Immigrants

I feel uncomfortable with all the Canadians running loose in our country. I hate how they steal our jobs, clog up our hospitals, add to our ethnic diversity, and refuse to speak our language. Our European ancestors learned the language of the Native Americans, so why can't they speak American English?

We should round them all up and ship them to Toronto where they all belong.

They're not all from Toronto you say? Well, as far as I'm concerned, anything north of New York is Toronto.

Further, only people who speak the language of the land should live here. So anyone who doesn't speak Navajo, Cherokee, or any of the 300 languages indigenous to North America should leave the continent.

In case you haven't noticed, that was satire. My subtle rebuke of the some things my friends say that I strongly disagree with.

Now I'm going to speak seriously:

As a linguist, it rubs me the wrong way when people demand that immigrants speak only English, demanding that immigrants never speak their mother tongue. I appreciate the linguistic (and cultural) diversity that immigrants bring. After all, how hard did our European ancestors work to learn the Native American languages?

Refusing to allow other languages to be spoken is shutting the doors to a world of insight that can help you learn about your own language.

Besides, lots of immigrants are too old to learn a new language (especially the ones that are 50+). I admit, there are a lot of immigrants who don't learn English who could. The lost opportunities for them not knowing English is a punishment in and of itself. The law does not need to make it worse. Besides, an evaluation of linguistic capabilities is subjective and imperfect, and therefore if people were legally punished for not knowing English, how could it be possible to make a fair punishment for not speaking English? It would be especially cruel to people who are simply incapable of learning English, because of disability, age, or other factors.

Using the law to force people to speak English would be an example of the stick instead of the carrot, backfiring by instilling fear and demotivating people to lean English. The economic realities of the opportunities that come from knowing English are a very juicy carrot that millions of immigrants chase after, motivating them to learn it. And millions of them DO learn it.

Now you may be thinking, "Kevin, the government already requires English proficiency in order to pass the citizenship test." And you'd be right.

I actually think that the English proficiency requirement for citizenship is a good thing because it provides a positive incentive to chase after, instead of a punishment to dread.

But there are people who think that's not enough, and that immigrants should be raked over the coals for not knowing English.

I am against punishing people who don't have English proficiency, but I'm in favor providing positive incentives to motivate them to learn English.

I roll my eyes whenever someone says, "If I was to emigrate to another country, I'd be expected to learn the language there." Ok, then. Put your money where your mouth is, and live in a foreign country (Japan, for example) and learn their language. Oh, and make sure to find a large community of people from the US to associate with.  My bet is that many people who claim they would learn the language of the land would give up, either because of laziness, fear, incompetence, or other factors, and would default to English. Many would be diligent, persistent, and competent enough to learn the language. But not all.

Now, say that it was impossible to find a fellow American or anyone who spoke English? Then it's more likely that an American immigrant would learn the language of the land. You find similar phenomena in the US: immigrants whose communities are smaller are more likely to learn English. But if their community is large, it's easy to default to their native language, especially after they get discouraged about their abilities to learn a tough language (come on, Americans, you gotta admit that even you mess up English, so you can't blame foreigners for not always understanding English).

And you people who gripe about immigrants not learning English, how hard have you worked to help such people learn English? You might have more room to talk if you volunteer or work at schools for teaching English as a second language (which I have done; you don't see me complaining). But as long as you're too lazy to help anyone learn English, you have no right to complain about immigrants being too lazy to learn English.This country has always prided itself on being a country of immigrants. It truly has always been a country of immigrants. Let's learn from each other, and be understanding of each other.

I mean, English is derived from a tribal language spoken by the Angles and the Saxons. It could easily have become a rare or extinct language, like other languages in Angle-land. Instead of claiming English to be superior and forcing people to learn it, let's acknowledge that it's equal to other languages, and HELP people who struggle to learn it.

Another thing that people often say about immigrants that I often disagree with is, "They bring crime into our country." There are indeed many immigrants who commit crimes. But does that mean that every group of people that has criminals should be unilaterally blocked from or kicked out of this country? If so, then NO ONE could live here. Every race and ethnicity has criminals.

The key to curbing crime isn't necessarily in keeping people out--although I fully support the government's efforts to kick out and keep out individual immigrants that are PROVEN to be criminals. What exactly is the best way to curb crime in the US is a matter for another debate.

In short, immigrants are people, too. So they deserve to be treated with the golden rule.