From this week’s reading I learned about cultural competence and how to properly evaluate dialects. There are two main areas of spoken language a person recognizes on a regular basis, a person’s accent and a person’s dialect. An accent is easily recognized in the States through how a word sounds, for instance a Boston accent is relatively distinct with how people from that region say several words. A dialect is how words are framed, like “he did it” compared to “he done it.” In studying dialects it is important to note that no dialect is the correct dialect. We are known to say things such as he or she speaks the correct English dialect. Who are we to decide what is the correct English dialect? Just because someone’s spoken language does not sound like the language we were taught in school, it does not necessarily mean it is wrong.
Another interesting thing to note about dialect is that it is becoming harder to recognize where a person is from based off of what they say. Decades ago people could figure out where another person was from based off of what they said. Today that is not the case with the increased social mobility of nearly everyone. I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, but I go to school in the south and routinely converse with people from the Northeast. These are three different dialects I am exposed to everyday for the last four years. Because of this I have acquired language that I never would have previously known had I stayed in Cincinnati my whole life. Now I use words such as wicked and nice in describing whether a person is really good at something. In Cincinnati when we describe somebody as being good at something we say they are sick or awesome.
Modern dialect studies focuses on the socioeconomic status of a person. It is much more helpful to understand a person’s job, income, or education, than where they are from. Although we like to believe there is no class divide in the United States there unfortunately is. The upper class tends to hang with fellow wealthy people and occasionally middle class people, but never lower class people. Since there is such a drastic difference in lifestyles and life experiences, different dialects emerge. Education may have a factor, but the context of the situation also plays a role. For instance when meeting with the President of the United States the language interaction one should expect is that of something proper and not some street jargon. However, when relaxing among some peers the setting is entirely different and a person can return back to the language and dialect they are most comfortable speaking.
The last thing I want to touch on was the question of why does language cause so many problems? The book answers it by explaining that by choosing one language over another is a universal sign that you identify more with this cultural group. The dialect chosen also provides a clear link to the past. Finally, it is a natural barrier between cultural groups that typically encourages conflict rather than cooperation. Even with my Hebrew language there is a clear difference between certain dialects. The Sadducees were the more recognized and distinguished Jewish people with their priest and wealthy person roles, while the Pharisees were the laymen in the Jewish community. These different Jewish sects developed different dialects and also created a sense of hatred towards each other because neither sect budged on their stance or their form of communication. So language and its dialect is not just a problem today, but something that has been causing problems for 2000 plus years.
Staying true to my promise to continue to churn out more Voki’s past the required amount, I was able to create a Voki with Maya talking about my Spring Break. Since we could find no information on the Internet regarding how to talk about one’s Spring Break in Hebrew, we resorted to calling Maya’s mother who is fluent in English and Hebrew. She was able to generate all the terms and Hebrew lingo I wanted to use in describing my exciting Spring Break to the Dominican Republic where I was not kidnapped. (Ve lo mich pastee!!!!)
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