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Raymond Wu
Dr. Gayle
English 812
23 April 2015
Language Barrier
A new student walking into their new high school the first time is exactly how
immigrants feel when they enter the United States. Both situations can convey similar feelings;
that the environment, language, and culture is totally different from the one accustomed to them.
When everything is different from what immigrants are used to, they need to somehow adapt to
these new feelings. Whether if its learning the language or even confining their identity with the
new environment and culture. These tasks are all not easy task for anyone to accomplish
especially if they are going through a culture shock. There are many difficulties an immigrant
has to deal with; but the ability to adapt to a new language is the primary challenge of an
immigrant in the United States.
Being able to communicate with people in the United States is essential for immigrants
because many tasks include talking. A task as simple as saying Hi to neighbors may become
difficult because of their ability to maintain a conversation. Or a task as difficult as helping their
parents talk to representatives because they cannot understand the language themselves. There
are many opportunities for immigrants to talk in English so it is definitely important for them to
learn and understand English. According to Woloshin, The physician-patient relationship is built
through communication and the effective use of language. Having a decent conversation is
something physicians and patients have to worry about, but they have more important factors to
worry about as well.

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One way that immigrant patients have to use the language effectively would be when
they are talking to the physician about their symptoms. If the patient cannot correctly identify the
problem, it will take the physician a longer time to diagnosis a cause for the specific problem.
Another way that language is important to immigrant patients would be language affects access
to care. Patients without good English skills may have trouble accessing medical services,
resulting in less use of both acute care and preventive services (Woloshin 725). When a patient
knows an efficient amount of English, they are able to save themselves from the troubles of
having a misdiagnosis from their physicians. All in all, adapting to a new language is essential to
breaking the language barrier of a patient and physician; it can also be applied to children and
their parents.
Immigrant parents are limited in their language comprehension, so they have to depend
more on their children to help them translate. Without the help of their children, communication
among immigrant parents and English speakers would be unfeasible. Amy Tan, who was fluent
in the English language unlike her mother who spoke broken English, asserts that because her
mother is not a native speaker there will be limitations in her English (78). One way that nonnative speakers have limitations in their English is that because of their broken English they
prefer to have their child speak in place of them. Tan uses an example of a time where she called
her mothers stockbroker in place of her to help deliver the message that her mother wants (78).
Although her mother was speaking in the background, her mother still refused to speak to an
English speaker. An immigrant may know how to speak some type of English, but feeling
comfortable speaking it to English speakers around them is still a challenge for many. Once
again, the adaptation of a language is difficult for non-native speakers, but it may be equally as
difficult for college students.

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College students are often faced with many daunting tasks in school; however college
students that have immigrated to the United States often have to face twice as many tasks as
native students. J. J. Brilliant illustrates that many immigrant college students learn English at
the same time they are learning course content (582). Furthermore, the work in stored for
immigrant students is even more overwhelming as acquiring a new foreign language is not an
easy task. Learning a new language for foreigners requires a few things that involve their identity
and culture. For instance, Brilliant asserts that the Fear of losing ones identity or connection
with a culture can interfere with an individuals willingness to acquire a language (582). In a
decision between their roots and a new language; students are forced to cope with a lost in their
identity or culture in order to adapt to a new language that they immigrated to the United States
to learn. All in all, adapting to a new language requires a lot of sacrifices that many immigrant
college students have to go through.
In conclusion, immigrants adapting a new language is a difficult task in the United
States. In order to communicate with native English speakers, immigrant has to know a
respectable amount of English in spark conversation. Not only is English needed for a general
conversation, but it is also needed when consulting with a medical doctor about concerns that a
person may have. Also, many immigrants may speak in broken English which in turn means that
they are not as comfortable speaking with others. Even though they know how to speak at some
level of English, they are not fully adapted to the new language. And lastly, there are many
tradeoffs when acquiring a new language; one has to decide whether or not it is worth it to do
twice the amount of work load compare to the native students. The ability to adapt to any new
environment or surrounding is tough, but the experiences of going through adaptation are what
make the whole journey worthwhile.

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Works Cited
Brilliant, Jay Judith. Issues in Counseling Immigrant College Students. Community College
Journal of Research and Practice, 24:7. 577-586. 29 Oct. 2010. Print.
Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue. ThreepennyReview. 76-80. 1990. Print.
Woloshin, Steven, et al. Language Barriers in Medicine in the United States. Jamanetwork.
724-728. 1 March. 1995. Print.