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Yan Jun Chen (June)
Essay #1: Experiencing and creating change
Final Draft
ESOL 400 Mary Warden
09/27/2011To be acknowledged

Assimilation is a way that people absorb a new culture. When people live in a new environment for a long time, they would accept and accustom the environment automatically. As an idiom says, while in Rome, do as Rome does. Nowadays, the United States is the world’s most important country. Many people move to the U.S look for job opportunities, goodeducation, and wonderful future. In my opinion, I think immigrants are not fully abandoning their home culture. Some of them want to let the adopted country citizens think they are part of this country so that in order to be acknowledged. Thus, they hide their native cultures side, and get accustomed with the new culture.
One reason that immigrants want to be acknowledged by the adopted country isthey have accents when they are speaking English. English is a language represents rich which is also represent an identity of “American”. If they can speak fluent English like native speaker they will feel more comfortable and proud. According to Manuel Munoz, he states that the immigrants, who speak English as second language will be segregated into English-only and bilingual programs, and regardas a lower class (114). Although America is a multicultural country, people still care about others how to judge them if they don’t speak English well. For a new immigrant, learning English and using English well, is a meaning to becoming “American”. They want to abandon their accents, so that they could communicate with the locals easier.
The second reason immigrants want to be acknowledged isthey are embarrassed with their name pronunciations that always make confusion; also an Anglicized name would bring some benefits for immigrants in the new country. If immigrants have an Anglicized name, they would be recognized as “American”. This is a better way to be acknowledged and easier way to communicate. Manuel Munoz points out that it is not encouraged that pronouncing Mexican namescorrectly. A white teacher announced a Mexican student name correctly in a ceremony then made audiences confused. And next year he was corrected when he pronouncing Mexican name in front of Spanish-speaking parents. It is difficult for non-Spanish speaker pronounces a Spanish name, and it is also difficult for Spanish-speaker pronounce without the e if there is an e at the end of the word. Therefore,many English speakers curious about Spanish name and want to know the meaning of their name. Manuel Munoz got tired of meeting people first time when he was in college. He explains that most people cannot say his name correctly. If they couldn’t pronounce it, they would ask him for help to pronounce into a right way. If deepen the conversation, he need to talk about his small hometown and his ownhistory which made him shy. Manuel Munoz states that “The English-only way of life partly explains the quiet erasure of cultural difference that assimilation has attempted to accomplish.” He explains that his stepfather needed to change the name because the Anglicized name helps him get more fieldwork. (114, 115, 116)Thus, those reasons list above made immigrants embarrassed with their names, theyfeel shy with talking about their history and culture. Having an anglicized name would help people easier to blend into the new culture.
The third reason that immigrant want to be acknowledged is immigrant’s appearances made them feel different from adopted country citizens; they feel like an outlier. The adopted country citizens exclude of immigrants. According to Bharati Mukherjee, she says...