8 Asians

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• http://twitter.com/syyfLA サラ

  I’m in the same position as you, and I say, teach your poor kid Japanese while he’s little. It will make it easier for him to pick up Spanish when he’s older. Spanish is easier to learn here than Japanese, so knock out the Japanese first.

• http://twitter.com/syyfLA サラ

  Anyway, just because a language isn’t in the top 3 most widely used languages doesn’t mean that it has no future, wth

• http://twitter.com/_Gentaro Gen

  It’s not my place to comment on how anyone else identifies culturally, but I’m a bit saddened to see you write this. For one thing, it’s overly dramatic to say that Japan “doesn’t have a future.” Japan’s demographic problems are worse than most of the rest of the world’s, but they aren’t unique, and Japanese language and culture will be around throughout your child’s lifetime. Whether it makes professional sense for your child to know Spanish or Mandarin instead is, of course, for you to determine. I’m saddened, though, because your piece indirectly suggests that how well Japan is faring might have some bearing on whether you encourage your child to know his or her roots. In the majority of cases I’ve seen where Asian American parents made a conscious decision to NOT teach their children their language and culture, the child later resented it. They might come to terms with that decision and start using lines like, “I’m a total banana,” but behind that, I often see a longing for at least some identification with their heritage. You see that search for identity with other ethnic groups too, e.g., Irish Americans getting their family crest tattooed on their arms. The difference with Japanese Americans, though, is that four and five generations down the line, we still aren’t (and will never be) white, and that means a lot of tough questions for a teenage kid wondering how to answer the inevitable, “what are you?”
  Conscious decisions to abandon language and culture might seem like a casual thing now, but they might have heavy consequences down the road.

  That all said, the way you identify culturally is probably the most important element in guiding how you should raise your kids, and if being Japanese doesn’t mean much to you, then nobody can tell you otherwise.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

  Language is a powerful connector for families and friends. It doesn’t have to be towards the long dead ancestors, just with people who are living now. In a way, that should be a good enough reason to learn any language.

  Being fluent in other languages is a plus, but it only goes so far as the character. A lot of people around the world know English (or communicate in basic English) and being fluent in their native languages isn’t guaranteed to be able to do business or other activities. People overall will relate, interact with and respect someone who may not be fluent in multiple languages but is good in a particular art or skill over someone who may know how to talk but isn’t good in something. That’s how a lot of human beings are. Develop a child’s character and teach him/her basic skills should be top priority. Knowing other languages will always be a plus.

  As far as the future goes, for us Americans, Spanish would be useful (again you can take it as far as your character and interests goes, either wise, you may forget it easily) since those speakers are our neighbors, and a large demographic group within our society. Chinese would be good too, but they’re even more pragmatic so more importantly if you want to go that route, got to develop the language alongside the character and basic skills. They’re really are opportunities everywhere, you can learn a language with smaller number of speakers and still prosper.

• A_Lee

  Koji, how is your Japanese? Can you pickup a copy of Yomiuri Shinbun and read it? I guess I’m wondering what is your level of familiarity/alienation with mainstream Japanese culture.

  What I would do is subject to my individual biases, but if I were in your shoes, I would definitely teach my children Japanese. Even if they hate you now, they will be grateful for it later. If your Japanese isn’t quite at the level necessary to teach it, then you should try to reach that level as quickly as possible. Why? Because ultimately, a great deal of your child’s identity will be built on how to be an ethnically-Japanese American.

  Ethnic and cultural identity is one of those murky and vaguely threatening topics that our liberal-humanist society isn’t really equipped to deal with. “Celebrate diversity” is a catch-phrase, but what does it actually mean? Should you take pride in your culture? What does pride mean? “Gay Pride” and “White Pride” have very different connotations. We have two conflicting ideals: (a) that all people should be treated identically, and (b) peoples and cultures are unique and should be respected equally. This creates some interesting paradoxes. For example, the “whitewashing” of Asian movie scripts is well-documented here. It would be considered outrageous, for example, to cast a white-Caucasian geisha in a historical drama. But at the same time, would we feel the same about an Asian ballerina playing Clara Silberhaus in the Nutcracker Ballet? Or would it be a matter of fairness and equality? We’re still figuring it out.

  Multicultural societies are a fragile thing, and they can prosper like Australia, simmer like Brazil, or blow-up like Bosnia. As a matter of both economic and psychological prudence, it’s better to not put all your eggs in the multi-culti basket. It’s better to make sure your child has the mental and cultural resources to build his identity in different ways – either as a full-fledged member of multicultural America, or as an ethnic Japanese. Who knows what will happen in his lifetime, but it’s nice to have a backup plan.

  If you haven’t watched WALL-E, the Pixar movie, you should. In that movie, humans left Earth thousands of years ago, and live sterile lives of idleness in a giant space cruiseship. They have no memory of their culture or history. All they have is consumerism – eating and watching TV, their lives totally controlled by the machines that take care of them. But one day, something happens, and the captain of the ship realizes there is something called Earth. Then he begins to learn – about trees, plants, rivers, oceans, the Sun, growing food, dancing. What he is learning isn’t just biology, but history. This knowledge of what-once-was fills him with resolve, and he fights the computer autopilot for control of the ship and steers it towards Earth.

  That’s why I would encourage your child to learn Japanese. That robust knowledge, that visceral, ancient, resilient understanding of who you are, where you come from, might be just what your child needs in moments of self-doubt or self-pity.

• chinese guy

  of course you should teach your son japanese. the most practical use for language is to pick up chicks… do you want your son to marry a mexican-american gal or a nice japanese girl?

  also, if you dont give your son some kind of true japanese identity, he will feel like some confused banana (yellow on outside, white on inside), and he will resent you for it.

  just tellin it like it is

• chinese guy

  i must shatter this stupid assumption that spanish is useful in america. it is ABSOLUTELY USELESS in america because most mexicans in america speak english very well….. i live in cali and studied 3 years of spanish in high school.. 100% useless because unless you plan to venture into gang infested mexico yourself

• http://twitter.com/kpossibles Kim

  I would definitely teach your child Japanese!!! Even though you might connect better with other Asian Americans compared to Japanese, it is a vital part of your kid’s heritage! Japanese is pretty hard to pick up when you’re older and is useful since not as many people know it. Spanish is easier to pick up because it is taught in about every school and is a romantic language with somewhat similar construct to English.

  Think about it, you will alienate your son from other people who do know Japanese but he will be unable to connect as easily since he doesn’t know Japanese as well if you had taught him earlier. I would suggest maybe talking to other Asians or anybody whose parents never taught them their language and how they feel now about it. Learning the language is a part of cultural identity and you should promote it to the best of your ability and not hinder your son in that process.

• pandora

  In my Japanese-language classes, there are a few Japanese-Americans enrolled because they wanted to learn their language but didn’t get to. I have friends whose parents didn’t want to teach them the mother tongue for various reasons (fear of accents, not useful, etc), but they eventually went to language classes to learn said language on their own. Resentment was never voiced out loud, but it was definitely there.

  If your son learns Japanese, he will have an easier time learning Chinese (reading and writing kanji). I’ve also heard that knowing Japanese gives you an advantage when learning Korean.

  By your reasonings, Latin should have disappeared a long time ago. It has few speakers and is not the official language of any country. Yet it still persists and people still study it.

  Lastly, there are people who are willingly learning Klingon and Sindarin. Think about that.

• LTE2

  You’re an American whose family came from Japan. Because your family is from Japan doesn’t mean you have to be “Japanese” anymore than a German- American has to be “German”. Remember, your family came here for a reason, the old country didn’t work for them..
  .
  From a business viewpoint, Mandarin would be wise. English is the defacto language of business but to be able to talk to the Chinese knowing the nuances of their language would give your child a real career hands up. South America will be a economic back water (compared to Asia) for several more years and the major player there will be Brazil, which uses Portuguese as it’s prime language..
  .
  The Japanese take their english lessons very seriously (as does the Chinese and Koreans). If your son knows Japanese backwards and forwards he could make good money in Japan teaching english.
  .
  Of course your kid could grow up to be a Bohemian artist living in a loft in New York City shacking up with a punk rocker chick and none of this will matter anyway.
  .
  There will be a Japan for decades to come. They are going through the same economic crunch Americans are, dealing with the impact China has made on their economy.
  .
  Not widely known is Japan’s economic condition isn’t much better than the US’s, so where the money will come from to make having babies easier would be interesting to find out.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

  I also live in Cali and do some work for the local government.
  Spanish is useful and I do face a lot of people who really can not communicate in English.

• http://www.facebook.com/tinabot Tina Tsai

  Kids can learn up to 12 languages before the age of 12. So to answer your question, if I had a child, I would probably set it up so my kid learns the following languages:
  1) English
  2) Taiwanese
  3) Chinese
  4) Tagalog
  5) Spanish
  6) Korean
  7) Hindi
  8) Arabic
  9) Cantonese
  10) Japanese
  11) Russian
  12) German

  Best way to naturally learn multiple languages (research proven) is to have language designated people. For example, in my family, Grandma and Grandpa spoke Japanese, Mom and Dad spoke Taiwanese, neighbors spoke Spanish, and school and TV spoke English. This supposedly helps lessen the confusions.

  Probably too hard to schedule all 12 languages at once, so I would probably start teaching the kid 4 and then start adding on to that. Each successive language is easier to learn, also research proven.

• david0688

  Sure, teach your child Japanese but remember: you are Americans too. I’m not saying reject your Japanese heritage or language I’m say that make sure you don’t have your son live as if he’s living in Japan.

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003307697956 Kieran Tsao

  I think the answer is staring at you in the face. Move to Japan, or at least build links with Japan so that you and your kids have a closer association with them. I am European Chinese, if my country of origin ever suffered badly population wise I would contribute to prop it up, even though my home is here. Think of it as what the Jews do… they often support and contribute Israel, despite being native of their respective nations.

  As Japan is suffering population wise (and let’s be fair, China from its 1 child policy will suffer a similar fate a decade or so from now), it needs to be supported from the outside. As immigration of non Japanese is unacceptable (although I hear they have loosened these controls), surely encouraging those of Japanese descent from other nations is a good thing.

• gimirzz

  Hmmmm…. I think it largely depends on what you and your wife identify with and how well you two can speak Japanese. If you can’t speak it that well or don’t use it at home then your child probably won’t retain much Japanese even if you try to teach it to him. My family is first generation Chinese immigrants and tho my parents are very Chinese, my brother can hardly speak it and can’t really read write at all. I actually think for children born here it might be better for them to wait until adult to learn those languages, because the writing system especially takes a lot of discipline and time to learn. Tho

• gimirzz

  Tho many people say they met Asian Americans that regret not learning their language as kids, I’ve also encountered many who aren’t interested as a child and resist learning the language cuz their parents are forcing them to. If your family has been in the states for a long time, it makes sense that you don’t feel connected to the current Japanese. Any culture that was passed down would be based on the Japan when your ancestors moved anyways. So yes I think just continue to build on your Japanese/Asian American identity. It might be nice to introduce some Japanese cultural things to your child (like food you like or whatever) and learning some basic Japanese so he wouldn’t have a terrible accent if he decides to learn later in life. But yes I think just wait and see what your sons interests are. Maybe he’ll be very interested and maybe he won’t in Japanese culture. But I don’t think you need to worry or force him a certain way

• Jie Zhu

  There is no such thing as Taiwanese.

• Jie Zhu

  OK, fine! You do need to be able to understand a little 福佬话 aka 閩南話 to watch funny Taiwanese drama/game shows.

• mingzi

  Perhaps you should move to Japan, and help them out by having lots of kids…

  But we all need to stop buying the naive Western narrative that:

  1) Population growth works in peaks and falls
  2) GDP growth should be constant

  3) Multiculturalism is justified to boost demographics

  These are all foolish, short-sighted assumptions. Populations of young and old have always worked in cycles with or without migrants. Japan will not diminish so far as to go extinct. Unless something horrible happens, they will rebound. It just takes generations. The Western idea is that to have a steady supply of young workers, you must import people from other countries, leading to multiculturalism. Economically, it makes sense. But from what I see, different identities cause far too many divides and conflicts. If the aging problem happens to China one day, I would rather we ride out the stagnation for 100 years than allow the country to become a permanent cesspool of infighting and racialized politics.

• Stabmaster Arson

  Spanish is a very useful language, I would probably go with that. Once you have Spanish you’re close to being conversant in Portuguese and then can move onto French. You can learn all of those before you even scratch the surface of Mandarin or Cantonese.

  I’m half Jpnse but speak fairly good Nihongo. Love the country and it’s not going to disappear but I’ve long said, Japan would be wise to first offer nationality to Nikkeis and haafu who live in Japan, pay taxes and obey laws. Then look at same criteria for people who have permanent resident status. Various local governments are offering stipends to have children, it can actually be quite lucrative, not profitable!!!, for people to have children. I personally know a few couples who are able to pay about half their expenses through these stipends.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

  lol
  I read the Chinese subtitles on those shows when they start speaking in Tai yu. Sometimes though.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Cathryn-Mataga/1222586000 Cathryn Mataga

  I’m half-Japanese, and since 2008 I’ve been studying in classes and by using flash cards. I can sort of read, but listening is so difficult, and I basically sound like an American tourist. If my father had spoken this language to me he would have spared me vast amounts of effort — really.