Ghanaian-American
It was late at night when I finally approached Nadia to talk with her. She was reclining on her futon in her dorm while doing chemistry homework. She is an African-American freshman who, aside from English, speaks fluent Twi, a common dialect in Ghana. She was born in Ghana, but she moved to the United States at the age of five. Similar to Kenny, the official language in Ghana, like India, is English. Therefore, she was already exposed to a multilingual society before moving to America.
Nadia attended school in Ghana before moving to New York City. Unlike me, she already had formal lessons in Twi and English. Although Nadia already spoke fluent English, she still had struggles assimilating into American culture and was bullied in school for having an accent. After starting school in the States, her exposure to Twi began to fade as she spent more and more time speaking, reading, and writing solely English. We discussed how we were both forced to adapt and speak nothing but English.
Nadia is the eldest child with two younger sisters and one younger brother. Nowadays, Nadia rarely speaks Twi with her younger siblings. They have had even less exposure to the native language then her. As for her youngest brother, who was born and raised in America, he does not understand their native language at all. Her siblings unintentionally aided her gradual drift away from the Twi language. Nadia not only spoke English at school but came home speaking English with her siblings as well. Twi began to become less and less prominent in her life.
Similar to Sammie's and Kenny's case, family played a big role in Nadia's fluency in Twi. Parents play an essential role in how fluent their child will be at native language while being in America. Nadia’s was adamant about speaking Twi at home, but even that was a challenge. Parents get busy with work and bills. They often prioritize “keeping children fluent in my native language” fairly far down the list. Nadia explained how it was her grandmother who made sure Nadia understands her native language. Older generations in a family are usually the ones more set on keeping the traditions. She explained that if her grandmother did not live with her family as a child, she probably wouldn't be able to speak Twi today.
Nadia attended school in Ghana before moving to New York City. Unlike me, she already had formal lessons in Twi and English. Although Nadia already spoke fluent English, she still had struggles assimilating into American culture and was bullied in school for having an accent. After starting school in the States, her exposure to Twi began to fade as she spent more and more time speaking, reading, and writing solely English. We discussed how we were both forced to adapt and speak nothing but English.
Nadia is the eldest child with two younger sisters and one younger brother. Nowadays, Nadia rarely speaks Twi with her younger siblings. They have had even less exposure to the native language then her. As for her youngest brother, who was born and raised in America, he does not understand their native language at all. Her siblings unintentionally aided her gradual drift away from the Twi language. Nadia not only spoke English at school but came home speaking English with her siblings as well. Twi began to become less and less prominent in her life.
Similar to Sammie's and Kenny's case, family played a big role in Nadia's fluency in Twi. Parents play an essential role in how fluent their child will be at native language while being in America. Nadia’s was adamant about speaking Twi at home, but even that was a challenge. Parents get busy with work and bills. They often prioritize “keeping children fluent in my native language” fairly far down the list. Nadia explained how it was her grandmother who made sure Nadia understands her native language. Older generations in a family are usually the ones more set on keeping the traditions. She explained that if her grandmother did not live with her family as a child, she probably wouldn't be able to speak Twi today.