resource, dialogue, & projects wiki for the "Engaged Media Workshop" @ REMAP-TFT-UCLA
a module of Remapping-LA

From En_gag_e

[edit] LANGUAGE DIVERSITY IN LOS ANGELES

The language diversity in Los Angeles is part of the city's urban landscape. Driving through LA, one can experience the layers of cultural diversity that are built within the identity of the city. Signs, voices, faces that denote the linguistic richness of this place.

I guess, more than languages in the city, what interests me is how the different linguistic/cultural groups mark and identify their territory in the city's landscape. Driving through Korea Town is a very different visual experience than driving up Alvarado, not only because faces and building types change, but also because the signs change. Different language but also different colours and shapes in which these languages are displayed.

After walking and driving around different neighbourhoods in LA, I have become increasingly curious: how many visual marks does each community leave in the urban landscape? How much dialogue is there between the different languages? and between the cultures that are behind the languages? Has the look of each neighbourhood evolved following the changes in the communities that inhabit it? Is there any trace of the linguistic/cultural past of these areas?

The linguistic landscape of my own city, Barcelona, has been changing in the past years with the arrival of new cultural communities. As a child, Spanish and Catalan were the only two languages on display that I remember. They were not always seen at the same time, especially in some neighbourhoods where migration from only-Spanish areas in Spain was common. But the institutional signs have always been mostly in Catalan, whereas some of the private signs (small shops, hand-made ads...) have been left in Spanish. I remember some of the linguistic-political battle that was displayed through these signs, when some of the more radical defendors of either languages sprayed these signs with the words such as "en Català!" (in Catalan). But there was a certain balance and both languages were equally represented in the landscape. Today, Barcelona has growing immigrant communities coming from China, different countries in Latin America, Pakistan and Morocco. If you walk through the city you can easily feel their presence in the façades of the buildings, in the colours of the signs in the stores, in the private owned elements of the urban landscape.

Having studied a translation degree, I guess I am fascinated by the mixture of languages and their interactions in the urban landscape. By the fact that we walk through places that belong to our city without understanding what is written around us whithout feeling threatened.

[edit] LANGUAGE VITALITY

[edit] MAPS & STATISTICS

List of Languages and Linguistic groups in Los Angeles [[1]]

Animated Demographic Maps of Los Angeles County 1940-2000 [[2]]

Map of Individual Communities within the city of Los Angeles [[3]]

Percentage of language spoken at home & ability to speak English in Los Angeles [[4]]

Language spoken at Home by Individual communities in Los Angeles [[5]]

Place of Birth Statistics within the LA area [[6]]

Year of entry to the US of LA area immigrants [[7]]

Racial/Ethnic composition of Cities by percentages in the LA area [[8]]

Racial/Ethnic composition of Cities by numbers in the LA area [[9]]

[edit] RELATED ARTICLES

Linguistic Integration among immigrants in the LA area [[10]] [[11]]

Iranian communities in Los Angeles (related to food/restaurants) [[12]]

Spanish in the US (en español) [[13]]

Forgotten Voices and Songs of Old Los Angeles [[14]]

Economic growth within the Asian Communities in Los Angeles [[15]]

Immigration in Los Angeles [[16]]

Latino Los Angeles" [[17]]

American justice in a Foreign Language [[18]]

Social network analysis of historical communities (extensive list of related bibliography) [[19]]