As you walk thought the streets of Chinatown you hear a blend of languages that form a background noise. A mix of Cantonese, English, and Mandarin form a sound that is not bounded to the phonetics of one language or the other but instead break the traditional limits of a mono-lingual culture. The occupants of of the neighborhood are familiar with this multilingual community and new immigrants have to try to adapt the new languages they hear.
“When you got here, did you feel a pressure to learn English, or did Chinatown offer you an opportunity to get by with the language you already knew?”
“When I first came to the United States, I had an apartment in Chinatown, but my daughter lived in New Jersey, so there was a lot of time spent outside of Chinatown. I would be in Chinatown every day to take English lessons, and in class I felt l understood English. But after class in Chinatown, everyone would speak Cantonese and [I] felt no pressure to learn English with the people in Chinatown, but when I would speak to westerners I would forget what I learned in class and I had a lot of difficulty communicating.”
– Wàipó
In addition to to the languages you hear, you hear music. Although it can often be heard on many of the streets in the neighborhood, the sounds become all encompassing as you enter Columbus Park. In the video below we see two older men playing the Erhu on a bench in Columbus Park. The video is 360 Degrees so feel free to look around.
The Erhu or Chinese Violin is played resting on the musicians lap, and only has two strings. Its sound is instantly recognizable as Eastern. Its Distinct sound is not heard outside of this community because of the instruments distinct connection to Chinese history. With different theories to the age of the instrument, with some dating its invention back to over 3000 years ago, its cultural significant in this community can be heard throughout the neighborhood.
Works Cited
Stock, Jonathan. “A Historical Account of the Chinese Two-Stringed Fiddle Erhu.” The Galpin Society Journal, vol. 46, 1993, pp. 83–113. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/842349.
