Re:“中文，我们华人一生一世的护身武器”(妩媚灵魂)
Re: 好文! 抬个杠, 就是因为长相不同吗? 如果中国人是象俄国人那样长相跟美加白人没什么不同, 还需要母语做"护身武器"吗? 如果中国人混血后代长的很象白人又是洋姓名呢? (毕小珠)
Just read a good article, and here is my comment (a random thought):
Interesting question!
The importance of learning Chinese language for Chinese American children is partly in forming their ethnic or cultural identity.
I bet it's much easier for Russian American kids to deal with their identity issue, as their physical appearance is not that different from the majority, yet you can't say that for our kids--they have to face the two cultures they live in: the western values and the Chinese values.
Learning Chinese helps them clarify the possible confusion and an achieved identity helps them to have a positive self-esteem.
Self-esteem helps you to be strong. A clearly defined cultural identity gives us a high and positive sense of self or self-esteem and the cultural information is embedded in the language, so in that sense, Chinese language is our 护身武器.
And that’s why I should make sure my kids learn Chinese language. Well, that’s another topic (a hard one).
