Language: barrier or unifier?

East Asia: China, Korea, JapanOne of my favorite parts from the novel is on page 128 when Z is having her birthday party and some friends from her school come. They’re each from a different Asian country; Japan, Korea, and China, and all speak different languages. Z starts to talk about how odd it is that people from these feuding countries can get along. Her friends Yoko and Kim both make very simple, grammatically incorrect statements and Z says “I like that. I like people speak that way. So we understand each other easily.” The fact that they are all in a foreign country trying to learn the same language brings them together, and diminishes any previous allegiance they held with their home countries.

Language first presents Z and the other girls with an obstacle. They are all living in a foreign country where they can barely speak the tongue. Communication becomes muffled and incomprehensible at times, and overwhelmingly frustrating. There is a huge hindrance that they are all trying to climb up, as they become more and more fluent. In this case, language separates them from everyone else in the country. Language is a blockade, and the women are affected negatively by the consequences of not understanding or speaking English. But this is not the only role language plays in their lives.

Each of them may have separate reasons for wanting to learn English, but they all are in the same situation. They understand each others difficulties with adapting to the intimidating situation. Thus, language becomes a means of coalition for all of them. None of them know any of each others native languages, but they are all attempting to achieve the same goal. Language then becomes a tool for unifying them all together. They all understand that even though they may have to keep things on the simplest level as possible, but that they are now able to communicate with each other.