The Effect of Linguistic Distance and Country of Origin on Immigrant Language Skills: Application to Israel

2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Beenstock ◽  
Barry R. Chiswick ◽  
Gaston L. Repetto
Keyword(s):  
Language Skills ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Linguistic Distance ◽  
Immigrant Language

Period of residence as a factor in language maintenance

2005 ◽  
Vol 149-150 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Clyne ◽  
Sue Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Close Connection ◽  
Multiple Identity ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
Integration Of Immigrants ◽  
Source Countries ◽  
Immigrant Language

This paper explores ‘period of residence’ as a factor in the maintenance of an immigrant language, based on the example of Hungarian in Australia. Hungarian speakers arrived in Australia from several different source countries including Hungary, Romania (Transylvania), and areas of the formers Yugoslavia (Vojvodina) and Czechoslovakia (Slovakia). The distinct waves of Hungarian speaking migrants to Australia - 1938-40; 1947-54; 1956-57; 1960s, 70s and 80s; and 1990s - reflect the close connection between sociopolitical events and immigrant source countries for speakers of Hungarian. The data for the study comprises interviews with 22 families, encompassing all vintages and source countries noted above, supplemented by two focus groups. The study demonstrates that ‘period of residence’interacts with a number of other factors, notably country of origin, reasons for migration, and the prevailing attitudes and policies towards the reception and integration of immigrants in the host country at the time. It highlights the contradictory and ambivalent effects on language maintenance of situations of multiple identity and individual responses to conflict situations.

scholarly journals Simulating language knowledge across the EU: language regimes, language learning and consequences for linguistic disenfranchisement

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Civico
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Skills Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Distance ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to develop an simulation model able to test different language education orientations and their consequences for the EU population in terms of linguistic disenfranchisement, that is, the inability of citizens to understand EU documents and parliamentary discussions should their native language(s) no longer be official. I will focus on the impact of linguistic distance and language learning. Ideally, this model would be a tool to help EU policy makers make informed decisions about language practices and education policies, taking into account their consequences in terms of diversity and linguistic disenfranchisement. The model can be used to force agents to make certain choices in terms of language skills acquisition. The user can then go on to compare different scenarios in which language skills are acquired according to different rationales. The idea is that, by forcing agents to adopt certain language learning strategies, the model user can simulate policies promoting the acquisition of language skills and get an idea of their impact. In this way, the model allows not only to sketch various scenarios of the evolution of language skills among EU citizens, but also to estimate the level of disenfranchisement in each of these scenarios.

scholarly journals The Language Ability of U.S. Immigrants: Assimilation and Cohort Effects

2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Carliner
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Geographic Distance ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Linguistic Distance ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Source Countries

This article uses data from the 1980 and 1990 U.S. Censuses of Population to examine the English language skills of natives and immigrants. It finds that lack of fluency in spoken English is rare among native-born Americans, including among the teenage and adult children of recently arrived ethnic groups. The vast majority of immigrants also speak English well. However, since the 1950s fluency among new immigrants has declined by 0.3 percentage point per year, because of the shift in source countries from English speaking countries and from continental Europe to Latin America and East Asia. Each additional year of U.S. residence increases the probability of fluency by 1.1 percentage points for immigrants from non-English speaking countries. An additional year of schooling increases fluency by 5 percentage points. Overall, women are slightly more likely to be fluent than men. The large differences in English skills by region of origin seem to be more associated with geographic distance from the U.S. than with the source country's per capita income or linguistic distance from English.

scholarly journals Playing with languages: code-switching between Italian-Brazilian immigrants during a ruzzola tournament

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 543-570
Author(s):  
Roberta FERRONI
Keyword(s):  
Language Skills ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Brazilian Immigrants ◽  
Italian Immigrants ◽  
Language Strategies ◽  
The City ◽  
Culture Of Origin ◽  
Interaction Management

ABSTRACT This article examines the language strategies, in particular code-switching, implemented by a group of Italian immigrants who live in the city of São Paulo and are enrolled in a ruzzola tournament. In this bilingual context we saw that, in accordance with the language skills of the players and interaction management requirements, the language of interaction is constantly negotiated. The data analyzed tend to indicate that even very minimal and rudimentary use of the language can help contribute to the individual’s Italian identity, and that certain activities that are perceived as traditional in the culture of origin can function as a vehicle for renewed interest in the language of the country of origin. This study adopts as our theoretical and methodological reference the bilingual conversation procedural model developed by (Auer, 1984), (Alfonzetti, 1992), (De Fina, 2007a, 2007b), and the contextualization theory of (Gumperz, 1982).

Immigrant Language Fluency in the Low-Skilled Labor Market

ILR Review ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1176-1195
Author(s):  
Ana Damas de Matos
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Surprising Result ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Immigrant Language ◽  
Immigrant Men ◽  
Employee Data

Using longitudinal linked employer-employee data, the author investigates the returns to being a native speaker for immigrant men in the low-skilled labor market. She compares the two main recent immigrant groups in Portugal: Brazilians, who are Portuguese native speakers, and Eastern Europeans, who are not. Findings show that both wage level and wage growth of the two groups are similar. To better understand this surprising result, the author studies two mechanisms through which language fluency may lead to higher wages: sorting across occupations and across firms. Brazilians do sort into occupations that require greater language skills; however, this does not translate into a wage premium. Considerable workplace segregation occurs in Portugal, but Brazilians are not less segregated from natives than are Eastern Europeans. Evidence in this article suggests that language skills are not a major driver of economic assimilation in the low-skilled labor market.

scholarly journals ACQUISITION OF DUTCH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frans W. P. Van der Slik
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Distance Measure ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Linguistic Distance ◽  
First Languages ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

This study reports on the impact of 11 West European first languages on the acquisition of Dutch. Using data from nearly 6,000 second-language learners, it was found that the mother tongue had a rather large impact on two language skills—namely, oral and written proficiency—as measured by the scores received by these learners on the State Examination of Dutch as a Second Language. Multilevel analyses showed that the effect of the mother tongue can adequately be modeled by means of the cognate linguistic distance measure, adopted from McMahon and McMahon (2005). The explanative power of the genetic linguistic distance measure (Cavalli-Sforza, Menozzi, & Piazza, 1994), on the other hand, was rather poor. Additionally, learner characteristics (age of arrival, length of residence, hours studying Dutch, education, and gender) and context characteristics (quality of schooling in the country of origin and multilingual country of origin) explained part of the variation in Dutch speaking and writing skills.

scholarly journals Who Gets a Swiss Passport? A Natural Experiment in Immigrant Discrimination

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENS HAINMUELLER ◽  
DOMINIK HANGARTNER
Keyword(s):  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Average Proportion ◽  
Western European

We study discrimination against immigrants using microlevel data from Switzerland, where, until recently, some municipalities used referendums to decide on the citizenship applications of foreign residents. We show that naturalization decisions vary dramatically with immigrants’ attributes, which we collect from official applicant descriptions that voters received before each referendum. Country of origin determines naturalization success more than any other applicant characteristic, including language skills, integration status, and economic credentials. The average proportion of “no” votes is about 40% higher for applicants from (the former) Yugoslavia and Turkey compared to observably similar applicants from richer northern and western European countries. Statistical and taste-based discrimination contribute to varying naturalization success; the rewards for economic credentials are higher for applicants from disadvantaged origins, and origin-based discrimination is much stronger in more xenophobic municipalities. Moreover, discrimination against specific immigrant groups responds dynamically to changes in the groups’ relative size.

Language Skills Blossom From STEM

ASHA Leader ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 24-25
Author(s):  
Shelley D. Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Language Skills
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