The Language Barrier

My second trip to Postville was a little different than the first.  We spent most of the time working on English.  It was very hard for them to pronounce the words correctly and we only got through a few basic phrases, such as "What is your name?", "Where are you from?" etc.  There are many sounds used in English words that simply have no equivalent in the Spanish language, which makes it very difficult to pronounce them.  In addition, I think that many of the women do not have a background in education that would prepare them to learn another language.  In fact, several told me that they could not write.  

This calls into question the current requirements to become a citizen that require English language skills. This link (http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blinstst_new.htm) lists the questions on the current citizenship test administered to immigrants.  10 out of thes 100 questions are chosen for each test.  Based on what I have observed in tutoring Spanish speakers in Postville and Minneapolis in English, I understand how hard and essentially impossible it is for many people to pass this test.  In most cases there are no resources for people in other countries to learn what is necessary to pass this test.  For people who come here as refugees and then try to pass the test have a lot of trouble even when the have a readily accessible support system and the resources they need.  If it is as hard as it is for many Spanish-speakers to learn English, a language with many similarities to English, I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for people who's first language has very little in common with English.  

I want to relay another story about my first session in Postville that I think says a lot about the situation of the immigrant in America.  When I asked the women who were there where they were from, they told me that they were from Mexico and Guatemala.  Then I told them that I had been to both of those places and they were shocked.  They just kept repeating that the places I had gone were so dangerous.  I told them that I had been to Juarez, Mexico and they told me that if you are wearing jewelry there, whatever part of your body the jewelry is on gets cut off with the jewelry.  This is pretty consistent with what I had heard before. When I went to Mexico this past summer with my church, my pastor told me that a disembodied leg had been found in front of the market that I had gone to the year before.  I was also warned about how dangerous Guatemala is before I went there and had to take some precautions.  Safety is the biggest concern of most of the immigrant women in Postville.  I asked one of the women if she would like to go back to Guatemala to be with her husband who was deported.  She she that she absolutely would not want to go back because it is safe in America and it is not safe in Guatemala.  She wants her children to have a safe place to live and go to school.  

It is interesting that so many people blame immigrants for the not learning English and not trying hard enough to succeed.  I had a conversation with a friend recently and she told me that her parents think it is immigrants' fault that they are in the situation that they are in.  I think this is a pretty common sentiment.  However, I think this is a reflection of widespread ignorance of the reality of their lives.  After you spend 20 minutes trying to help someone pronounce the word "understand" so that they can tell people when they don't understand, it gives you some perspective on the obstacles that immigrants must overcome to make it in America.   I think that this ignorance is an embodiment of kyriarchy (Check out my first post if you don't know what this means.)  When there is an underlying value of all that is white, english speaking, and upper-middle class in society, it is easy to believe that there is something wrong with someone who does not fit these qualities.