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It baffles me that my 25-year-old cousin who has lived in the US for the past 5 years does not want to learn English. He said that it is too difficult for him as he is bad with languages. Besides, he claims that he can get along just fine without speaking it. I have urged, begged, cajoled, and threatened him to reconsider. I feel that a person MUST learn to speak and read the official language of the country that they reside in. Otherwise, what will one do when how else will he handle himself in situations such as:
(1) Calling 911 when there is an emergency?
(2) Understanding important documents such as mortgages and etc?
(3) Ordering food in a non-Chinese restaurant?
Besides, I do not buy into the fact that it is too difficult to learn English at his age especially considering that he immigrated to the US at age 19 and had known since age 8 that he was on the immigration waiting line. Comparatively, my dad learned English at the age of 31 and completed his bachelor’s degree at 38.
What it boils down to, is motivation. My cousin works as a waiter, and what he earns now in one month is more than 18X his old monthly salary in China. On his days off, he is too busy propping up the economy to consider taking a language class. Besides, nowadays it is entirely possible to work and live in NYC without ever learning to speak English. I am not sure that it is a good thing.
Sure it might be easier to not learn English especially if you are tired from a hard day’s work. But it will severely limit your income potential for the future. But my cousin is young and believes himself to be invincible at his age. He laughs off my concerns for him. At this point there is nothing else for me to do except watch him make his own mistakes.
Share the post "Learning English: A Must Do In The US"
Sounds like me in Spain, lived here 7 years and never was able to learn the language. But I have an excuse, I’m an old fart:) over 50. Much tougher when your older:)
As long as at that (sometime) immigrant isn’t aairtulsan, owns two newspapers and a major broadcaster that in turn operates an unregulated simulacrum responsible for providing endless reams of inane free copy and hours of banal radio ‘phone ins’ for the past 17 years, obviously.Then you can dodge all the tax you want, obviously, it’s all part of the game spoony.
That’s too bad. He could theoretically get by without learning English, but he’s limiting his social circle and missing out on cultural opportunities. But, I sympathize. At 19, your cousin’s pretty much an adult, and it’s human nature to stick to the familiar.
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Cultural not so much as he has readily adapted to American culture. But his social circle is only limited to those who speak Mandarin. I wish he would broaden his horizons.
Having re-tweeted your message on the ubuqiitous Twitter I thought I’d see what you’d followed it up with.I have nothing to offer in reply other than to thank you for bringing it to my attention (for obvious reasons I normally tend to avoid THAT ‘newspaper’ as I have access to much better scripted comedy and can afford actual toilet paper).