Essay On Generations Of Immigrants
The unique experiences of generations and immigrants
The immigrant story is one we have all heard before. These stories show how individuals can come to America with nothing and end up giving their families everything they could imagine. It is hard work but that is the American Dream. But what does this dream really mean for immigrants and their families? Does the hard work of immigrants pay off? A lot of research says there are many social and economic changes between generations of immigrants. Education levels, income, cultural identity all change over time after immigration.
Education is a large change between generations of immigrants. The level of education changes depends on the country of education. Take Mexico as an example. Immigrants …show more content…
Many immigrants like to live in communities with similar back grounds, so they can support each other. This helps the families live somewhere completely different but feel safer. In these communities the language spoken among members tends to be their native language. This puts their children in a very unique situation. Their parents fluently speak the language of their home land may tend to speak this language at home and in their communities. Out in public everything is in English, it is spoken at schools, work, and among friends. This sets them up to be multilingual. But as mentioned earlier the majority of first generation foreign born immigrants learn English. This reduces the need for their children to speak their parent’s native language. It is easier for them to just learn English since this is what is used most in life. As time progresses more multilingual people appear, but fewer people speak their homelands native language. By the time the third generation comes around very few speak only their homelands native language. Fewer also are bilingual (Yearbook of Immigration Statistics). It seems that being bilingual, is a product of necessity. When it becomes less necessary it is loss. Assimilation renders languages, that are not English, less
The immigrant story is one we have all heard before. These stories show how individuals can come to America with nothing and end up giving their families everything they could imagine. It is hard work but that is the American Dream. But what does this dream really mean for immigrants and their families? Does the hard work of immigrants pay off? A lot of research says there are many social and economic changes between generations of immigrants. Education levels, income, cultural identity all change over time after immigration.
Education is a large change between generations of immigrants. The level of education changes depends on the country of education. Take Mexico as an example. Immigrants …show more content…
Many immigrants like to live in communities with similar back grounds, so they can support each other. This helps the families live somewhere completely different but feel safer. In these communities the language spoken among members tends to be their native language. This puts their children in a very unique situation. Their parents fluently speak the language of their home land may tend to speak this language at home and in their communities. Out in public everything is in English, it is spoken at schools, work, and among friends. This sets them up to be multilingual. But as mentioned earlier the majority of first generation foreign born immigrants learn English. This reduces the need for their children to speak their parent’s native language. It is easier for them to just learn English since this is what is used most in life. As time progresses more multilingual people appear, but fewer people speak their homelands native language. By the time the third generation comes around very few speak only their homelands native language. Fewer also are bilingual (Yearbook of Immigration Statistics). It seems that being bilingual, is a product of necessity. When it becomes less necessary it is loss. Assimilation renders languages, that are not English, less