If this phenomena is part of code-switching, then the proper term for it has been sitting right under my nose for years. If not, I definitely need to do more research.
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Code-switching?
After Ms. Quinet talked about what code-switching is in class, I thought more about my family and how, maybe, I’ve been observing this kind of thing for years without realizing it (I say 'maybe' because obviously linguistics is a broad study and I could be mistaken in my claim; I still don't understand a lot about my mother's side of the family, what these interactions mean exactly, etc). My mother’s sister, my aunt, lives in Germany. Her name is Mahnaz (I call her Nazzi…and yes, the pronunciation is different from ’Nazi'...). Nazzi’s husband, my uncle, is from Poland. His name is Wojtek (voy-teck). Nazzi is Iranian-born so she grew up speaking Farsi and after immigrating to the States with my mom and my grandma, she learned English of course. After living in Germany for so many years with my uncle, she also picked up German and Polish. So my aunt knows Farsi, English, German, and Polish. Whenever she would visit (she hasn’t visited in a while), I listened and observed my aunt and my uncle as they switched from German to Polish to Farsi then English. These conversations were intriging but always very confusing and, for various reasons, I think it definitely hindered my mother’s desire to formally teach me Farsi. Nonetheless, I think it’s beautiful that Nazzi is quadrilingual and I’m kind of jealous that my adopted cousin, Alina, is probably being brought up to speak these same languages, if not more (she’s gonna be a genius, just saying).
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3 comments:
Marg, Is it code switching or coat switching? But I feel where you’re coming from. Living with a Hispanic family has shown me the importance of family itself. In both Nicaraguan and Cuban culture, the family is the center of life. Happnines comes when sharing stories and good times with the family,’it’s something beautiful. I remember when I was younger being so excited when any family gathering would happen because how much fun it was to spend time with the family and cousins. The bulk of my childhood memories is full of memories of time with my family. I’m Hispanic culture, family is life and love
Like Margot and Diego, I have a multicultural background as well, although that comes from me moving all around the globe instead of my family's history. I've lived in Scotland, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, the United States, and Korea (Republic of), and all of my experiences in Eastern, Arab, and Western cultures have been fundamental to myself. However, I don't feel like I'm code-switching (or coat-switching) every time I go to another country because globalization has blended a lot of cultures together in today's world (I think). For example, when I visit Korea during the summer and come back to New Orleans a few weeks later, I don't feel uncomfortable having to live two lives. Obviously the languages and perceptions of things are different between Koreans and Americans, but I feel like I've been acculturated to both cultures.
I relate to this as well but in a different way (BTW I think it's cool that we all have different interpretations of this). Specifically regarding language, I feel like I'm always code/coat switching. For instance, if I go over to my mom's friends' house, I will greet their kids with a casual "hey, what's up," but I will greet their grandparents by placing my palms flat against each other and saying "Namaste." Because I speak both languages and relate to both cultures, I find myself going back and forth a bunch. In the past, people have even commented on how fast I can transition from a proper Indian dialect to an American accent. Code/coat switching is definitely applicable to my life.
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