Southeast Asian Community Blog

Hais lus Hmoob mas~ ua cas tsis hais! Tsk tsk~

txawm tias zoo nkauj npaum cas, ntse li lawv haiv neeg, muaj hwjchim, nto moo, nrov npe, muaj nyiab, paub thiab tsis paub hais lus hmoob, los koj tsis muaj peevxwb los pab cov hmoob muaj kev sib raug zoo…hmoob tsis hlub hmoob, yuav tsis muaj leegtwb hlub hmoob.

I was browsing through Tumblr, Facebook, and Youtube…seeing friends, family, strangers, singers, Hmong meska actors and actresses, models, artist, blah blah and blah~ the lists goes on and on…every one yog hmong, muaj talent, muaj great potential…yet when they start to speak, it’s english, I’m like…”Oh..ua cas nws twb yog hmoob, tabsi nws tsis hais lus hmoob li, es hais lus meska xwb.” Even if the majority of the viewers might speak english, I think it is a great idea to speak hmong even if you should suck at it. I understand we live and breathe in a multicultural environment, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pop in some hmong, at least mix it with english from time to time, if you don’t know the word in hmong. LOL~ I’m not the best with my hmong, but I speak it to show my culture’s existence. I want it to survive among the million sea of voices that tries to drown us daily. I don’t care what you like, what you do, what you have, but at least speak the language that your mother and father gave you.

I’m sure we’ve all been told from out parents and OG’s that we should speak english when we go to school, but when we come back home, we should speak hmong. It seems like the reasonable thing to do, they are right~ No matter how much you have created and transformed yourself for the world to see, your identity is hidden when you diminish the words and voices of your ancestors. It is a curse that we bring to our culture and to our future generations. How can we preserve our culture when we know so little. Or maybe we know, but we are afraid to show it~ Other cultures flourish because they are true to themselves, they grow as one even if the world changes. But I see that Hmong people grow, but they break away from their roots. And no matter how much you try to bind it back together, glue it together, there is always a crack in the system. Fashion, taste, color, and the world might change, but I just hope that our culture won’t change to the point of no existence.