Italian food, and the Chinese New Year Parade, and sushi, and French manicures, and Yiddish, and Eastern Indian saris, and dashikis, and parts of every other culture in the world... the list is endless! It would be really boring if we were all exactly alike.

Answer 10

The only thing you need to do in my opinion is to bring the very best of your traditions and things you like to do from your old country,and make them a part of you here.That is what The US is all about.Leave the bad stuff behind.America is a black man running an Italian Pizza parlor in China town,in a mostly Hispanic state,that is part of a country that has mostly white people and is constantly changing.The USA depends on the diversity to survive as a nation.

Answer 11

You need to assimilate because you CHOSE (I hope) to live in this country. Assimilation? English is good. Consider yourself an American and you've almost assimilated. You need to assimilate because you are living here. If you don't want to assimilate, then why should you be here?