# How much should immigrants of other cultures change to fit the culture of their new homeland? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 15, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-immigrants-of-other-cultures-change-to-fit-the-culture-of-their-new-homeland/603067 "2011-11-15T23:30:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-immigrants-of-other-cultures-change-to-fit-the-culture-of-their-new-homeland/603067/141 "2011-11-18T19:27:04Z")
The difference here is between “should” and “must”. In a perfect world, I think those visiting, let alone moving, to another country ‘should’ be interested in their ways and at least make an effort to meet these new folks halfway - learning their language (if the visit is a long one or permanent), learning about stuff that they find polite and doing it, etc. All that good “when in Rome, do as the Romans” stuff. However, all that they ‘must’ do is respect the law of the land. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-immigrants-of-other-cultures-change-to-fit-the-culture-of-their-new-homeland/603067/142 "2011-11-18T19:42:42Z")
Being American, I guess I always assumed that immigrants to the SA would want to blend in and adopt the local customs. But is this concept all that common? Take the cities of the old Ottoman Empire-you had greek sections, armenian sections, chaldean sections, etc., plus jewish communities. None of these groups ever considered themselves citizens of the OE-they always thought of themselves as greek, armenian, jewish, etc. Maybe the drive to assimilate does not exist in certain cultures? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-immigrants-of-other-cultures-change-to-fit-the-culture-of-their-new-homeland/603067/143 "2011-11-18T19:53:35Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Being American, I guess I always assumed that immigrants to the SA would want to blend in and adopt the local customs. > But is this concept all that common? Take the cities of the old Ottoman Empire-you had greek sections, armenian sections, chaldean sections, etc., plus jewish communities. None of these groups ever considered themselves citizens of the OE-they always thought of themselves as greek, armenian, jewish, etc. > Maybe the drive to assimilate does not exist in certain cultures? Well the concept of a national cultural identity is a pretty new concept, so the concept of assimilation into that national identity did not exist until recently. The Turkish nation did not exist until the 20th Century, so there wasn’t a national identity for those communities to assimilate into. On the other hand all those communities DID “assimilate” to some degree. Its part of human nature to copy the mannerisms of whatever culture happens to be dominant at the time. Ottoman culture is still very much evident in those regions they controlled, just as Roman, British, etc. is in the regions they controlled. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-immigrants-of-other-cultures-change-to-fit-the-culture-of-their-new-homeland/603067/144 "2011-11-18T21:33:56Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > The thing is, it really can depend on whether there is a subculture for the immigrants to fall into. Let me give you an example from my own family. > > My parents immigrated from Europe to the Philadelphia area in 1956. In those suburbs there was no significant subculture of Hungarian Jews, so they had no choice but to assimilate into society. All their friends and co-workers were American, and most of them were Christian. I was born a few years later and certainly I was a totally American kid. > > In 1972 we moved to Montreal for reasons that are unimportant here. But the key thing is that in Montreal there IS (or at least was then) a major minority subculture of Jewish immigrants who spoke various Eastern European languages first, English second, and no French at all. (Since Montreal is majority French speaking overall you can see that this is a subculture.) This time we fit, deliberately and completely, into the subculture. Because it was there. While that certainly happens and can explain why someone is more likely to live in a subculture your example highlights the inherent problems with multiculturalism. Montreal exists as a separate country within a country. I don’t see the benefit. In my own case, there was a wealth of 1st or 2nd generation immigrants in my hometown. There was certainly some amount of socializing within that group but it was never a sharing of past culture. No attempts were made to pass down traditions or language. I know a fair number of immigrants who have assimilated and all of them appear to be going through the same process my grandparents went through. Maybe it’s because of the high level of education they have but they are as American as any Daughters of the Revolution. So the question on the table is do we do better as a melting pot society or do we do better as multicultural Islands of humanity? Keep in mind it’s not a function of individuality because we are all individuals with different tastes in music, food, hobbies etc… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-immigrants-of-other-cultures-change-to-fit-the-culture-of-their-new-homeland/603067.md?page=7)