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Cultural and linguistic integration from the network perspective

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2021

Abstract

Migration can be seen as a productive process facilitating cultural and linguistic contact. When settling in a new country, migrants bring with them socio-cultural skills and their native language, and interweave them with the host country culture and language on a personal as well as a larger societal level.

In a "cultural mosaic" that represents a multicultural and multilingual society, each immigrant and their experiences contributes a small piece to the larger structure (Day, 2018; Palmer, 1976). Acculturation-changes in attitude, values and identity-and enculturation-the process of socialization to and maintenance of the norms of a culture (Kim & Alamilla, 2007)-work in tandem to enable people to learn and adapt to their host country, and language learning is generally seen as one of the most crucial factors for successful integration (Seong, 2011).