SCATTERED PEOPLE STRIVE TO PRESERVE TRADITION
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Oct 5 2005
In many ways, the behavior of Armenians in the Diaspora is most
similar to that of the Jews.
Without the language, you can’t maintain the culture in its
same richness, and you lose the sense of the literature and the
storytelling, said Caroline Allouche, who teaches Hebrew at a Jewish
nursery school in North Hollywood.
“If you go to a public school and learn English and English customs,
you’re going to lose what we teach them in private school: the
holidays, the values of the Jewish culture,” she said. “When you have
a background, you have to keep it. In America, it’s a melting pot,
and with so many different cultures it’s great to show we exist.”
But Koreans, for example, who have one grammar school in Los Angeles,
don’t find their identity in the world threatened.
Charles Kim, who serves on the board of directors of the Korean
Institute of Southern California, which operates the Korean Wilshire
Elementary School and 13 Saturday schools, said losing the language
is to be expected as new generations grow up in America.
Only one of his four children speaks Korean.
“They will become Americans. There’s a high probability my kids
may marry non-Koreans, and a few more generations and they’ll say
I’m one-eighth Korean,” Kim said. “Then I think they will play a
significant role in promoting different cultures. This is a country
where we can showcase all different cultures harmoniously.”