What do you guys think.....?

[Mithmeoi 29]

As long as the immigrant goes through a legal route I have no problems with who wants to immigrate. As for knowing English, I do think everyone should have a rudimentary knowledge of it if they're going to live in the States but it doesn't need to be perfect. My husband knows English very well, but it's not perfect and I often have to correct him, but he learned it on his own with no school so I give him kudos. But anyways, I find it really annoying where I live that about a third of the people there don't speak or even understand English. I don't speak their language and I don't plan on learning it just to communicate with them.

[john_and_marlene 162]

Well, how to say...I hope nobody takes offense.

It seems that there are a lot of people that are immigrants themselves and are now "getting more people from their own country" to the US.

A lot of people that marry people from the country they emmigrated from.

A lot of Us-citizen-comments are in terribly English and seem to be more "immigrant" then "UScitizen".

I personally have my difficulties with it, how about you guys?

(Again: I do not want to insult anybody.)

Unless you are native american, then you are probably here by the exact same circumstance. Do you not understand that the U.S. is a nation of immigrants?

[MalaysianGirl 26]

I'm Malaysian, but I've got American friends telling me that I speak better English than many Americans. Sometimes it surprises me, but most times it doesn't. It really doesn't matter where you're from and where you learnt English. Just make yourself as understood as possible so that there are less chances of being misunderstood and thus be led into an argument or a quarrel.

[Dogwood_Poet 16]

My wife (Filipina) commented to me (USC) the other day: "Why can't Americans spell?" She is taking a class at the local community college and noticed the number of mistakes on some of the other student's papers.

I think a lot of it is the status of our education system. I know a lot of immigrants who's English is better than many of my friends.

As for bringing family into the US, as long as they are willing to go through the proper procedures, GO FOR IT!

I think the government should change their 'amnesty' laws, for every person given amnesty, a legal immigrant (or their petitioner) should be reimbursed IN FULL for all fees and expenses related to their visa.

[newLife2010 1]

I think we are all getting little agitated here. OP probably didn't mean to offend anybody but the topic is such that it is going to feel that way.

Alot of us here on VJ are generally non-native born USC or LPR and do know english fairly well (I mean you atleat know some english if you are posting on VJ even if with bad grammer). Main thing comes down to the fact if they can convay what they want to say then it should be ok. We all go thru this stressful process so we can pick up the jist of what they want to ask. I think the desperation, frustration we all feel can be convayed without having to go thru a ESL course, even with bad sentence structure.

Dogwood_Poet posted that his Filipina wife said 'Why do americans spell so bad' and somebody stated that our bad education system is bad. I agree. But we have to also look at the fact that the American style english (doesn't matter from south or eastern coast etc) is very informal style of english. It tends to be very laid back and straight forward. Rest of the world generally speak/write the British style english which is very formal. And for them english is a second language that they generally learn later in childhood. Also, the way it is taught is thru translation from their native language as a reference. So for them they think in their own language first and then translate it into english on the fly. This is going to introduce some very peculiar differences in how they use english. And ofcourse the native language is hugely influential in the accent of spoken english which can again influence the written form. Just look at those metro pcs ads that's running now-a-days pocking fun at indian teck support.

So all these factor combined can have quite an effect on how a person is going to speak and write. Yes, proper grammer can help in understanding the sentence structure properly but grammer and punctuation are not esential to explain to someone what you wand/need.

Plus the longer you are in a particular environment the more you absorb it. I came to US as teenager and had to practically relearn how to talk in english properly even though I studied english since first grade. I still have a slight accent and once in a while someone will ask me to repeat. That doesn't bother me or them. That's the beauty of America.

Guys don't take what OP said as an offence. I don't. Even native born USC have problems so if you are an migrant speaker then just think that we have a leg up on the natives.

Edited July 30, 2010 by newLife2010

[AMERICAN/CANADIAN 0]

Just thought I would throw my two cents in here. I am a USC living in Canada and even Canadian English is differnt. I get asked to repeat or use differnt words quite often even though I have been here for two years. I do not know what the US does for its immigrants but I know that Canada provides free language courses (I keep getting pamphlets from CIS begging me to get my butt to a course to learn english). It makes me laugh pretty hard as I speak english as a first and only language:)

I have no problem with people bringing over their families. I have worked very hard to modify my accent to "Canadian" but you can NEVER fully get rid of habbits from a lifetime of speaking something else. (Im pretty sure Ill use the word yall till the day I die:))

What I do have a problem with is people who immigrate to the US (or any other english speaking country) and expect people to cater to them or to conform to their rules. A little background on this. I went to college to be an engineer. I am a female. I was the only girl in all of my engineering classes with 13 guys! One of those guys was a second generation immigrant from the middle east. His father decided to go back to college when we went and was in our classes as a result. I remember on one particular occasion I was talking to my teacher (a male), turned around to sort through some papers, found what I was looking for and turned to continue speaking to the teacher. The father (first generation immigrant) looked right and me and said "woman you do not speak unless I tell you to speak". Needless to say my, as my canadian in-laws refer to it, "american attitude" fully came out and I told him if he didnt like the way american functioned to go back to his own country.

If you want to come to the US and make something of yourself for your family. Come on! I will do my best to help people learn english, but you need to be prepared and want to assimilate with the population. I feel immigrants have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to come to the US and treat women or children like ####### bc its ok where they came from.

SO in summation bring on the immigrants! After all I am currently a Canadian immigrant and hopefully one day my husband will be an american immigrant!

[ValerieA 350]

Rest of the world generally speak/write the British style english which is very formal. And for them english is a second language that they generally learn later in childhood. Also, the way it is taught is thru translation from their native language as a reference. So for them they think in their own language first and then translate it into english on the fly. This is going to introduce some very peculiar differences in how they use english. And ofcourse the native language is hugely influential in the accent of spoken english which can again influence the written form. Just look at those metro pcs ads that's running now-a-days pocking fun at indian teck support.

The United States is definitely not the only country that speaks English.

I have no issues with immigrants sponsoring immigrants. I honestly don't understand why anyone can't see that someone who moves here would like to have some family around them, I sure would. And the language issue? They will learn more English as time goes on, it takes time, and I have seen some atrocious posts on VJ that were next to impossible to understand that ended up being written by natural born USCs. Most immigrants try very hard to learn English, and we should help them and applaud there efforts, not denigrate them.

Oh, and to whoever posted about suspecting an immigrant's love for their husband? Remember that love is not necessary for a bonafide marriage. USCIS only cares that the relationship is real, not that the couple is in love.

[ValerieA 350]

I have worked very hard to modify my accent to "Canadian" but you can NEVER fully get rid of habbits from a lifetime of speaking something else. (Im pretty sure Ill use the word yall till the day I die:))

Just say 'eh' a lot.

[AMERICAN/CANADIAN 0]

Just say 'eh' a lot.

I do. It was the second "Canadian word" I picked up. Followed only by the word washroom instead of bathroom. When I said washroom when I visited the US people looked at me like I was insane. LOL guess Ill have to get re-americanized! and yes Im USC with terrible grammer.

[sachinky 465]

Oh, and to whoever posted about suspecting an immigrant's love for their husband? Remember that love is not necessary for a bonafide marriage. USCIS only cares that the relationship is real, not that the couple is in love.

I am quite aware of what the USCIS requirements are. It's why I put 'love' in quotation marks. What I meant is that I suspect their motivations for being in that relationship (in good faith and with honorable intentions) with the USC petitioner if they just want to bring 'mother/father/brother/sister/niece' over as soon as they've immigrated (there are those who will post questions even before they've completed their own journeys). It could just be me, but it just doesn't scream 'bona-fide' relationship to me, call me cynical.

[mamamimi 8]

The United States is definitely not the only country that speaks English.

I have no issues with immigrants sponsoring immigrants. I honestly don't understand why anyone can't see that someone who moves here would like to have some family around them, I sure would. And the language issue? They will learn more English as time goes on, it takes time, and I have seen some atrocious posts on VJ that were next to impossible to understand that ended up being written by natural born USCs. Most immigrants try very hard to learn English, and we should help them and applaud there efforts, not denigrate them.

Oh, and to whoever posted about suspecting an immigrant's love for their husband? Remember that love is not necessary for a bonafide marriage. USCIS only cares that the relationship is real, not that the couple is in love.

Just in case it was my post... I said the reason behind bringing my hubby here is because I love him and I do not intend to bring his entire generation here to the US. Speaking/writing as well as comprehending what you read is importand in every language... This is really getting out of hand... it's sad!

I will not spend my precious time on this thread, I am on NVC stage and I am just going to concentrate in getting the love of my life here ASAP because traveling every 2-3 months to see him is taking a toll on me!

[Nica_In_Love 98]

I do. It was the second "Canadian word" I picked up. Followed only by the word washroom instead of bathroom. When I said washroom when I visited the US people looked at me like I was insane. LOL guess Ill have to get re-americanized! and yes Im USC with terrible grammer.

Hahahaha really?

My husband is from Chicago, and he says washroom I think it's used in some parts of the US.

[AMERICAN/CANADIAN 0]

Hahahaha really?

My husband is from Chicago, and he says washroom I think it's used in some parts of the US.

Thats awesome! I never knew that. Im from a little further south than that. I guess it depends on where you are at in the US. Just like it depends on where you are in Canada:)

[Darnell 8,479]

Are you following me - as much as we have been writing tonight?

Well, I am talking more about the english that has no structure, no grammar, no tenses and is hard to understand

Nah, not following you around - just was some coincidence, really.

But I was serious - I do have a problem with English - I got immersed in Singlish (Singapore English) for a year, d@mn near lost my mind - then deep piles of Lillipudlian English in Liverpool - 3 to 5 months each year, for 4 years now. I have to switch to 'BASIC ENGLISH' sometimes, as well, when talking with salesreps (that's a daily event, alas) but then my biggest muck up, is when I return to Texas - ppl think I'm a Brit for a month after, my Texas accent looooooooooooooooog gone. Heck - I even have problems with writing, ya know - basic silly things - like 'civilization' vs 'civilisation' . Then there's all this technical jargon that I sling, daily...

But back to yer point... I read many cases here of 'Mother filed for adult son 10 years ago, now son is married, Priority date is current, so wife and children coming too'. Personally, I think that's great - as it helps to legally re-unite families. I'm all for that, you betcha. As to yer 'whole village' aspect - ya, I see that on occasion, with Chinese immigration into USA, but it's a truly 'slow boat' occuring over YEARS and DECADES, not something immediate. I also have no problem with this, when done legally. I have huge issue with it, specifically for CHINA, when it's done illegally (ag worker visa, drop off the grid). But hei - I'm a fan of new taxpayers, always. Perhaps you can be as well, in a few years?