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The Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association offers help in finding jobs and schools.

The UW-Eau Claire Hmong Student Association is a good place for students to connect with their culture and language. 

Preserving culture in America a struggle for Hmong

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After struggling through the humid jungles barefoot during the Vietnam War and crossing the raging Mekong River, from the communist government in Laos, the Hmong people still had a long way to go for freedom in the United States.

While waiting in the Refugee camps for years many Hmong families flew to America with the help of the U.S. government full of hopes and dreams for an easy-going life. Since then, they have adapted to life here, learning new languages and cultures.

Since then, they have adapted to life here, learning new languages and cultures.

But the struggle to preserve the Hmong language and culture for the future generations has been a challenge.

Mary Yang, 20, the president of the Hmong Student Association at UW-Eau Claire, has faced the struggles to keep her language and knowledge of her native culture strong.

“I remember throughout my childhood we used Hmong. That’s my first language, so we used that a lot at home,” she said. “As we grew up—I have two brothers and three sisters—so it’s kind of easier to communicate in English.”  

Yang still tries to use the language around her family and friends, yet she finds it difficult to pronounce it correctly.

“I do have some challenges. I can’t pronounce the words correctly in Hmong. I get made fun of a lot,” she said with a laugh. “Like I know what I want to say, and I do say it, but I don’t say it correctly.” 

Yong Kay Moua is one of the first families to arrive in the Eau Claire, Wisconsin area and is the director of the Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Association.

Moua said he thinks the younger generation might be losing the language for two reasons.

“One is the everyday speaking and talking with friends because the younger generation, they prefer to speak the English with their friends at school, at the park, at the mall. That prevents the kids from using their own language,” he said.

The second factor is kids relating to “fun things” like listening to American music instead of Hmong music, he said.

Moua helps new Hmong families adjust to the American society by helping them find jobs and schools. The Eau Claire area is home to 387 Hmong families, he said. Since 2004, 58 Hmong families moved to the area. 

The responsibility of preserving the Hmong language and culture falls on both the parents and their children, Moua said.

“They should have communication to connect together,” he said. “If they have some community event or family event, the parent has to take their kids along and teach them about their own traditional culture, value and those things.”

Parents should find fun ways to teach their children the Hmong language, he said. He also would like to see Hmong language classes offered in schools where there is a large Hmong population.

To keep the traditions alive, Yang’s organization hosts social events at area schools. Her club also is working with a local radio station to provide Hmong programs.

Kids today are losing some of the culture because of the environment—filled with constantly changing technology— that they’re learning and growing up in, she said.

“You sort of get lost in that,” she said. “You understand your Hmong, and that’s one thing that you will never lose.  … You were born and raised with that tongue and knowing it, so you feel like you’ll never lose it because you understand it so much. But you can’t say it, and that’s the toughest part.”

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