Few of my mom’s side of the family ever stayed in the U.S, while most of my relatives are from my dad’s family. My mom’s mom, my grandma, used to live in the U.S but after my grandpa died, she couldn’t handle staying much longer so she went back to China. She had come back a few times, trying to live in the U.S with us, but she never enjoyed it so she always went back to live in her hometown with my mom’s brother. I was young so I never knew where she was working but I now realize how hard it must’ve been for her to work, not knowing any English, and how much she struggled trying to find a life here in the U.S. 

            English is turning into a dominating language all over the world, with it being taught in Korea, China, Japan, India, and many other countries. But with immigrants coming into the U.S, would they try to learn it? Learning and knowing English has been known to be helpful and beneficial when living in the U.S because it is the unofficial official language. With the knowledge of the English language, you have more access to a variety of things, from jobs, to shelter to being able to buy food. But for Chinese immigrants, it’s a language they may struggle with and can negatively affect them. My goal in this paper is to inform the general public and an academic crowd on the changes that can be brought to the educational institutions for Chinese immigrants, and the things that are deterring them from learning the English language.

            Many Chinese immigrants, especially young ones, have trouble learning English because the phonetics and sounds between the two languages are similar.  In the article, “Mother Tongue Interference in English Language Pronunciation of the Chinese Immigration in the United States” by Chaowi Hu, addresses the difficulties that Chinese immigrants face when they’re trying to learn English to make the readers understand what they go through and possibly bring changes to help immigrants understand and learn English better. Hu states that children learn their mother tongue from their environment. From learning their mother tongue, the children also learn about their family’s culture, traditions and social values, which also becomes a way for them to express themselves when they need to communicate. But because of this, they struggle with learning the English language, as they have “difficulty distinguishing the English pronunciation between alveolar nasal sound and alveolar liquid lateral sound. For instance, they will mispronounce ‘knife’ and ‘life’” (21). The environment is an important factor in how someone is raised, because it’s how young children are taught and how they’re taught stays with them for a long time, where it will be in their unconscious mind, secretly making and deciding their actions.  In the video, “High demand for Dual language Chinese and English programs” by Feet In 2 Worlds, mentions the programs they’re trying to help young Chinese immigrants learn English. FI2W’s purpose is to show what they’re doing to help young Chinese immigrants learn English with the language they’re most proficient with, in order to hopefully bring this program to other schools and expand it, that way more and more Chinese immigrants can catch up in the English language to their peers.  FI2W supports Hu when in the video, they show a program they set up that encourages kids to learn both English and Chinese as a collinear language class. That way if one is more fluent in Chinese, it can help them learn English faster and better, by the program teaching the exact thing but in different languages. FI2W shows a young girl who went to China at three months old and came back when she could attend elementary school. This resulted in her not knowing any English, so with this program it allows her to understand and learn English faster than the pace of an ESL class. But some Chinese immigrants may have grown up knowing only English, and that can lead to insecurities within your language and culture. Hu and FI2W both talk about why Chinese immigrants struggle when learning a new language such as English, and the actions trying to help them learn better and easier. 

            I was insecure when I couldn’t speak my family’s Chinese dialect, because I had grown up as an Asian-American, learning only English, but that led me to know only English, and not learn Chinese, or my family’s dialect. This caused a gap between me and my family because it was hard to communicate with them sometimes and this led to my parents having to learn English just so we can communicate better. I felt guilty that my parents had to learn English just so they could talk to me, and yet I haven’t tried to learn our native language. Even when my mom’s brother came to the U.S, I could barely understand what they were saying and I could barely talk to them. They struggled when they first arrived in the U.S. My parents had all the things set up for them, jobs, a house, phones and a school for my cousin to attend. But it was difficult for them because of the language difference and the overall shift from their life to China and the new life in the U.S. So after 3 months in the U.S, they went back to China, to my parents hometown. That’s when I realized that living in the U.S isn’t for everyone, not everyone can handle the new environment, and having to learn a new language that they have to rely on in order to properly live.

            Life in the U.S isn’t easy. Just like me, many other Chinese immigrants may also feel insecure not knowing their own culture, as they grow up surrounded by English speakers, and their parents pushing them to learn more English, because English is seen as a way to earn more money in the U.S. But Eelane Chen, in her personal essay, Youthful voice: “Life as an ESL Asian American”, published in 2012, addresses the topic of insecurity between not knowing your own culture and tradition and argues that its ok to not know, and that its ok to start learning and knowing as its better late than never. Chen wrote in her personal essay that she had learned most of Chinese traditions and culture through school, not through her family, and was burdened when she had to try to lead a good life while balancing both Chinese and American customs and traditions. As it’s never too late to try to learn about where your traditions and cultures come from, it’s also a good way to connect deeper with the people close to you.

            Not only are the similarities between the English and Chinese language making Chinese immigrants struggle in learning English, it is also because of society’s view on how they speak and it shows in the history throughout the U.S. This is shown by Writer Amy Tan, in her personal essay, Mother Tongue, published in 1990, addresses the topic of culture and linguistic diversity and argues that no one should be judged because they don’t fully understand or know the standard English language. Tan’s purpose is to inform people that there isn’t one main language, but a diverse system of languages that are equally as important as standard English in order for the readers to understand that even if someone doesn’t speak like they know english, they could know it well enough to have a conversation without being discriminated against. Tan talks about her and her mothers experience in the English language, how her mother wasn’t seen as intelligent, even though she was able to read and speak English. But it was because of how she spoke that Tan’s friends still couldn’t understand her mother, “some saying they understood 50 percent of what she’s saying, some saying 80 to 90 percent, and some saying they didn’t understand her at all, as if she was still speaking Chinese ” (1).  It’s also shown in Professor Clarena Larotta’s article, Immigrants Learning English in a Time of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment, published in 2019, addresses the issue of immigrants learning English, when people are against immigrants coming into the U.S because they are seen as terrorist, affecting their life and the way they can learn English, which is a way that can help them make more money. Larotta wrote it in order to inform people about the effects and struggle that immigrants are facing in the time of anti-immigration, and how it’s affecting them to try to prosper in the U.S. Claretta argues about how the anti-semantic movement against immigrants affects how they can live and thrive in a new environment. She mentions that it affects their abilities to “get better-paying jobs, becoming self-sufficient, having access to service and culture, having a wider access to information and knowledge, developing a sense of belonging and and finding the courage to apply for citizenship” (55). Because immigrants have to start fresh, they start new, and when they’re being treated harshly, it becomes harder for them to start a new life in an environment that hates them. The way language can affect immigrants is shown by Tan as she argues that the standard English language isn’t the main language and we should be allowed to use our own languages, as the U.S comprises a large diverse system of languages, and Clarena supports Tan by using the history of discrimination against immigrants.

            “Living around Flushing, Queens I can say that the Chinese accent is very heavy and can be loud, as the Chinese language can sometimes require talking in a tone that sounds like screaming”, but it doesn’t help when the phonetics and sounds between the English and Chinese language are similar, causing a discomfort when code meshing/switching between the two languages, that causes other people to either somewhat or not at all understand to what they’re saying. This affected Tan especially when her mother went to the hospital to get a result from an CAT scan to see if she had cancer or not, but the doctor and other staff ignored her until Tan got called in to resolve it because she could speak English well. Chinese immigrants are discriminated against based on their language and accent from their mother tongue, and Clarena stated that: 

“There is a direct correlation between speaking the language and the wellbeing of a community.

            Thus, weak skills in English translate into inadequate access to health care. In addition, not

            learning English can lead to social isolation and lack of participation in everyday activities

            beneficial to individuals and society. Knowing English means being able to obtain a better-paying

            job, becoming self-sufficient, having access to services and culture, and having a wider access to

            information and knowledge” (55). 

            In the U.S, the English language is seen as the main language by society, so it is also seen as the language that is essential to thrive. But with the lack of the English language, it leads to discrimination and fear among immigrants because they can’t get the help they need. Because of this, the English language is seen as a language that is absolutely necessary to learn. This is why you can find some young Chinese immigrants who grew up learning mainly English, and know very little of their own culture and tradition because their parents want them to succeed as much as they can and prepare for their future. Hu mentions how the environment affects the knowledge of young Chinese immigrants, of their own culture and tradition, but when you’re young, it is psychologically proven that you learn information the most and best when you’reung from the first years of learning. Tan also mentions this when she states that “a person’s developing language skills are more influenced by peers. But I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child” (2). When a child is young, they learn a lot through watching and listening. They learn a lot through their family and environments, from the language, to the food and traditions that they experience as they grow up. But when they start knowing only Chinese, it causes a shift in their linguistic abilities when they then have to learn English to attend and understand school. 

            When your mother tongue is Chinese, it’s hard to learn English as “Chinese English Learners will have difficulty learning English because of the similar Chinese sounds they already know” (Hu, 22). Thus, when it doesn’t seem like it, the two languages  are contradictory to each other, making it harder to learn one language when you’re fluent in the other. But as said before, it is beneficial to know English when in the U.S because it leads to a better lifestyle, better quality of life and more money, as you are able to communicate to a larger variety of people with English as the common language. 

            There are small communities throughout the U.S, with small pockets of Chinese communities within New York, you won’t find other places where you can just walk into a random Chinese restaurant, and they only speak chinese. Restaurants, shops, stores, cashiers outside of the chinatown community, will know Chinese and English, having learned through customers, and youtube and any other source they can find, while in chinatown, you can walk into a supermarket, and they will only speak chinese, where you’ll have to point at something and hope they can somewhat understand at all of what you’re saying. This is why it is beneficial for Chinese immigrants to learn and know English, because it allows them to communicate, venture and explore outside of their own community. This is also why it is important and could be helpful that what the school was doing in FI2W’s video, that it should be implemented in schools throughout all grades, to even classes for adults. Being able to help Young and older Chinese immigrants to settle and prosper a life in the U.S, especially in a place like New York City. 

            With learning English and being able to make a better source of income, it also allows them to become U.S citizens, as that’s a very expensive and time consuming thing to get. But with the period of anti-immigrant sentiment, it becomes difficult for immigrants to try to become U.S citizens because “as Pratt-Johnson (2015) noted: ‘In recent years, laws that appear calculated to harass or punish immigrants –especially undocumented immigrants and their families- have been passed in many states, such laws also provide a source of on-going stress and anxiety for English learners and their families’ (p. 144). A learner who does not feel safe in the classroom will hardly be able to concentrate, study, or participate in adult education or language learning” (Claretta, 56-57). Because of the harassment that can be seen today with new migrants coming in, there is a history of actions against immigration and the slow decline in people wanting to migrate to the U.S, and it becomes harder when they’re discriminated against and can’t get a job. Those who are unable to get jobs would have a harder time to become a U.S citizen, with the lack of knowledge in the English language. Thus, it resulted in “approximately 264 thousand aliens obtained lawful permanent resident (LPR) status in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18 Q1). They represent an almost nine percent decrease from the same quarter in FY 2017” (57). Immigrants are scared because they’re portrayed as terrorists or someone that’s going to negatively affect society. This instead negatively affects immigrants because they’re afraid of being deported, and are filled with fear, anxiety and confusion. Immigrants who are now afraid and scared, would be less likely to learn English because they’re struggling with a new language, and have to battle the fear of being kicked out of the U.S, but they would then be very limited on how they can thrive. Claretta states that the “analysis of data from the 2012 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) that directly assessed literacy and numeracy across multiple countries indicated that U.S. immigrant adults with lower proficiency in English literacy were more likely to report poor health” (55). There’s even data showing the correlation between language efficiency and the well-being of immigrants, which shows the negative impact of not knowing the English language.  

            When considering how English affects Chinese immigrants in the U.S and how their mother tongue affects the way they can learn English, it becomes clear that the language you grow up with, your mother tongue, can affect the way you learn English. With English being a language associated with high pay and a better life, it is seen as a necessary skill to learn, but with a mother tongue such as mandarin, it’s seen as if you don’t even know English which becomes a harm when a simple thing such as a visit to the hospital becomes frustrating. This is a big issue even today because of the discrimination and racism seen only a few years ago due to the pandemic, where Chinese immigrants are scared due to people fighting against immigration and being seen as terrorists or a harm to others. I hope this paper helps others see how Chinese immigrants are struggling in today’s world and there are programs that can be used to help them thrive in this country where they can live a better life.