Speech #1

I am the only person in my family whose first language was English. Everyone else grew up primarily speaking a dialect of German. They attended schools taught in the formal type of German called “High German” and their church conducted services only in High German as well. Outside of our small community, however, English was predominant, and so my family had to adapt, especially when we immigrated to the United States. It has been found that non-English-speaking immigrants who refuse to learn English cheat themselves of many opportunities for success.
First of all, many immigrants stubbornly refuse to learn English for fear of becoming too integrated in society and losing their cultural distinctiveness. While all multi-cultural ventures result in a small amount of adaptation and syncretism, it is possible to actively maintain the distinctive cultural aspects simply by continuing to speak the native language in the home and by observing family traditions. It is purely a matter of willingness to put forth the effort of learning English and still preserve ethnic roots. Believe me, the effort is far outweighed by the benefits.
Some immigrants claim that learning English is too hard, especially on their own. I agree, learning English solo is not an easy task. However, this excuse still doesn’t hold water. There are literally millions of opportunities for immigrants to learn English at little or no cost whatsoever. In a simple Google search for “learning English free,” there were 240 million results. I sorted through a large amount and refined my search further to “learning English free, U.S. Government programs.” I got another 38 million results. I came across “welcometousa.gov,” the official government website for new immigrants, offers links to opportunities for immigrants to learn English, both online and in free classes- both for adults and children, while “free.ed.gov” is another government site that has many resources available for learning at no cost, including actual classroom setting-classes for adults as well as many online learning opportunities. Yet another resource for online learning is “eslinusa.com”.
There are many benefits to learning the English language that can change the life of countless immigrants, should they choose to take the opportunity. Very important is the opportunity to become a U.S. Citizen. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, the ability to “read, speak, write and understand English” is necessary for naturalization. Many argue that because the United States doesn’t have a declared official language, they should not be required to learn English. According to strictlyspanish.com, however, twenty-seven states HAVE declared English to be their official language. Simply refusing to adapt to the status quo and thus keeping yourself out of a decent-paying job and barring the door to further education is not worth “making a point” or “having pride in your home country.” What it DOES do is keep considerable intellect and skills out of the marketplace and puts all immigrants under unnecessary negative stereotyping and keep the standard of living in the United States from staying the best in the world. The U.S. is a land of immigrants, yes, and there are hundreds of languages spoken here, but a “trade language” is necessary in order to keep the country functioning as it was intended from its formation, which was by immigrants.
Another issue of importance is the opportunity for further education, like a technical or college degree. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, on average over 30% of people born outside of the US, aged 25 or older, that have immigrated here have less than a high school education whether they’ve been here less than 10 years or more than 20. This totals almost 22 and a half million people, and that was just back in 2001. Of that almost 22 million, over 40% are not citizens, and 1 in 5 have less than a 5th grade education. This lack of education restricts the kinds of jobs that immigrants can have, since entry-level jobs are for low pay and very few benefits, as opposed to the higher paying jobs that usually include full benefits that are available to those with college degrees.
The U.S. Census Bureau research also shows that, among immigrant men, the unemployment rate was about equal to native men, because they fill the service, fabrication, operation, and manual labor positions. For immigrant women, however, there is a 20% difference between the labor force participation rates with those who are naturalized citizens. Almost 80% of citizens participate in the work force as opposed to just over half of those with less than 10 years of residence and no citizenship. Across the board, immigrants that have become citizens have similar occupational opportunities to natives. The differential across the pay-scale for citizens and non-citizens is drastic as well. The large majority of non-citizen immigrants, both men and women, make around $20,000 a year, while citizens average between $30 and 40 thousand and the very large majority make more than $25,000.
By no means does this mean that only English is useful in the American workforce. Indeed, speaking two or more languages well is almost a guarantee of higher pay. My sister applied for a job and, because she speaks German as well as English, got her starting pay rate raised by several dollars which, in the present economy, is a HUGE help. Being multi-lingual can actually get a naturalized immigrant chosen for employment over a native who speaks only English.
While the English language is not an easy one to learn, since it is a “trade language” made up of a bunch of different languages that have been syncretized and consequently butchered into complete irrationality, learning it is, as I have shown, an immensely important thing for immigrants if they want to have a higher standard of living with plenty of diverse opportunities for their various skills and talents, and there are plenty of resources available to assist those willing to learn.