The article “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan discusses how different uses of the English language correlate with the different interactional identities she embraced. Specifically, the English she conveyed at school in relation to the English she spoke at home with her family. The author reflected on an assortment of topics such as the importance of a person’s native language, stereotypes of second language English speakers, achievement tests and even how students are going into subjects based on their ethnicity. Although all of these propositions are very much paramount in society today; the issue of students going into subjects because of their ethnicity is relevant to me personally.
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Can you imagine what a mess it would be in a world where no one has a name?
We all have to get a name in order to distinguish between each other so that our world could be more orderly. I’m positive no one wants to be distinguished from others just by their ID number. Naturally, with a unique name, people can connect it with the person’s gender, country of origin and even ethnicity. We place all our experience and attributes together to build images in our mind of who we are. Then we attach that image on a name and it helps us establish self-identity. A person can still change their name but it will still be able to serve as a symbol of self and can rebuild a connection to one’s identity. My name is very significant to me. It is the sole word that one uses to identify me. Without my name I would lose a piece of my self-identity. I am called Abel and historically my name in Hebrew can be translated to breath or the breathing spirit. However, asking my mom; she named me Abel because of its biblical connection. It comes from the story of Cain and Abel, two brothers who are children of Adam and Eve. Abel sacrificed hid best lamb for God while Cain just burnt some straw which led to God favoring Abel more. Cain then killed Abel out of jealousy. My mom also picked Abel because my brother's name is Abenet and she wanted our first two letters to be alike. Coming from a Christian family, this name holds great significance for me and is a pivotal part of who I am. I am Half Ethiopian and American. There are many confusions about Americans from all around the world. One that is especially prominent is that Americans behave in a very disrespectful way towards other people. My dad lives in southern United states and people usually think that southern Americans are especially rude. However, in reality it’s a very warm and welcoming community. American culture in truth is very open to other people and are very hospitable to my mom and my Ethiopian side of my family. Openess towards other cultures in America is a very important thing to us. America is a country founded by immigrants and is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. This can be symbolized by the quote that reads on the statue of liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
There is also this perception of Ethiopians present that we are all struggling in poverty but in reality our country is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. There are many prominent Ethiopians across the globe, like my mom who is a top level executive in Etihad airways who overcame adversities growing up in rural Ethiopia. Hey there! I’m Abel Dejene Abebe Mandefro, or just simply Abel. I am from The United States although I am half Ethiopian.
I love soccer because I grew up watching it with my brother; my favorite team Is Chelsea and I have even gone to London and explored their stadium. I also have a passion for coding because I think that it’s captivating how a few codes on a computer can create such a wide assortment of software and applications. I hope to study computer science in University back in the states. Another one of my interests is the stock market because it truly bewilders me on how millions of exchanges on a daily basis are done and how money is made and lost. For some this may sound like a rather tame topic but the stock market sincerely astounds me. Through these interests of mine I hope to make a career out of by beginning as a software engineer then starting up my own hedge fund by 30. Sounds bold? Well I think anything can be achieved with the right amount of effort and will power. Language has a profound effect on me. I come from a bilingual family that’s speaks Amharic and English so because of that, language is an important focal point in my life. This is because my mom’s side only speaks Amharic and I need to speak Amharic with them to communicate. Even though I am not very fluent in Amharic I try my best to speak Amharic to my family; without language, specifically Amharic I wouldn’t be as well connected to my Ethiopian culture. |
AuthorAbel Dejene Abebe
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