Every person comes from a different background. It’s important to have pride in your culture because it is not just your culture, it’s the culture of lots of your friends, family, and people you know. Nowadays, a lot of people don’t know their native language, holidays, or events that relate to their culture. If you can show your pride to America, you could do the same for your background.
How many people in the U.S. speak another language and Native Language
With over 3 million people living in the United States, as of 2024, there are a lot of people from different backgrounds and cultures in the country. There is only 21.6% of people in the United States that speak another language that isn’t English. The other 78.4% only speak English in their household and daily. It’s very disappointing that so many people don’t even know their language. Learning English takes about the same amount of time as learning another language if you speak it daily.
As of 2024, there are 7,164 known languages spoken worldwide. Many of those languages are only spoken in their native countries. English, one of the most spoken languages in the world, is spoken the most in the United States. If people took the time to learn their native language, English would probably be lower in rank in terms of how spoken it is.
Learning another language would probably take the same amount of time as learning English if you speak it daily. Watch videos, ask family members, or even go to a language class for whatever language you would like to learn so that you can learn your native language. This could connect you more with your culture and ancestors.
Ways to learn about your culture
Some parents don’t have time to teach their kids about their culture, making it hard for kids to learn about their origins. If kids learn about their culture during their free time, they can also learn much about their family.
If you like to dance, take the time to learn a new style of dance or a special dance from your culture. If you enjoy cooking, learn to cook or make popular food from your native country. Some people love holidays like Christmas and Halloween; well, some holidays from your country might be similar to American celebrations and holidays in their own unique way.
I’m half Colombian so I celebrate a holiday that is similar to Christmas. Novenas de Aguinaldo is a holiday that goes on for nine days before Christmas and we pray, dance, and give presents to each other just like Christmas. We stay up a little late, doing karaoke to Christian songs, and praising Jesus, God, and the Virgin Mary.
Cultural Dances
Some cultures have a traditional or certain style of dance that many people in that culture learn and demonstrate at events as an expression of their cultural identity. Some examples are flamenco, a style of dance that was invented in Spain, The Dragon Dance from China, and Tinikling; a style of dance created in the Philippines as a representation of farmers trying to stop birds from stealing rice.
If you love to do Tiktok dances, you could create a dance to a song from your native country. Search for a fun song that is either written by someone from your culture or find a song in your native language. Try to learn the lyrics and make fun steps to it.
A lot of styles of dance come from Hispanic countries. One of those styles is salsa dancing. For 3 years now, I have been doing salsa dancing. When I dance in my competitions, it makes me feel connected to both sides of my Hispanic family. I also learned a little Spanish because people sing most of the songs in Spanish. I benefited from dancing which means you could too.
Cultural Foods
Cooking is a hobby that lots of people have. Even if you don’t cook, learning how to cook a cultural meal will give you the skill of knowing how to cook. With Google being a source with pretty much all the information you need, you could search for recipes on how to cook meals from your culture. Also, you could ask a family member if they have a meal that is from your culture and they could teach you how to cook it.
All the people that live in the United States have special dishes related to their culture and heritage. Some meals you eat every day at school, at home, or on the go might be from your culture. A lot of popular foods in America come from different countries. Some examples are sushi from Japan, pizza from Italy, tamales from Mexico, and pho from Vietnam.
Celebrations and Holiday
People from all around the world have holidays and/or celebrations that they celebrate. Most people celebrate Christmas, Halloween, and other American holidays, but there are a lot of other holidays with their own traditions and meanings.
Some examples of other holidays are Chinese New Year celebrated in China, Pingxi Lantern Festival celebrated in a small village called Pingxi in Taiwan, St.Lucia’s Day celebrated in Sweden, and Hanukkah celebrated by Jewish people.
Also, some other cultures celebrate American holidays but with their traditions mixed in. Christmas, being a holiday lots of countries celebrate and enjoy, has a mix of traditions from other countries. In India, people attend midnight masses and make kheer, a sweet pudding for neighbors and family, while people in Ireland go for a swim in freezing, cold water on Christmas morning for their tradition.
Conclusion
Now that you have all this information and ways to celebrate your culture, try your best to learn about your culture so that you can connect with family and friends. You could teach other people from your culture about their culture too. You learn another language and more information, increasing your knowledge and making you smarter than you already are.
