Language in the United States
Ronie Carper
Axia College of University of Phoenix
Due to the many different languages spoken in the United States, immigrants often
find themselves unable to function in a world they don’t understand. There are 380
different languages spoken in the United States. Behind English, the most common
languages are Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Italian, Korean
and Russian. California has the most spoken languages at 207 and also leads the nation in
having the most number of limited English speaking immigrants. There are 30 states that
have some form of official English law. Most recently, Kansas and Idaho passed official
English legislation in 2007. U.S.ENGLISH is currently working in several states to pass
measures that will enact new official English bills or strengthen existing legislation.
When an immigrant can not speak English, it is harder for them to get employment,
or keeping a job continuously. They will also find it hard to fill out applications since
they can not read English. Immigrants also tend to work the least desirable jobs. An
immigrant that speaks English very well earns more than double of what a nonspeaking
English immigrant. With not having or keeping a job, poverty and the need for public
assistance, such as food stamps, is needed more for the nonspeaking English immigrants.
In 1999, the average employed immigrant who spoke English very well earned
$40,741, more that double the $16,345 earned by immigrants who did not speak English
at all. The increasing scale of English proficiency and earnings was recorded at every
education level from less than high school through master’s degree and beyond.
It is very important that all immigrants learn some for of English. If there is an
emergency or life and death situation, the immigrant would be able to tell the helper
exactly what is wrong with them or the...