Should being competent in English be a requirement for new immigrants coming into the United States? I believe that there should be. Now I’m not saying they should be fluent in English immediately. However, I do believe that you should be able to speak the most common language in the country. Assimilating into a country that speaks a certain language should mean that you need to learn that language period.
As the joke goes: What do you call a person speaking three languages? Trilingual. What do you call one speaking two? Bilingual. What do you call a person speaking one language? American. Or in the case I’m trying to show, any nationality that comes in The United States. Since that’s exactly the same thing that is going on here. If you went to France and didn’t speak French you wouldn’t be able to function or if bad enough, not leave the country because no one can understand you.
Learning a second language is beneficial to anyone. As you’re driving on the highway, you do not see signs in Spanish or Portuguese, you see them in English. That’s not to say that Americans can’t also benefit from learning a second language of their choice. This shows that you have other interests around the world, instead of just your own country. It’s much better then being catered to everywhere you go, just because you refuse to learn another language.
Speaking multiple languages is a very useful thing in this world. However it is especially useful in the United States. For example, Fall River is heavily populated by Portuguese. So knowing both Portuguese and English is very useful for any business to have, not to mention everyday life. I currently work at a grocery store, you wouldn’t believe how many people just flat out spoke such poor English, that you cannot understand them at all. When they need help they just literally say, “You speak Portuguese?” and I firmly respond., “Not in the least”. They then continue either keep asking for someone who speaks their language, or they walk around confused for 30 minutes. Now here I could learn Portuguese to make both of our lives easier. However the majority of the United States does not speak Portuguese, and I honestly have no interest in that particular language.
In some interesting polls I found on Gallop, they have graphs that show even at the lowest percent, 59% of people in the United States think English is essential to learn, with the highest percent being 72%. Other facts include what other languages do you know other then English. First one being Spanish is at 60% of all Americans, French at 18%, German at 12% from there on its 5% and lower for any other languages.
Still a work in progress.