VOA新闻杂志2024--Report: Language, Traditions Central to National Identity

Report: Language, Traditions Central to National Identity¹

Luciana de Oliveira considers herself transnational. That means she is more than one nationality. de Oliveira grew up in Brazil, but she moved to the United States for her studies. She became a U.S. citizen in 2017.

de Oliveira has some strong feelings about national identity. She believes speaking a country's majority language is a very important part of one's national identity. de Oliveira speaks both Portuguese² and English.

A new study found that most people around the world share those feelings about language and national identity.

The Pew Research Center carried out the study and released³ the results last month. Pew's study centered on people's ideas about national identity. It included answers from people in more than 20 countries.

Pew researchers asked study participants about four aspects, or parts, of national identity: language, traditions, birthplace and religion. They found that language is by far the most valued aspect of national identity.

In fact, a median of 91 percent of people across 21 countries said that speaking a country's most common language is "important for being considered a true national."

Traditions and customs are also key to national identity, the study found. Beliefs about the other two aspects – birthplace and religion – were more divided.

VOA Learning⁴ English spoke⁵ with several people who live in countries that were included in the study. Among them is Jorge Catalan. He has lived in Mexico most of his life. The Pew study found that 93 percent of respondents from Mexico said that speaking the country's main language – Spanish – is important to national identity.

Catalan said he agrees that speaking Spanish is very important. But he added that it is regrettable.

He said, "Mexico is a place where we have around 68 spoken languages besides Spanish." He noted⁶ that the government has pushed Spanish as the main language throughout history and has turned it into a "must-have tool."

Agatha Janzen was born and raised in Canada. Pew researchers found that more than 80 percent of Canadians say that speaking the country's language is important to national identity. In Canada, both French and English are official languages.

Janzen said that "speaking one of the official languages is important to being Canadian for practical reasons."

Traditions and customs are also a central aspect of national identity, the study found. Results showed 81 percent of people believe sharing their country's customs and traditions is somewhat⁷ or very important to national identity.

The Pew study found that 67 percent of Brazilians consider practicing customs and traditions an important part of national identity. That is the fourth lowest percentage of all the countries included in the study.

But customs and traditions are important to de Oliveira. To feel closer to her Brazilian identity, she said she wears jewelry⁸ and shoes from Brazil and follows and supports Brazilian soccer.

Mexico is tied with the highest percentage of respondents who answered that customs and traditions are an important aspect of national identity. But for Catalan, they are not so important. He noted that Mexican traditions have changed over time. He added that he does not take part in many Mexican traditions, "but I still feel proudly Mexican."

Beliefs about the two other aspects of national identity – birthplace and religion – were more mixed. A median of 58 percent of respondents from 23 countries said that being born in a country is important to national identity. An even lower number of respondents – 42 percent – said that being a member of the country's main religion is important to national identity.

Respondents from Mexico and Indonesia had the strongest feelings about the importance of birthplace as central to national identity, at 91 percent.

Calatan, who was born and lived most of his life in Mexico, agrees somewhat. "If you are born outside of Mexico and never lived in it, it would be difficult to get a real sense of what being Mexican means."

But Janzen, the Canadian, said, "Being born in Canada has nothing to do with being Canadian." For her, Canada is a melting pot and offers refuge⁹ to those who need it.

These ideas match the results of the study. Countries where immigrants¹⁰ make up a smaller share of the population tend to see birthplace as a more important aspect of national identity. Countries with a greater share of immigrants are more willing to accept those born outside of the country as true nationals.

Less than half of people in most of the countries in the study do not feel religion is important to national identity. All of those who spoke with Learning English said they agreed that religion is not an important part of national identity.

Christine Huang is a research associate at the Pew Research Center. She is one of the writers of the study. She told Learning English, "This question of belonging in a country is related¹¹ to other work we have done to measure how connected people feel to each other."

Huang added, "When looking at how people relate to others in their community, in their country, and all over the world, people most frequently report feeling close to others in their country."

Words in This Story

respondent—n. a person who answers questions

customs—n. the traditionally accepted behaviors of a culture

key—adj. most important

participants—adj. people who take part in an activity

practical—adj. real situations and events, not just theory or ideas

proud—adj. feeling pleasure or satisfaction about something

melting pot—figure of speech. a place where different people, beliefs, and cultures melt into one

1 identity   

n.身份，本体，特征；同一(性)，一致

参考例句：

• He never revealed his identity.他从未暴露过自己的身份。
• He showed his identity card and went in.他把工作证亮了一下就进去了。

2 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

3 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

4 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 somewhat   

pron.一些，某物；adv.多少，几分

参考例句：

• The cake we made was somewhat of a failure.我们做的蛋糕不大成功。
• The two office buildings are somewhat alike in appearance.这两座办公楼在外形上有点相似。

8 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

9 refuge   

n.避难（处），庇护（所）；v.庇护，避难（所）

参考例句：

• They took refuge in a cave yesterday.他们昨天是在一个洞里避难的。
• We took refuge in the lee of the wall.我们在墙的背风处暂避。

10 immigrants   

n.移民( immigrant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Illegal immigrants were given the opportunity to regularize their position. 非法移民得到了使其身份合法化的机会。
• Immigrants from all over the world populate this city. 这个城市里生活着来自世界各地的移民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。