What language barrier?
With all the bluster about immigration, legal and illegal, in Washington these days, and the need to "reform" the process of becoming an American, it's hard to decide which proposal is the worst. But my personal favorite is the idea that immigrants should be required to learn English in order to be allowed to live and work here.
Of all the politically correct orthodoxy we have, the most correct seems to be the idea that you have to be fluent in English to be successful in this country. This is simple ignorance of our country's history.
My grandparents came over from Greece in the early 20th century. My grandfather was literate in Greek, and with some effort, learned to read, write, and speak English fairly well. My grandmother, who had not learned how to read in Greece, never became very fluent in English (and as she got old, she forgot a lot of the English she had once known, as far as I could tell), nor was she able to read very well. But this in no way impeded her ability to become a functioning, productive member of American society. She raised six kids, worked in one capacity or another as needed, and basically lived the American Dream as a first-generation immigrant.
This is typical of the pattern in immigrant families; the first generation speak their native language, while their descendants grow up as English-speaking Americans. So why should the 21st century be any different from the 20th, in this regard? If today's immigrants are fluent in some other language (say, Spanish), why is it such a big deal that they learn English? Past generations of immigrants simply have not found the language barrier a significant problem.
I say the English-for-the-immigrants fatwa is nothing but racism and xenophobia. If Mexicans can come here, work productively as part of our economy, and function perfectly well using Spanish, ¿what's the problem? Why is it any different from the situation with Chinese, Polish, or Greek immigrants of earlier eras?
Urb's Blog
Of all the politically correct orthodoxy we have, the most correct seems to be the idea that you have to be fluent in English to be successful in this country. This is simple ignorance of our country's history.
My grandparents came over from Greece in the early 20th century. My grandfather was literate in Greek, and with some effort, learned to read, write, and speak English fairly well. My grandmother, who had not learned how to read in Greece, never became very fluent in English (and as she got old, she forgot a lot of the English she had once known, as far as I could tell), nor was she able to read very well. But this in no way impeded her ability to become a functioning, productive member of American society. She raised six kids, worked in one capacity or another as needed, and basically lived the American Dream as a first-generation immigrant.
This is typical of the pattern in immigrant families; the first generation speak their native language, while their descendants grow up as English-speaking Americans. So why should the 21st century be any different from the 20th, in this regard? If today's immigrants are fluent in some other language (say, Spanish), why is it such a big deal that they learn English? Past generations of immigrants simply have not found the language barrier a significant problem.
I say the English-for-the-immigrants fatwa is nothing but racism and xenophobia. If Mexicans can come here, work productively as part of our economy, and function perfectly well using Spanish, ¿what's the problem? Why is it any different from the situation with Chinese, Polish, or Greek immigrants of earlier eras?
Urb's Blog
posted by Urbie at 8:22 PM
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