With a myriad of languages on this planet, we can often find people being mistreated for not knowing the common language of the country or simply not speaking that language clearly. Sender Dovchin, a senior researcher at Curtin University in Australia, portrays the discrimination and alienation of Mongolian immigrates living in Australia. Amy Tan, a Chinese-American writer, shares her personal experiences as she recounts how her mother was mistreated for her broken English. In her work Mother Tongue, the way in which people discriminate against one another for the way they speak shows how this causes a fractured society making us weaker as a people. Many stories can be found about linguistic diversity and the negative effects it has on society. A well-known story is the Tower of Babel in the Bible, a monolinguist society decides to build a tower that can reach heaven and as a punishment, God fractures the society by making them not comprehend one and others stopping them from working together. With so many languages dividing us, a monolinguist world would be more peaceful. Erasing our linguistic differences yet maintaining our cultures would also decrease reasons for discrimination and allow more ability to understand one another. Due to linguistic racism, we are a separated society as we discriminate against people who don’t speak the same as us. Amy Tan, the author of Mother Tongue, argues that though her mother is an intelligent woman, due to her “broken” English she is discriminated against. Through stories recounting her past, such as her having to go to the hospital to talk to the staff on behalf of her mother, she supports her claims that society treats people differently based on how you speak. With her writing, she is trying to bring to light societal wrongs and challenge people’s views on immigrants. Tan connects with her audience by sharing a piece of herself and showing that people shouldn’t follow societal norms and just follow what feels right. In defense of her mother, Tan states, “You should know that my mother’s expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands.” (Tan) With this statement alone Amy Tan is able to explain her mother’s intellect, she follows that quote by giving us examples of the type of books her mother reads. Though it is hard to sometimes understand one another discrimination is wrong and we as a society would be stronger together. A united people is always better, we can see that in many ways in our world today, whether it be large or small when in a group more can be accomplished.The Bible depicts a tale in which a monolingual society attempts to create a tower showing that a common people can achieve great things. To support this, the story ends with God punishing the people by making everyone speak a different language hindering their ability to communicate with each other. The Tower of Babel story is meant to show that living humans are meant to stay on Earth and not try to cheat their way to heaven however it can be derived that through the power of one united force monumental endeavors can be achieved. The bible is written for the people, to teach and guide them to be better individuals.  In the verse the Bible says, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” (Genesis, 11) This was stated by the Lord showing the endless possibility of cooperation. As punishment he chose to mix the language of the people as a perfect counter to their union, cementing the idea that language takes a big part in being a stable society. Thus, people should look past our differences and start to work together, with less hate in the world we can come together and do more for the Earth.

Discrimination and prejudice can be found all through the U.S. against many races and cultures but outside of the U.S. we can find other groups going through their own challenges. As Sender Dovchin researched language crossing and linguistic racism she came across Mongolian immigrant women in Australia. Her research seeks to further understand language crossing by delving into the prejudice experienced by these Mongolian women. She supports her research using the women’s ordeals to show how linguistic racism forced them to use language crossing as resistance or passing strategy. Dovchin aims to show how these two concepts support one another in terms of research, academia, and sociolinguistic realities. As a research paper, it is clear that her findings were written for her fellow researchers but more specifically women researches to inform them of the happening in the world. After explaining the challenges the women face in Australia and a bit on language crossing, Dovchin states that “adopting these crossing strategies allow these women to use their preferred forms of communication to resist dominant linguistic norms and standards in the dominant culture.” (Dovchin) Language crossing can be used in a way to combat linguistic racism, you can see it when adapting words in your vocabulary from other cultures or groups. Though language is connected to culture, I am not arguing to erase our cultures. I would rather find a way to maintain our cultures while incorporating a way to communicate with each other with ease. Through language crossing, the Mongolian women were able to improve their English and pass as fluent speakers of Australia while maintaining their cultural identity. Though diversity can be found everywhere but depending on where you live or who you are you will observe and experience diversity in different ways. Erik Engheim, a Norwegian writer, writes about diversity, and though living in a multicultural society can be enriching and full of opportunities there are issues we face due to diversity. Having lived in Oslo, south Norway, all his life Engheim shares having seen ads for rental back in the 60s about Northern Norwegians not being welcomed. By showing the negative aspects of diversity a call for peace is established in his writing to stop the needless discrimination and try to live in harmony though our differences. Engheim writes to people that don’t believe harmony can happen with a diverse community using Texas and their prison reforms as an example he pleads to the audience to have an open mind. When it comes to discrimination he believes that “instead of trying to find ways of bridging the gap, they spend their energy on either secluding themselves, trying to blame or contain the other group.” (Engheim) Though making the problem seem simple, his words make a solution also seem rather simple. People need to learn to look past differences as well as learn to understand and respect those differences. Where the world can love and grow together through our differences, instead of many wars and conflicts arise due to them.

With a platform to speak on, more and more people of color and immigrants are able to speak their story and show the world how descrimination influence people. Safwat Saleem, an independent animator and TED Talk speaker, goes on stage to talk about and describe his difficulties communicating due to his accent and speech impediment. He argues that people of color have to work hard to change the norm set by white american males. By sharing his past traumas using videos to easily showcase the topic he is speaking of Saleem supports his claim through light humor as he brings up race and gender discrimination. Throughout his talk he is urging and motivating people of similar background as him to push past the discrimination and follow their dream. With stories of his past he connects to other immigrants that have similar stories and connects with Americans by showing them the negative effects dsicrimination can do. Saleem expresses that “after the comments on the video, it no longer made me feel normal… and so I stopped using my voice in my work”(Saleem, 4:55). Though Saleem was not physically harmed through discrimination being moked by people on the internet caused him to clam and avoid putting his voice in his work. Everyone fears failure or being made fun of but for immigrants due to their differences they fall victim to such circumstances quite often. By getting on stage Safwat Saleem is able to show other immigrants that they too can be successful in life and be role models for future generations.

As someone who came to this country at a young age I too was mocked for my accent causing me to be quiet for a while. Though it felt easier to stay silent and only speak when necessary I took it upon myself to not only learn more English but also learn to speak how the children and adults spoke around me. It was not an easy task since I only had a few months of summer vacation before the start of middle school and a second chance at a first impression with the other children of New York. Whether minor or major we all face adversity when it comes to interacting with the norm of the society we live in. Oftentimes it feels as though people are on the hunt to find differences to use as a weapon rather than looking for similarities or simply living amongst the differences. As a nation we can learn more from our differences and work together for a brighter future.