North American ideologies and tendencies had a very significant influence on the daily life of the population, thus causing the devaluation of national identity. The North American predisposition was the main cause of these changes, such as the way the Costa Rican speaks and their clothing.
Transculturation is a gradual process by which one culture adopts features of another until culminating in acculturation
Acculturation refers to the result of a process in which a person or a group of them acquire a new culture, generally at the expense of their own culture and involuntarily.
The high literacy rate in Costa Rica, together with some media such as television and radio, caused much of the population to read foreign articles as well as observe what were the trends in the United States and the world in general, this It caused the Costa Rican to lean towards a life very different from the one he was already used to. Another factor that fostered interest in North American culture was all the young Costa Ricans who traveled or went to the United States, and returned to Costa Rica with the ideas of a developed country.
One of the main evidences of transculturation can be observed in the way Costa Ricans speak, mainly young people. Currently, a
combination of words from English and Spanish, which are widely used in daily conversations of all social classes. Some of the most popular expressions and words are: “sandwich”, “beer”, “que cool”, “pancakes”, “folder”, “pilot” among many others. In the same way, the typical “pumps” of the Costa Rican towns have become less popular and known, since the new generations are not used to hearing them or do not even know what they mean.
On the other hand, the general dress code of Costa Ricans was increasingly assimilated to that of North Americans and Europeans. People tried to follow the trends of foreign countries and little by little, the typical costume began to be used for some celebrations and special events. It is interesting to observe how today young Costa Ricans feel ashamed to wear the typical costume of their country, unlike the other Central American countries which did not undergo such rapid and evident transculturation.
For some years now, it has been possible to change the customs that were often used in our towns at the national level. Little by little, Costa Rican society has been forced to evolve in order to survive in the global arena. This evolution can be seen as transculturation, since for reasons of power, technology has been emerging, which is the goal of developed countries or powers, as they seek to be the most powerful but, with respect to Costa Rica, we are going backwards, Well, instead of trying to get ahead with what is ours, we are rather leaving it forgotten by simply getting a little of those powers, making us technologies that for them is already practically obsolete.
While the Ticos strive to buy video games, appliances and any number of state-of-the-art devices that appear on the market, we lose out on doing so many things with our children, family, friends that although they seem simple and simple, they represent practices of our own. Our culture, just as it is eating ice cream with a person or with a group in a park during a summer afternoon, now that changed by being aware of chat on the different social networks, where relationships are not put into practice interpersonal, nor sports for good health. Everything has been lost due to transculturation.
It is very difficult to save all the tangible and intangible elements of a country, if families do not make an effort to keep the essence of Costa Rica alive, and decide to choose to acquire the culture of a nation completely different from their own.
Unfortunately, we are not instilling those values that emphasized Costa Rica in the children of today, so it is a small way of making us think that if our country is like this today, and our children represent the future, how will it be? today in 20 years? The past of our country will still be taken into account or we will all be part of all that transculturation makes us leave behind to forget and give way to new imported ideas
“Transculturation is a phenomenon that undermines the foundations of the idiosyncrasy of peoples, modifies lifestyles, transforms good customs and traditions that represent a country. Let us be responsible and out of love for our country, let us not allow these transformations to cause the total disappearance of everything that identifies us ”.
