why is it so hard for immigrants to learn English?

Question

OK, my husband and ALL of my in-laws are from South America, and ALL of them learned English within months of moving to America. but it ticks me off to see so many other immigrants who have lived here for YEARS and have yet to learn.

i'm so bitter right now b/c i had a patient come in today and didn't understand what i was trying to tell her, and i'm afraid she's going to complain to my boss that i was rude, when i wasn't rude, she just didn't understand what i was saying... i could loose my job for this! my boss is a VERY picky person and i'm not exactly on his best side... i'm a great worker, but he makes me very nervous, and i mess up things around him sometimes. but this lady can say whatever she things it is that was said and he could turn around and fire me, and that ticks me off.

all because she couldn't learn english and understand what i was trying to explain to her.

Answer 1

It's not that they CAN'T learn English it's just that there isn't a requirement for them to learn English. English is the predominant language in this country, not the offical language. Our government (federal and state) seems to bend over backwards to accommodate people from other countries, especially from south of the border, and change existing laws for them. For example, why should someone who can't speak English be allowed to vote in this country? I have seen Cubans who have lived in the US since the early '60's that still haven't learned English because they are from the Miami and Dade county area living in neighborhoods where nobody speaks English. It's only going to get worse, too, regardless of which party gets the presidency this time around.

Answer 2

Woah Calm down! Seriously, take a chill pill. You're making this a bigger deal than it is. Okay first of all, you husband and in-laws must be very talented to have learned a WHOLE new language and speak it fluently in a few months. Some people aren't that lucky. maybe they don't have other people to help them or they just can't learn as fast as others. If you were taking a class learning a new language don't you think some people would learn faster than others? Now about this lady you think is going to make you lose her job. Do you know how long she has been in America? Has she had a chance to learn the WHOLE English language? You don't even know id she will complain to your boss. You seem to think this lady is against you. It is not this lady's fault your boss is picky. It's not her fault your on his bad side. If she does complain explain to your boss what happened. If you think she thinks you were being rude you might have been being rude. Why would you think you were being rude if you weren't? I might be wrong. Just say sorry to the lady and be polite. Say sorry to your boss too if she complains. Now to Answer your actual question: Why is it so hard for immigrants to learn English? Answer: You think if you went to a country where they spoke a language you had never heard or learned you would just learn it in a blink of an eye? no you wouldn't. so get off the immigrants backs and worry about yourself. Maybe YOU should learn Spanish or some other language so you won't come complaining to us that you might get fired (and you don't even know for sure if you are) because you couldn't understand some lady. Fix the problem. According to you learning a new language is easy so it should only take you two months. (sarcastic) Stop crying and fix it. Good luck



P.S. it CAN take years to learn a new language. Where i live we don't start learning a new language until high school and only the smartest people learn the whole language enough where they can actually speak it fluently in FOUR YEARS. Grrr... you tick me off

Answer 3

My father feels the same way. Whenever the phone prompt says press 1 for english and 2 for spanish, he will just sit there on the line till an operator comes on. Then he will tell her that he lives in the US and refuses to press a button to get english. English should be the default. I guess I do agree with him.



I was an exchange student in high school, and while I did appreciate that some people spoke english and could help me out, I tried my best to speak the native language there as best as I could, and didn't expect anyone to speak english. I wasn't there to speak english, I wanted to learn.



We do coddle imigrants too much, and make every possible service available in multiple languages. At the same time though, we need to have interpreters available for the important things. Doctor visits, banking, etc. Imagine you lived in a foreign country, had a terrible pain, but couldn't explain to the doctor what was wrong.

Answer 4

Well, English is a hard language to learn. We have a lot of exceptions and it is difficult to learn from other languages. I do understand your frustration, especially from your job situation. My dad and grandparents are from Argentina. My dad of course learned English very quickly because he went to school in the US. My grandparents did not though, they worked really hard to support their family and, they were too tired to try to learn more than just enough to get by. It's not that they don't want to learn, it might be that they don't have the opportunities to learn. If they are totally in a Spanish-speaking community, and working with Spanish speaking people, they aren't going to need to know more than the basics of English. Which, of course, is frustrating... So, it's a difficult thing...

Answer 5

Those people are lazy in my opinion. but I learned spanish in two years. I hear them make alot of exscuses about how hard english is and really thats all they are is exscuses. I dont exspect them to speak it perfect but at least try.

Answer 6

Well, if it comes up and you want to keep your job, just calmly apologize and say you wish you could speak better Spanish.

Answer 7

Well if she doesn't speak English very well she may find it difficult to explain anything to your employer.

Answer 8

I absolutely hate when immigrants come to our fine nation (many illegally) and expect us to learn their language. I would never move to a foreign country and demand that services be provided in my native tongue. No immigrant should ever do that; it's insulting to the country they want to call "home" and to their new family.



But as long as they don't *need* to learn English, some of them won't. They can come here, live in a Spanish-speaking enclave, work for an employer who doesn't care, receive their services in Spanish ... and make English-speakers worry that it's somehow wrong to speak in their country's dominant language.



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Steelersfan: Wow, it looks like there's something wrong with thinking that you should love your country of residence.



Perhaps people would prefer that I said: "Oh, no, no. They should *never* have to learn English because that would be like us imposing our culture on them. Sure, they came here, but it's immoral to expect them to respect our country and its traditions. Instead, we must accept theirs and never say anything good about ours, even if it's just good sense that people speak the same language. If we want to communicate, we'll just have to use the language of the people who came into our country. ... BTW, don't ever be an ugly American and go to a foreign nation expecting special treatment (like people speaking English). That's just rude!"

Answer 9

they dont want to learn. they are here to "milk the cow" so to say and get on their merrry way. many immigrants DO NOT think of america as their own country. they always dream of going back....before they know it uncle sam has already molested them. its their way of rebelling.

Answer 10

English has many quirks. And frankly, they just don't want to learn.

Answer 11

maybe because the country which they came from was not considering english as a common language..so, it's hard for them..

Answer 12

the same reason it would be so hard for you to learn chinese, vietnamese, spanish, arabic, etc.

Answer 13

and it's her fault because she couldn't understand you? i don't think you're being fair to her. she can't help if she didn't understand. i'm sure it was frustrating for her as well. obviously you were ude or you wouldn't worry about her turning you in for being rude

Answer 14

I don't think it is hard, I think alot of them CHOOSE to not learn it. Just like they CHOOSE to not become CITIZENS of this great country they decided to come to. That really makes me mad.