Immigrant Language Assistance in US Lacking

The United States has built a reputation as a melting pot – a country of immigrants – but for all its claims of being immigrant-friendly, is the US addressing its many immigrants’ language needs? An increasingly diverse immigrant population has raised questions as to how non-English-speaking immigrants are managing to integrate into the US system – and how they should be helped.

New Study Sheds Light on Immigrant Language Difficulties

A recent study of New York immigrants reveals many of the difficulties non-native English speakers continue to face in the US. The study interviewed 850 immigrants of diverse linguistic backgrounds who had dealt with a variety of city services, such as the police and welfare offices. New York makes for an especially interesting study because of the fact that, two years ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed an executive order requiring city agencies (like welfare offices) to offer interpretation and translation aid to immigrants.

While the New York study shows that improvements have been made, it highlights the problems immigrants still face in scenarios such as applying for food stamps. This raises a nervewracking question – if immigrants in New York (the multicultural home to so many immigrants) are having trouble, how are immigrants in the rest of the US faring?

How to Meet Immigrant Language Needs

The measures implemented by Mayor Bloomberg’s executive order point to some of the ways in which US public and social service institutions can better accommodate immigrants’ language needs. Providing interpreters and translators, as well as ensuring that application forms for services like Medicaid and food stamps are available in other languages, are all steps in the right direction.

Of course, given that the US is such a diverse country, it’s likely that the types of language accommodations made will have to vary from one region to the next. Municipal and state governments following in New York City’s footsteps will most likely have to assess which immigrant languages are in most need of assistance in order to ensure that the appropriate linguistic services can be provided.

Why Immigrant Languages Need to Be Addressed

While it would be far simpler for the government to simply leave non-English-speaking immigrants to arrange their own language assistance, this is a careless approach which will prove detrimental to the US and its immigrants, citizens, economy and general welfare.

Language assistance that helps immigrants obtain necessary services, like food stamps and Medicaid, ensures that these people do not slip through the cracks of the system. By ensuring that these individuals don’t have to seek out desperate measures to cover basic care, this also permits them to get on their feet and become contributing members of US society.

Immigrant language needs must be addressed not only because they help immigrants, but also because they will, in the long run, benefit everyone in the US. As a country of immigrants, the US is responsible for helping those invited inside its borders. Maybe it’s time to translate the Statue of Liberty’s famed inscription (“Give me your tired, your poor…”) into languages other than English.