Today’s world is in the age of speed. It is defined this way for some reasons such as the phenomenon called globalization. Rapid changes happen nowadays and the best way to understand what changes are happening in peoples’ surroundings is to be able to communicate well with others and be able to explain and understand why things happen. In order to communicate effectively, people should have one language as their base language. English is the language used by most people in the world. Even before United States became the superior economy in the world, it is believed that English is one of the commonly used medium in the world.
Now that the country is still associated in the top countries in the world, people tend to be more reliant on the country to provide them with employment, benefits and other opportunities. Immigration is also one of the most talked about issues in the world today. There are big percentages of people from the most populous countries in the world which engaged them in migration. Given more opportunities in other countries, especially in first world countries, people who are highly educated than others have more choices and preference as to where to find a job and where to settle their families.
Such countries that absorb migrants include territories in the northern America and Western Europe. Since the country is included in the territories who offer more opportunities to foreigners across the globe, the supply of employees all over the world is slowly surpassing the number of demand for laborers. To effectively screen these prospective employees to be distributed to the different sectors in the country in need of workers, there are several steps in the process that are needed to be accomplished. It includes some levels of education and a threshold number for the level of schooling attended.
In this research paper, it is intended to argue that all immigrants from all over the world is required to have knowledge on how to use the English language effectively and fluently. Not only as a personal opinion, it is a well-known fact that in order to migrant in foreign land, the language of the country should be learned to be able to function and contribute to the society. In the United State’s case, fluency in English should be a requirement to approve the visa status of those foreign laborers who wish to work and migrate in the country.
Instead of blending with the same race and ethnicity, these immigrants should be able to interact and live together with Americans for them to practice and be more capable of fluently converse with English-speaking Americans. Immigrating to United States of America To be able to apply and be qualified to immigrate to other countries, there are series of tests that an applicant should undergo. In the case of the United States, their embassies across the globe have become stricter when it comes to approving immigrant visas especially to citizens from third world countries.
There are different forms for different visa application. For the immigrant visa, there is a requirement on the proficiency in the English language. Even though English is not the official language of the United States [Hing 376] most of the people living in the country use this language as their medium in their workplaces and communities. Although during the earlier times, immigrants from other countries have minimal knowledge on the English language [Hing 376]. In addition, the issue of the earlier immigrants was how fast they can learn the English language using various medium.
There is a very large cost for applying immigrants if they do not have the English proficiency. First, they could not be given an immigrant or working visa if they do not have English language fluency. These immigrants do not qualify to live and work in the United States due to the fact that people living in the country are all English-speaking citizens. Conversing with them will be very difficult. Hence, rejection of the visa application could be a result coming from the American embassy.
This event could cause a domino effect. Since that the visa application is rejected, the aspiring immigrants could not look for work in the United States, and therefore, could not earn enough money for their family back in their home countries. Now that the world is progressing towards globalization, it is very essential to have no language barriers between nations and be able to have international knowledge and know-how using a universal language. The English and Immigration Connection
Currently, there are some eight to eleven million Mexicans and Latin Americans living in the United States, some of which are illegal immigrants [Hanson 1]. With this large number of immigrants, they could simply form their own community. As an immigrant in the country, it should be their responsibility to live and intermingle not only with the same ethnicity but with the Americans as well. There are instances when these immigrants find it difficult to participate in the society just because of their inability to comprehend on the English-speaking Americans’ conversations.
This is an example which is present in New York [The NYIC 1]. The organization have been advocating the immigrants’ education of the English language and is trying to tap the mayor of the city to provide funding for the immigrants ‘English as a Second Language’ school for them to be more functional in the society, and to avoid the so-called ‘workplace exploitation. Realization of the immigrant families on their dreams which they plan on achieving in the United States will be a lot difficult without the knowledge of English language.
The New York Immigration Coalition [1] has been exerting a lot of effort to help out the families who are illiterate in the English language. It will be a lot advantageous if the migrant families will come over to the United States equipped with the English language proficiency for them to avoid experiencing such scenarios that are happening today in migrant communities who came to the country without prior knowledge of the mother tongue. In the cases of the Chinese, those who are bilinguals can do jobs such as in interpreter between some Chinese and American organizations [Hom 29].