Comparing and Contrast Jade Snow Wong and Richard Rodriguez as Learners - Essay Example

Instruction: Task: Jade Snow Wong It is always fundamental for cultures and language to compliment to allow both growth and broadening of perspectives. This means there should be a respect for customs, traditions and values that define the unity of a community (Gudykunst 60). Therefore, when families move to new places with new cultures and languages especially English, it is essential to put effective measures of integrating children for achievement. In other words, there should be a little culture shock to enhance the grasp of international issues as noted in the books of Richard Rodriguez and Jade Snow Wong. There are different ways that Jade Snow Wong and Richard Rodriguez have learned different languages (Chinese and Spanish) in shaping their relationships and world view. This is manifested in their books Fifth Chinese Daughter by Jade Snow Wong and Hunger of Memory-Aria by Richard Rodriguez (Gudykunst). It is essential to observe that both writers grew up in foreign lands from their original nations. For example, Richard Rodriquez narrates his experiences in Sacramento, California, in family that only spoke Spanish. During this period of growing up, the young Rodriguez experiences several setbacks caused by language because he had a Mexican history that is different from that of his new place (Gudykunst 66). The author notes that he attends a Catholic school in Sacramento that speaks only English thus causing a language barrier for his young life. In other words, the writer implies that he got inculcated into a culture that was different from one he had witnessed in his childhood. On the other hand, Jade Snow Wong speaking in the third person aspect in her book The Fifth Chinese Daughter observes that she came from a conservative family in San Francisco. The author notes that their first generation family was poor with a lot of discrimination upon girls being a part of the culture. In that aspect, there are tales of domination of the female by the male in the family of Jade Snow Wong that is an indication of stigma against in society. Therefore, the author observes that because of such prejudices against, it was hard for girls such as her to acquire education (Gudykunst 69). This means there was no means of learning a language of overcoming the culture barrier. However, the author narrates her resilience to overcome insurmountable odds of by proving her abilities and talents in various fields. The above two authors are similar in the aspect of growing up under a foreign language that did not resemble that of their childhoods. Similarly, both of them made determinations of learning the new languages by overcoming the barriers of family and culture shock as noted in their respective books. However, there differences in terms of gender and the superseding advantages that followed for the writers. For instance, while Richard Rodriguez found it a little easy in Sacramento, California during his learning period, that was not the case for Jade Snow. She laments that her family treated females as inferior hence there no need to challenge authority if you were a girl. In other words, the writer attempts to highlight the challenges of learning a new language under the yoke of a conservative culture that treats women with contempt. Therefore, while Rodriguez only faces the challenge of distorted childhood in a new place, Jade Snow grapples with gender inequality that is ingrained their first family that started living in San Francisco before the eruption of World War Two. Alternatively, there is the issue of the cultural divide that is prevalent in the lives of the two authors in terms of forcing their varying cultural inclinations to those of other nations (Gudykunst 74). Another interesting distinctive feature concerning how the authors learned their two languages and their growth in English entails the sound of the foreign language. For example, according Rodriguez in Hunger of Memory-Aria, the author concurs that the application of varying languages in terms of sounds is paramount in shaping one’s world view. This suggests that the sounds of pronouncing of the foreign dialects give a new person an edge because of the uniformity. In other words, there is an element of international communication because English is the dominant language worldwide (Gudykunst 77). Similarly, the writer notes that language did not just have sounds, but also invoked feelings of belonging and acceptance in the foreign land. Alternatively, this it also incorporated a feeling of relaxation and ease when interacting with different people cultures thus broadening his international perspective. Furthermore, despite the setbacks of demands to speak the English language in public, Rodriguez notes that it was interesting to acquire a new culture for reasoning. On the other hand, for Jade Snow Wong in her seminal text, The Fifth Chinese Daughter, there was a desire to prove a lot in terms of learning the new culture and achieving a gender balance. This suggests that she had to work hard in various ventures through hard work and persistence to gain a world view and international spectrum when using the English language. According to the author, the cultural domination of his family over girls meant that her studies were not easy making it hard to master the medium for communication. Therefore, while Richard Rodriguez, who enjoyed the sounds and feelings of English for growth, it was not the case for Jade Snow Wong. Instead, she had to excel in the social realms through college, and eventually opening a pottery shop to prove her enlightenment in her society. However, it is noteworthy to note both did not fully integrate into the English culture of their new residences in America. This resulted to severe effects in the assessment of world view especially in attaining cultural harmony (Gudykunst 69). Similarly, the nostalgic feeling of not speaking one’s language meant their English growth did not fully flourish from the international point of view. Therefore, if there is an attainment of cultural harmony and language integration, children should be taught the values and doctrines of other cultures (Gudykunst 81). This begins by learning the mannerisms of the foreigners without compromising on one’s cultural background. In other words, there is a need for positive assimilation to enhance better existence. Work Cited Gudykunst, William. Cross-Cultural and Intercultural Communication. New York, NY: SAGE. 2003. Print. Read More