When foreigners emigrate from their home country to America, is it unreasonable for some people to expect them to already be able to speak English upon their arrival here?

Yes, because The United States of America has never established an official language, and if current population levels continue as they are currently, it’s likely going to become Spanish.

@Bluefreedom, How did you know this was setting up one of my favorite topics in history, The Spanish Conspiracy? Following the Revolutionary War, the “western frontier” that bordered on the Ohio River had difficulty getting goods to market in the east, and as a result were in dire straits for specie with which to pay their bills. With the absence of a central bank, currency was short, and it was difficult to get manufactured goods to the frontier in a timely manner. The Mississippi River was controlled by Spain, and it was difficult to get a passport to ship goods down river to New Orleans. The plight of the frontier states fell on deaf ears in the legislatures of the original states, and as a result, the frontier began to entertain the notion of leaving the country and becoming part of Spain. This is in part what Aaron Burr was trying to affect, and it was a relatively popular position in KY, TN, OH, IN, and IL territories. So if things had worked out a little differently, we would be speaking Spanish…

My family is on its third country in three generations. All of my grandparents immigrated from Europe to Canada in the 1920s – 30s. My father’s parents came from Romania and spoke German, my mother’s parents came from Poland and the Ukraine. None of them spoke English before they came; all of them were fluent within a year after arrival. They were not educated people; my grandfather on my dad’s side was a stone mason, on my mom’s side, my grandmother worked food service and cleaned houses, my grandfather worked for a meat packer, in the yards, until retirement.

Some of them emigrate under duress, leaving an emergency in their original country. I feel for these people – not only is it a huge traumatic time, but they may not have had the wherewithal to learn a new language, or even that they would be needing to in the near future.

That said, I think it is wise for anyone going to visit a different country – especially if they plan on living there – to learn enough of the local language to be able to get around. It’s only common sense. I don’t think it should be a law, but it is a good idea on their part.

More pragmatically it’s to everyone’s benefit to help new immigrants acclimate to the country. If they lack the language skills they are less productive, from getting a decent job (otherwise falling onto social assistance) to making my sushi order take 3x as long as it has to because I can never understand what they’re saying. (I’m not trying to be mean, it’s actually the case).

Helping immigrants helps them become productive which helps the economy which ends up helping you by reducing the amount of aid the state must provide to them.

Also even in the best of circumstances it’s terribly difficult for an adult to learn a new language, especially outside the area of practical use.

I think it’s unreasonable to expect them to speak English on arrival, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect them to learn a workable amount, and quickly.

I’m not sure I understand the statement because it seems a little vague to me. By ‘quickly’ would you mean a few weeks? Few months? A year? And workable amount means to be able to buy things and order from a restaurant? Or actually work at some sort of job?

I’m not trying to be difficult – just that to me I don’t really know your position from your answer…

Within a few months, I’d like to see the level you’d need to visit a foreign country and find a bathroom, order a meal, etc. In a year (maybe more, I don’t really know if that’s a long enough time) a level that allows a child to participate fairly well in school, and an adult to get a half decent job. I’m not even saying it should be a legal requirement, just that it would make all our lives easier, the immigrants and English speakers alike.

So volunteer at the local literacy center. I will too.

Great idea! I think that could have a real impact on people’s lives : )

I wholeheartedly agree that everyone’s lives would be easier if new immigrants to North America learn English but I think my problem with the question is that it seems to infer that the immigrants aren’t making an effort to do so.

Imagine if you just moved to some random country with weird language and customs and you have to create a new life. Wouldn’t you want to adapt and fit in as much as possible? Yes, citizens of Randomland are no doubt inconvenienced by your language barrier but I would see the greatest burden being on the newcomer, not the state.

There’s a fairly well-established consensus with language acquisition experts that once you’re past a certain period in life the ability to learn a language becomes significantly more difficult. So for many it’s not for lack of trying that they have language difficulties.

Since so many of us agree that knowing at least enough of the local language to get around would be a great idea when you move somewhere…

…how many of you would attempt to learn some Spanish if you were to move to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or SoCal?

I did learn Spanish, when I moved to Ecuador. :P

I think they should learn English, but only if you promise to learn their language should you go to their country.

I don’t think everyone understands the complexity of the immigrant’s situation. It often isn’t as easy as “Just learn the language”. People immigrate for all sorts of reasons, and end up in situations they may not have foreseen. I have never judged someone for their inability to speak english.

Lets take my grandmother as an example. She and her family moved here to america. Her children went of to school, or work as soon as they got here. My grandmother stayed home to take care of the house. She was an integral part of my family’s success in america and had she not chosen to take on that responsibility, her children would not have been able to go on to become what they became. Sure there could have been other options, things could have been different, but this is the situation she found herself in.

Her children have started families of their own, her husband has died, and she is not needed as she was before. She had little contact with the world outside her home, the people she did come in contact with spoke portuguese so it was never an issue. And now, she regrets having never learned english, and is ashamed for not having been able to find the time to learn. She now has 5 grand children, only one of which understands her stories and can have a conversation with her over a heated game of sueca.

She beats herself up enough for not having learned the language of a country that was so good to her. She doesn’t need any help. Just remember next time you are having trouble giving your sushi order to someone, they don’t know you, and you don’t know them. You would all be better off making an effort to communicate, rather than judge them for their broken english. And for the love of god, it’s a sushi order. Would it be so hard for you to learn “ebi maki o kudasai”.

@Noon, superb answer and I’m sorry if my ‘can’t order sushi joke’ was in poor taste – I am a first-generation immigrant with immediate family that are not native-speakers of English. My answers were in fact in agreement with your the points you made.

When I spoke of immigrants lacking language skills in their new home falling onto social assistance or having difficulty in everyday transactions, I was making the point that helping immigrants helps everyone as a whole, not that their lack of language skills (or consequences therein) was unjustified.

I think it is ridiculous to expect them to know English upon arrival. Also, if they are older (60 and up maybe) and have come here basically because their children are here, I am fine if they never learn the language well, but they are hurting themselves, because they are more dependent in that situation, unless the area they live is heavily populated with people who speak the same language.

What I am not forgiving about is the children. They should be learning and using English in school. I think this is exactly what happens for the most part. Speaking English well is the only way to have every opportunity possible in their careers, in fact, in some ways they are ahead of the 3rd, 4th, 5th generation Americans who only speak English and barely speak another language.

I don’t think it is reasonable to expect an immigrant to know the language of their new country upon arrival. I do expect that if a citizenship test is offered to them in time, that it be taken in the lingua franca of that nation. In the United States, we no longer require that, which I think is a big mistake. Although we don’t have an “official” language, English is the common language of government and media here, so it may as well be the official primary language.

The problem we’ve had making English an official language is that usually such measures seek to penalize those who speak other languages to help those who don’t know English or to discontinue offer alternative language documents that serve major immigrant populations.

Merely to stipulate that it is the primary common language would only be taking note of the obvious. I definitely encourage anyone to learn other languages if they are able.

In southern California, it was not mandatory to learn Spanish, but it sure helps. I primarily learned it informally from friends and bilingual signs and then a bit in college. I had to study French in high school just to be different!

In Sweden, the government helps support the new immigrant and they basically get paid to learn Swedish in government provided classes. This I learned from someone who has immigrated to several countries in their lifetime.

I think that all first world countries should do something similar to help people assimilate faster and more effectively.

@Meribast I thought you have to take the citizenship test in English, unless you are over a certain age? I actually agree with that policy, but maybe that is not actually the requirement? I do know that for a drivers license you can take that test in other languages in many states no matter what your age.

It depends. Young professionals & people who emigrate for the sake of education or their careers…if they don’t already know English, they are very committed to improving it. They probably have to learn English pretty quickly, too, if they’re going to be successful. I think it’s reasonable to expect some prior knowledge of English and a concentrated effort to improve.

However, there are many grandparents who emigrate to stay with their kids or take care of their grandchildren, and I would say they’re probably a little to old to pick up a new language on the fly.

I think that our society should encourage immigrants to learn English, though, something along the Swedish policy Meribast mentioned. If people are planning on living in the US for a while, it helps to understand the culture and the language.

My sixty-something grandmother made a huge effort to learn English, and I think she got a lot of fun out of it (meeting other elderly immigrants at her English class). Not knowing the language definitely isolates you, if you’re in an area where there aren’t a lot of Chinese/Portuguese/whatever people, and it’s harder to be independent when you can’t carry out basic business transactions (grocery shopping, etc.) in the local language.

It’s better for them if they already know some of the native language; getting along in life without the knowledge, or at the very least a translator, makes things… difficult. Once they’re in the country, they ought to make a serious effort to learn the language.

I think it would be something they’d feel pressured / motivated to achieve, if, for no other reason, so that they can communicate. I don’t know that “expecting” them to do so would do much of anything. I mean, if they go to the store and it takes forever to convey to the clerk what they want, well that’s a natural consequence of not speaking the language. And the foreigner would have to deal with it day after day. I think the frustration is all that’s need to encourage them to use English.

Well, some don’t. I have two neighbors from Finland. Many of you are thinking, “They’re Finnish (or Swedish, Norwegian, German or Danish) ? Wow, they’re so intelligent! They must know English at a professional level! Can I hear your British accent?” But this is all wrong in the case that my neighbors don’t actually know English, but they are getting good at French. I don’t know if it’s okay to speak French where we live, in California.