The Dilemma: Assimilation vs. Maintenance of Vietnamese Culture

This essay examines the challenges faced by Vietnamese immigrants in the United States regarding the maintenance of their cultural identity. It explores the tension between assimilation into American culture and the preservation of Vietnamese traditions, language, and values. The essay discusses the pressures to adopt American customs, the difficulties in maintaining bilingualism, and the impact of U.S. policies on cultural preservation. It references various articles and studies to analyze the experiences of Vietnamese families and the broader implications of this cultural shift, including political and sociological considerations. The essay concludes by highlighting the complex interplay between assimilation and the desire to retain cultural heritage within a multicultural society.

Running head: ASSIMILATION V MAINTENANCE OF VIETNAMESE CULTURE
Assimilation v maintenance of Vietnamese culture
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ASSIMILATION V MAINTENANCE OF VIETNAMESE CULTURE
Large scale immigration has been mainly observed in the region of the United States of
America. Such immigration poses major problems one of which is the maintenance in the culture
of such people who has migrated. This essay discusses the issue of how the Vietnamese people
and the extent to which they have been effective in maintaining their culture.
According to Rubén (2014), the land of the United States of America is considered to be
a polygot nation of the world whereby there is the presence of a vast number of languages. This
proves the existence of linguistic diversities within this region. Considering the Vietnamese
people who live in the United States, it can be observed that around 0.5% of the population of
Americans speak their language. Out of this, around 76.7% of the Vietnamese population has
migrated from other parts of the world in to America while 23.3% of the population as born
within the country itself. However, according to the article, the author is of the view that “given
the power of popular American culture and the dividends to be gained from English fluency, it
turns out to be quite difficult to maintain stable bilingualism in the United States”. This means
that it is quite difficult to maintain the language diversity in America.
However, as argued by Public Policy Program (2017), the United States has always
viewed the immigrants to be hostile towards their country. As a result of this, stringent laws and
policies have been implemented in order to ensure the integrity of the nation concerned. The
article states that is bringing to the country people whom it is very difficult to assimilate and who
do not promise well for the standard of civilization in the United States.” This shows that the
Vietnamese people face a lot of challenges in maintaining their culture. Rather, they are
compelled to adopt the culture and traditions which is peculiar to the United States itself.
America is said to the ‘melting pot’ of the world, signifying the existence of different
cultures in the region. However, it is widely believed, as per the article “What Does It Take to

2ASSIMILATION V MAINTENANCE OF VIETNAMESE CULTURE
‘Assimilate’ In America” (2017) that such people belonging to different cultural background,
have not been properly assimilated in to the United States. Assimilation refers to the process of
assuming a fluency in the native language of the place a person has migrated to, adopting their
cultural and historical successes as their own. According to the article, “For others, it runs deeper
and involves relinquishing all ties, even linguistic ones, to the old country”. This shows that the
Vietnamese people who have migrated to the United States of America is required to gradually
disassociate from their old traditions and cultures, while accepting all the ties to the United States
of America. This is significant to understand because it signifies not only a cultural shift, but also
a shift in the important political and sociological considerations of the concerned individuals.
According to the article written by Gjelten (2015), an individual known as Marta Call
was made a citizen of the United States in the auditorium of her school in Virginia. Besides her,
499 other immigrants were naturalized to be U.S citizens whereby they were required to place
their hands on their hearts and repeat the oath of allegiance to the country. This showed that
although the country was welcoming to the immigrants, it required them to provide allegiance to
the ideals of the United States. The article stated that “Even the multiculturalists like Asante,
however, recognized that “Americanization” brought certain obligations”. Such obligations
referred to the needs of the diverse population to be tolerant towards the existence of cultural and
racial diversities while trying to be assimilated in to the American culture. This showed that the
Vietnamese families have been unable to maintain their diverse culture in the face of such
‘Americanization’.
However, as argued by Volokh (2015), it can be observed that the founding blocks of
America rests on the need to accept diversity and the existence of multiculturalism. This means
that America is acceptable to the presence of different cultural background within the country.

3ASSIMILATION V MAINTENANCE OF VIETNAMESE CULTURE
The article opines that “Experience with different cultures within the U.S. helps us deal with
different cultures outside the U.S.” which points to the accommodating nature of the country.
In conclusion it can be observed that although the different willing Vietnamese families
are allowed to migrate in to the United States, they are required to lay more emphasis on the
traditions and cultures of the country rather than that of their home state.

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References:
"What Does It Take To ‘Assimilate’ In America?". Nytimes.Com, 2017,
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/magazine/what-does-it-take-to-assimilate-in-
america.html.
"What History Tells Us About Assimilation Of Immigrants | Public Policy Program".
Publicpolicy.Stanford.Edu, 2017, https://publicpolicy.stanford.edu/news/what-history-
tells-us-about-assimilation-immigrants.
Gjelten, Tom. "Immigration, Or Assimilation?" The Atlantic, 2015,
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/should-immigration-require-
assimilation/406759/.
Rubén G. Rumbaut, Douglas S. Massey. "Immigration And Language Diversity In The United
States". Pubmed Central (PMC), 2014,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4092008/.
Volokh, Eugene. "The American Tradition Of Multiculturalism". The Wasihington Post, 2015,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/01/27/the-american-
tradition-of-multiculturalism/?utm_term=.6a0e82eea6de. Accessed 2 Aug 2019.