Immigration Obstacles

For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author

Globally, the United States has been known as "a nation of immigrants" almost from its inception. Beginning in the 1600s with English Puritans and continuing today, America is a melting pot of culture and ethnicity. In fact, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigration was the major source of U.S. population growth. Looking over our 200+ years we find that to clearly be true, with approximately 1 million immigrants coming to America during the 17th and 18th century. Almost 3 million arrived during the 1860s, and another 3 million in the 1870s. In the next four decades, the number of immigrants rose to over 25 million people, most from various European nations, most arriving in New York or one of the Eastern seaports (Damon, 1981). Despite the politicization, as of 2006, the United States actually was the number one country globally to accept legal immigrants into the country, with a current immigrant population of almost 40 million (Terrazas and Batalova, 2009). In fact, the peak of immigration was 1907, when over 1.2 million Europeans entered the country beginning a push towards legislation limiting immigration in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1924 and the 1921 Congressional Quota Act. These immigrants came for two sociological reasons: the push factor (wars, famine, persecution and overpopulation) and the pull factors (jobs and the promise of freedom). Most came by ship, and a passage often cost the equivalent of an entire life's savings causing many

This situation is relative to real life instances of immigration, as those moving to America with the hopes of improving their own lives and the lives of their family members are, in some cases, unfamiliar with the English language. Therefore, they must somehow learn the ways of the new people surrounding them in order to be accepted in this environment and also be able to communicate with others so they can attempt to obtain jobs to support themselves and family. Understanding the same language clearly plays an important role in assimilating to new surroundings.

Language is much more than a method of communication. Permeated within it are traditions, customs, and legacies of one’s culture. The identity of an entire population is in the distinct vocalizations of their native language. Unfortunately, as a wave of immigrants enters the United States at young ages, many face language barriers that pose significant challenges. Language barriers affect a multitude of immigrant populations to different degrees. This, in turn, causes many of them to abandon not only their native tongue but a piece of their ethnic identity, as well. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s personal narrative,“The Language of Silence,” she describes the difficulties she experienced throughout her childhood with a language barrier as a

Navigating between cultures requires a person to blend in. Blending in is an access to get more opportunities and brighter careers. Munoz described his stepfather’s experience with the Anglicization of his name. Though unwilling to change his name from Antonio to Tony,

Children tend to have an easier time assimilating than their older counterparts; children are quickly “Americanized,” which can clash with expectations from their own culture. For example, an “Americanized” child may become embarrassed of wearing ethnic clothing once adapting to the designer clothing environment of American youth. Children also learn English at a faster pace than their parents, which taints the parent-child dynamic. Children with disrupted or minimal school education are suddenly thrown in a new educational environment. Various immigrant children struggle to keep up in class, due to different academic standards across different countries. A kid with a poor education may be overwhelmed with an American education, which has a reputation of being top-notched. Those who are unable to speak English, find it impossible to keep up with their peers, parents also may not have the education or language skills to assist their children. When my sister Mavis came to America from Ghana, she was in the 4th grade, she ended up having to repeat 4th grade because she knew almost no English and could only speak

Imagining journeying across the globe to better your life, this concept sounds familiar to many immigrant Americans. They all come across the globe to improve the lives of their families and themselves. Many people who move across the world are foreign to the language and culture. In many instances, their children are representing them. The children elaborate what the parents cannot. In Mother Tongue by Amy Tang, she writes the struggles her mother had been through while living in America. While she knew the language, her accent made speaking difficult to understand. Many people wrote her off without even attempting to understand her needs. When you’re an immigrant it is heartbreaking, seeing your parents struggle with the language while you

As we all know, Canada is an immigrant country. This beautify country attract more and more people who are longing for good future. In 2011, the population of foreign-born in Canada is about 6.7 million. No matter where we are from and what background we have, from the moment we land in Canada as immigrants, there are some problems we need to face to. The commonest three problems are learning a new language, adjusting to a new life-style, and finding a suitable job.

Arriving at a foreign country at the age of eleven years old was and exiting and yet intimidating experience. High buildings, wide roads, newer and nicer cars on the streets were some of the first things I noticed when I arrived to the city of Los Angeles CA. Living in a country where you were not born in could be difficult some times. Although Spanish is spoken at a grand scale in CA, it was difficult to communicate with and understand the teachers from my classes at the elementary level since all they spoke was English. Los Angeles is a city of great diversity, therefore it is believed to be the perfect place for any person arriving from another country to not feel like a foreign, such believe

The mediocre speakers are tasked with translation between their family and the rest of the world. They learn about handling adult responsibilities and protecting their families from the world's criticism before they even finish elementary school. These children learn that there is an unspoken dynamic of us and them, with their families being the underdogs. The world is pushing them to adapt to this new society. Their surroundings preach conformity to this new nation. All the while they try to maintain connection with their past world and rich culture. They endure torment from ignorant peers, are labeled terrible names, and constantly face underestimation from those who view non-native speakers as incompetent. This kind of environment feeds their insecurity and requires repeated effort to disprove the assumptions of others, but where most would give up their efforts, immigrant children persevere. They learn to use their environment to their advantage. For them, the media is now an interesting way to pick up on the language and slang the other kids use. With these newfound words and knowledge the children have more confidence to approach new people and attempt to make

Growing up the child of an immigrant has given me a unique perspective on life that a majority of kids my age will never have. In my home, I am surrounded by the Ethiopian culture and language, but when I step across the threshold, I am greeted by a culture foreign to my own. I was challenged with learning two more languages than most kids, Amharic and Tigrinya, which classified me as a student who needed ESL (English Second Language) classes. My mom always said, “Ewedeshalo yenekonjo”, meaning I love you, my beautiful. I was immersed in two different communities, and had the impression of living in two different countries. I was faced with the difficulty of not knowing where I fit in since I am one of a few kids who have this reality. Balancing

Unconsciously, we all speak different languages; we categorize the way we speak by the environment and people at which we are speaking too. Whenever a character enters an unfamiliar environment, they experiment with language to find themselves and understand reality. For immigrants, language is a means to retain one’s identity; however, as they become more assimilated in their new communities their language no longer reflects that of their identity but of their new cultural surroundings. When an immigrant, immigrates to a new country they become marginalized, they’re alienated from common cultural practices, social ritual, and scripted behavior. It’s not without intercultural communication and negotiation

First and foremost, new immigrants encounter copious issues to fit in the new society. The major concern among these problems is the language barrier. The excerpt from ‘Newcomer’ written by Mehri Yalfani 's highlights the challenges that Susan, an immigrant from Iran, faced throughout her course of understanding and speaking English. According to the story, both the hesitation to be fluent in an alien

Many second generation minorities from immigrant parents are driven subconsciously to conform to new culture and social norms. For foreign born parents and native born children integrating the two cultures they inhabit brings about different obstacles and experiences. In Jhumpa’s “The Namesake” the protagonist Gogol is a native born American with foreign born parents. The difference with birth location plays an important role in assimilating to a new society in a new geography. The difficulty for parents is the fact that they’ve spent a decent amount of time accustomed to a new geography, language, culture and society which makes it difficult to feel comfortable when all of that changes. For Gogol the difficulty only lies with the cultural norms imposed by his parent’s and the culture and social norms that are constantly presented in the new society.

This results in few friends and international students tending to isolate themselves or keeping to a group of the same language. Depression comes into effect for those that cannot find peers of the same language. Therefore being forced to have very or no friend which leads to loneliness and depression. The barrier between international students and English speaking students create obstacles that impede the building of interpersonal relationships with fellow students. International students not fluent with the English language experience difficulties that students who are fluent do not. They difficulties include needing extra time to read assigned reading, difficulties understanding class lectures and discussions, and difficulties communicating concerns and view points (Tam. K, Donghyuck. L, & Huang. L, 2007) International students tend to disconnect from their previous social life and find new connections to develop new social Support networks in their new host country (Tam. K, Donghyuck. L, & Huang. L, 2007). Pedersen (1991), point out that a loss of social support as an impact on the psychological well-being of an international student. The unpleasant experience of forming new support networks in host country leads to feeling of disappointment and discontent. Overtime, these feeling lead to social isolation (Mallinckrodt and Leong 1992).