When foreigners first come to the US, there are many difficulties for them as they adapt to American Society. Finding a place to live and looking for a job that meets their schedule demands are a couple, but one of the hardest is finding a way to communicate with others.
This difficulty is very common, and it’s more present in the US because of the amount of foreigners who come here looking for better opportunities.
It is estimated that 21.6% of the population in the United States struggle to speak English well, and more than half don’t speak English at all, not even a few words. This make everything hard for them because most of the jobs require at least simple English skills.
2012 American Community Survey)
So it’s really hard for them to engage with the community or know important information, but because of this difficulty they’re not aware of it. Some may think, “Well, they just need to learn English and they’ll be fine.” and while that’s true in a certain way, it’s not as simple as just learning English. Adults have to work and that does not allow them the time to study. So, to generalize and say to learn it is not so simple.
We should be more understanding about their situation. Many people think that foreigners just leave their country because they weren’t making tons of dollars and come to the United States to get rich. In fact, many immigrants are escaping from their country to seek more opportunities, opportunities that they don’t have in their country, like good education and medical care.
Imagine coming to America to educate yourself but you can’t even engage with others because you don’t speak English. It is truly exasperating because then some people may think that you are rude or you don’t like to talk with anyone, and you want to speak to them but you can’t because of that barrier.
A solution I propose for this kind of problem is the integration of more Foreign Language Interpreters in every public service or spaces, and encouraging different communities to engage with public events like festivals, and in these events promote the idea of learning English with free or low cost English classes. The lack of classes makes it very hard to help them learn English.
On the other hand, we can use this as a counter argument, if we put an Interpreter in any public space it will make people think “Oh, if there’s an interpreter in any place, why should I learn English?” and it will make it difficult to know the importance of learning English in a country where the first language is English. Every person who comes to the U.S. should be able to learn English using different programs and events in accessible times such as after school or regular job hours.
Sharing the same language would be a great advantage for everyone. People will be able to communicate and meet new people everyday, also with this, and it will increase the job opportunities for everyone. This would make America better and more inclusive for everyone.
