Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
It's an oft-contested notion in Canada but a huge proportion of culture is language-driven. Even stuff that doesn't appear to be like cuisine is often indirectly affected by language. Which why North African merguez is easy to find in any grocery store in Gatineau or even Quebec, but tough to find outside of specialized shops even in Ottawa. And Indian stuff like samosas is very hard to find north of the Ottawa River.
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Language is often also a strong deal-breaker for whether or not homeland countries see their emigrant/diaspora communities as "one of them".
I know many American and Canadians of various ethnic backgrounds who have told me that traveling to their ancestral country while knowing the language versus not knowing it is like night and day. Many people say that speaking and understanding some of the language, even if not very well, is much better than totally not, in terms of being seen as if not a local, a long-distance returnee member of the community, versus just another foreigner or tourist, albeit one that happens to share the surnames and facial features of the local populace.
I hear places like Italy and China feel strongly disconnected from their diasporas once they realize they're no longer fluent in the language and are only monolingual English speakers.