Should Immigrants Be Made To Learn English If They're Living In The USA?

by minimus 68 Replies latest jw friends

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  Quandry

  Not forced, but encouraged. I don't agree with bi-lingual schools even though I work in one.

  I think all consideration and patience should be given to any child that speaks a language other than English, but instruction should be given in English.

  I have worked with children from Vietnam, Japan, Jordan, Norway, Iran, and France. Within one year of being in this country, with all English instruction, they began mastering the language-with help given for awhile.

  It is tremendously expensive to find and hire bilingual teachers-have staff that can translate-have two sets of books-one for the morning in Spanish, the other for the afternoon in English. Not to mention the library books in Spanish, etc. No wonder teachers are being laid off by the droves and school districts are operating in the red!

  Add to this that they need to be fully schooled in mastering the English language in order to get a job in the future.

  I am all for preserving your heritage-with your family-not paid for by the United States of America.
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  ESTEE

  I used to think that many people come to Vancouver without intending to learn English. Often they don't have to learn the language, if they were sponsored by family members who speak something foreign to Canadians. There are pockets of foreigners (within foreign communities here) who stick together and never learn the language. Business signs are all in Chinese or Korean --- no bilingualism here. French signs? Forget it.

  We have a house full of immigrants next door. The house is broken up into five suites in our residential neighbourhood... illegal suites of about 400 sq ft. These people know very little about recycling, collecting and storing garbage for garbage pick-up, etc. Mr ESTEE was explaining to them and showing them what to do with the city-provided containers: one for garbage, one for yard waste, one for newspapers, one for recycling containers, etc... They are learning---and they seem to want to learn how to fit in. They are being educated to learn English, and they are clearly happy to learn the English language. Mr ESTEE is very patient, talks slow, so they can comprehend in their limited English.

  Interestingly, I was on the bus the other day, when I was approached by a Taiwanese couple who wanted to know a word in English. "What is this word and what does it mean?" they asked me, pointing on a piece of paper. I explained it to them --- it was the word "esthetic" --- and I learned that they were enrolled in a community program to not only learn English, but also they were encouraged to dialogue about an even better world with other foreigners in a classroom setting. You know how they come here thinking this is paradise...? Well, they are encouraged to stretch their minds way beyond the world they came from and even beyond the world they now know as Vancouver.

  This was encouraging to me, as I wondered this very same thing that you asked: Should immigrants be made to learn English? I say, encouraged, yes. And I know there are programs they can get involved with to help them with this. It must be challenging, moving to a foreign country and not even know the language. I know, this is Canada, not the US, but here is my 2 cents anyway.

  ESTEE
• 

  cameo-d

  Not "made" but given the opportunity and give them free will. Maybe a crash 6 weeks course to get the basics. Maybe a monetary incentive to go to class so they don't feel pressured to have to be working those hours to support family. Make it easy and available to them to take a crash course and continuations if they want to.

  In the meantime, maybe English speaking people could try to be more helpful instead of just being rude to them.

  And wouldn't it be great if we had a universal language that everyone could understand. Sign language is international even though it does have it's own "collaquialisms".
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  free2beme

  America is one of the few countries that does not teach and require a two language of study in their children. So as much as people say, 'yes they should.' In many cases, thanks to the country they no doubt came from. They already learned how to speak English. Ever try to learn two, and become truly good at it? It is hard, isn't it? Yet we make fun of all these Mexicans who have no college education, or seem uneducated and yet they often speak two languages. Not as dumb as people want to think they are, are they?
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  WTWizard

  If a person plans to permanently live in the country, they should learn the official language of that country. That is because it is confusing if everyone speaks their own language, and I do not like having labels wasting space putting everything in English and Spanish. And this goes for people moving to countries where French is spoken: For instance, on a school trip to Montreal, everything was in French and I accepted that any English material was a privilege solely for tourists' benefits (it was a French club trip, so we had to practice speaking French on that trip).

  The exception is if you already have different languages. South Africa, for instance, has something like 10 different official languages because there is a mixture of native and European cultures already there. People there are as likely to speak Zulu as English, because that culture is one of the many that is there. You have this issue in parts of Quebec, where French and English are about equal. You have this issue in places where Spanish culture mixes with Indian culture in South America. You have this issue in Hawaii, where native Hawaiian and English languages co-exist. Parts of Asia also have mixtures of different Asian cultures and languages.

  However, I do not like seeing Hispanic people that intend to permanently live in an English country demanding everything in Spanish, unless they are there as tourists or in sections of the country where Hispanics were once dominant (as in Florida and parts of Texas). And it helps them to learn the official language, both for themselves and any family--children of Hispanics that speak English learn better in school than those that speak Spanish.
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  White Dove

  Each country and Island has its own sign language and dialects. I would not easily understand southern black sign language, either.

  Now, about being made to learn English if you are going to live in an English speaking country: No, but strongly encouraged and classes made available.

  English is not the legal language of the U.S. because the U.S. doesn't have one.

  If it was the legal language, then I could see the upheaval about people not speaking it more.

  I love different languages and find English (my first language) boring. Been there; done that. I like variety.

  My workmates are mostly from Mexico and are helping me learn Spanish, as it looks good on a resume' and is fun to speak.

  Whether they are trying to learn English better is absolutely none of my bizz.
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  Lady Viola

  Does this mean that Americans are going to learn English as well?
• 

  Dark Side

  Does this mean that Americans are going to learn English as well?

  Never. The Brits don't know when to use the letter Z, and use the letter U far too often.

  It's creepy
• 

  Dark Side
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  Pistoff

  I am a liberal, but I believe that English should be the official language, and that immigrants, be they european, mexican or african, whatever, should learn the language.