Immigrants want some advice?

Question

This is not intended to be mean, hateful or racist. But to have a better life while living in the US, do everything you can to learn how to speak and write English correctly. Even people born and raised in the US must have good English skills in order to succeed. After 16 years of school in the US (elementary, high school and college), I still have to work at maintaining my English skills. Why, because it is required. You will not succeed or be treated fairly without it. You can say this is unfair and you may be right but that doesn't change reality.

Answer 1

you are right -- i believe it its called enabling

Answer 2

john, this is a reasonable comment, though i'm sure the immigrants already thought of it. there are a few problems with just telling them to go learn english:

1) some schools have bilingual education, but in most places people fight it. with bilingual education, immigrant children could learn english and do well in school at the same time. without it, they struggle with both.

2) illegal immigrants, in particular, tend to live in enclaves and work together, without many english speakers around. that means almost all of their time is spent talking to other native spanish speakers (assuming we're talking about those), so there isn't much opportunity or impetus to learn english.

3) most illegal immigrants are here to work, and work a lot. there isn't a lot of time or money for taking english classes, though certainly many do.

have you ever tried to learn a foreign language? i don't mean french 2 in high school, i mean really learn it and use it with native speakers. i'm not saying they shouldn't be trying to learn, i'm just saying it's not that simple. and certainly not as simple as it was for you to learn english, so please don't make that comparison.

one reason that mexican and central american immigrants of today are different from european immigrants of the past is that they are close to home, in contact with home, and many of them plan to go back home at some point. europeans had more reason to assimilate quickly because they didn't have such an easy connection to their homeland, and when they got here they planned to stay. and actually, there are many european and asian communities in the US where people haven't assimilated and don't speak english.

Answer 3

John G, you are precisely correct. What you said isn’t racist in any sense of the word. What you stated should be common sense, however political correctness, unfortunately, has supplanted common sense. I guarantee that much of the anti- illegal immigrant sentiment directed towards Mexican nationals would be abated if they just learned to speak the English language. They don’t even have to speak it fluently, they only need to be able grasp and articulate the language at a 4th to 6th grade level to be productive citizens.

The fundamental reason immigrants of yesteryear are different than immigrants today is that immigrants of the past assimilated to America and its language, while immigrants today, especially those of Mexican heritage, expect us to learn their language. If you want respect in America don’t try to change America to comport with your culture, allow America to change you so that you become a part of her culture.

Answer 4

Its not unfair to learn english when you live in america! Germans learn it for the heck of it and if i moved to another country i would learn the language there. Its just respect.

Answer 5

The ones who do speak English as well as become educated will have a far better future then those who don't.

Answer 6

Good job. We admire LEGAL immigrants who try to learn English. Much luck.

Answer 7

Sorry I've let mine slide...may be the beer!

Answer 8

I agree with Smack!!

Answer 9

AMEN!

Answer 10

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!