THE LANGUAGES OF USA

How can languages help us understand culture?

As a saying goes, language is a culture and culture is a language. Language is the most essential method to understand one place’s culture. Through communicating with foreigners, we can directly feel and know the way he/she expresses. You might be surprised to find that people in different regions who speak the same language sound a little bit different. Because many languages have dialogue differences due to cultural influences. For instance, there is a great difference between French in France and French in Canada.

In some way, language is the product of culture. The development and evolution of culture influences the replacement of language or vocabulary. Culture expands and refines on the basis of the original language in the long-term change. And the culture affects our core values about the world and the way we communicate with each other. In short, language improves the communication among the society while culture helps us learn how to deal with things and how to talk with people in various way.

What languages are spoken in America? What is the dominant language? Are there any unique ways of speaking in this culture?

The top 5 languages spoken in the United Stated:

1. English

2. Spanish

3. Chinese

4. French

5. Tagalog (now commonly known as Filipino)

Because America is home to a diverse population, there are a cumulative number of languages that exceeds 350 in this country. The dominant language is English，but the government didn’t set an official language in America. Spanish is the second most spoken language in America that has over 40 million speakers. With the proximity, there are many immigrants from Mexico, Cuba and south America and other Spanish speaking regions, which contributes the large population of Spanish speakers in America. In addition, the history of America needs to be mentioned. In the past, a few of states in America like California, Arizona, Texas, Utah and so on are the territory of Mexico. However, after the Mexican-American War which broke out in 1846, Mexico is defeated and forced to concede a vast area of its territory above to America, so America admitted a large Mexican population.

This is a picture show the most commonly spokenlanguage other than English or Spanish

Additionally, there are some unique ways of speaking in different area of America. For instance, in northeastern of America, people speak more like non-rhotic English accent, which is quite different from General American, especially in Midwest of America, is a rhotic speech pattern. This phenomenon is probably because most of the early European immigrants gathered in this area, their accent would have some similarities with English accent.

What can we learn about USA culture from its languages?

When it comes to the most spoken language in USA, it is no surprising to know that it is English. The top 5 languages spoken in USA are English, Spanish, Chinese, French, and Tagalog.

The reason why English is the most spoken language in USA is very simple. Before America had gained its independence, it was a colony of England. Hence, it inherited much of British culture as well as language. A number of its population has British ancestry which, along with other factors, has contributed to English standing strong within American language and culture.

America is a multicultural country. That is because America has received immigrants from all over the world, which contributes to the linguistic diversity of the nation. The immigrants not only take with them their belongings, but also their languages, beliefs, values, and cultures.

However, we find that there is an absence of Native American Languages in USA. No Native American Languages is on the list of the top 25 languages spoken in the USA, and the Navajo language, which is one of the most widely spoken Native American Languages, has about 170,000 speakers only. It is seemed that Native American Languages and culture are facing a threat. If this situation continues, Native American Languages and culture may be endangered even extinct. Therefore, the preservation and growth of Native American Languages and culture is one of the most important cultural issues in USA.