BLOGGING ABOUT MULTILINGUALISM
For my fourth blog post, I thought to discuss a Coca-Cola commercial in the 2014 Super Bowl that sparked controversy on social media. This arose over the fact that the song, 'American the Beautiful', was sung in different languages, not only in English. I find it very thought provoking to think that controversy could arise from the idea that a patriotic song wasn't sung purely in English. I don't think that these people are being considerate for the matter that the United States is considered a melting point, with people coming from all over the world to find opportunity in this country. For that matter, I am Finnish and an immigrant. The idea that English language brings identity to the people of the United States is appropriate, but still people's heritages should be take into consideration. That is exactly what Coca-Cola is trying to do: count for the fact that people come from different backgrounds with English not always being spoken. Furthermore, there is no officially declared language in the United States.
Tying this information to what we have covered in class, I think that the controversy that arose over this commercial represents really well the complexity of languages and identity. The people who found this commercial offensive want to make it clear that in the United States, we speak English and this is what brings us our identity; to be truly American, one has to speak English. I would argue that this brings comfort for a person as they can identify with a specific mode of communication. But to truly to be considerate, we have to account for the fact that United States unlike other countries is very a heterogeneous population. Like Deborah Miranda would argue, we have to appreciate and preserve minority languages. Article relating to the commercial: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/02/03/coca-cola-ad-super-bowl-racism/5177463/
1 Comment
2/28/2015 07:06:57 am
While I agree that America is a heterogenous population, and I completely support the 2014 super bowl commercial, I question the idea that using several distinct languages can properly represent the "American identity." Yes, it's true that in America, we speak multiple language, and English is most definitely not the national language [officially or otherwise]. However, while the video connects to specific audiences that are of specific nationalities by using languages such as Chinese, Spanish, etc. What makes using several languages distinctly American? I would say perhaps some of the ire toward the commercial is due to the idea of America as a microcosm of the world, which in some ways it might be [but not everyone thinks this way] ! And I think that such a mindset is not a bad thing. However, to prevent such a backlash, maybe a better ad would utilize code-meshing or dialects/accented-forms of English? such as Chinese-accented English or Black English? Still, this might also come across as a bit too stereotypical, as some people who are African American or Chinese-American who do not use such forms of English, might consider it as a mockery of their ability to speak Standard English? In the end, while I agree with the ad and completely support it, I point out some observations and my own proposal for what would make the ad a bit less controversial. In my opinion, it should not have been so controversial; it was a great way to represent American culture.
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