Diversity of identity, bilingualism and pluriculturalism in western and eastern cultures

Abstract

In a culturally diverse and globalized society, where half of the world’s population is estimated to be bilingual, the concept of cultural identity appears to be constantly influenced in ways it has never been before. The number of people suffering from a crisis of cultural identity is rapidly increasing. This can be explained by the fact that as members of two or more cultures, many do their hardest to integrate into the dominant culture, even if it means sacrificing the values of the culture in which their parents were raised, only to have a sense of belonging in the dominant culture’s society. In this article we try to identify the specific features of bilingualism and pluriculturalism in social and family context in Western and Eastern cultures. Using France in the West and South Korea in the East as examples, we examined from various perspectives how immigrants who are fluent in the dominant culture’s language, have adopted its values into their lifestyle, yet even after spending in this country the most of their lives they feel alienated and discriminated. Based on documentary, analytical, historical, descriptive, and juxtaposed comparative methods of research we reached to the conclusion that while we advocate for equality regardless of ethnicity, gender, colour, or religion, equality remains an ideal that we have failed to achieve because we are still reluctant to fully accept cultural diversity of Identity.