Linguistic Isolation in America

Evaluation of Kirk Semple’s “Immigrants Who Speak Indigenous Languages Encounter Isolation” 
As Kirk Semple shows in “Immigrants Who Speak Indigenous Languages Encounter Isolation” many Mexican and Central American immigrants in the U.S. are isolated from their communities because they know neither English nor Spanish. Instead, they are speakers of their hometown native languages—dialects like Mixtec—which make it impossible for them to integrate into either the Spanish communities in the U.S. or into the mainstream English-speaking world of America. This paper will show why there is a need for more services to be provided to these immigrants so that they do not have to live their lives in fear or want.
The biggest problems that immigrants from Central America face are ultimately linguistic—especially if they are from communities in Central America where Spanish (the language that most people expect Latinos to speak) was never adopted. As Semple shows, “these language barriers, combined with widespread illiteracy, have posed significant challenges to their survival, from finding work to gaining access to health care, seeking help from the police, and getting legal redress in the courts” (574). Immigrants who suffer from “linguistic isolation” (Semple 574) have no recourse but to try to pick up a smattering of Spanish so that they can at least manage to fend for themselves in the most basic ways. It is not easy, however, and the fear that many face is daunting.
Semple gives the example of Laura, whose husband was arrested for domestic violence and is now in danger of being deported: she speaks only Mixtec and relies on her cousin for assistance with her husband’s case, with simply navigating the neighborhood and caring for her son. There is no way for Laura to integrate meaningfully into the mainly Spanish-speaking community because she is not one of them, linguistically. Others in her position attempt to gain ground linguistically by faking their knowledge (nodding when they have no idea what the speaker is saying, which does not help to advance their situation), picking up the bare basics from co-workers (for example, in a restaurant kitchen where one might learn some phrases and words), or by taking a class from the Little Sisters of the Assumption, who actually switched from offering English classes to immigrants to offering Spanish (because it would be more useful for them in their communities and because it would be easier for them to learn). Yet people like Laura, who have no access to any of these options, remain cut off and living in isolation, fear and worry.
The importance of linguistic isolation cannot be overstated, as Semple shows: “beyond the critical language and literacy instruction the classes [of the Little Sisters] provided, they also helped the newcomers build ‘a much-needed social support network,’” (574). Without these classes or this knowledge of the language needed to engage with and interact within the community, immigrants have no way of establishing themselves or of taking care of themselves by obtaining work. The skills they have are kept under a rug of isolation because they lack the words to communicate what it is they can do. The isolation is particularly problematic for women, who stay at home with young children and thus have limited opportunities to pick up on the language they need to know. Their husbands have more opportunities to learn Spanish or English as the case may be, as they are working on construction sites or are picking up tidbits in the kitchens where they are occupied. Women thus have a harder time integrating into their communities because they have no opportunity to learn the language as their duties keep them confined to the home. When the time comes for them to seek employment, they cannot do so because they never learned a language—either Spanish or English—that will help them to communicate effectively.
The problem extends beyond simply finding employment: it also includes obtaining health care, as the case of the Mexican family who only spoke Mixtec illustrates. The family arrived at a New York City hospital to obtain medical care but because they could not speak Spanish, the hospital assumed the whole family was mentally challenged (Semple). If the city is unaware of the fact that immigrants who only speak Mixtec are living in their communities, these immigrants could be kept from contributing meaningfully to society, and they could also be restricted from obtaining the basic human services that everyone should have a right to.
In conclusion, language is something that can bring people together but something that can also drive them apart. The language barrier continues to be very much a reality in modern day America, and understanding which communities are in need of education so that they can be better served and in turn better serve the overall society is essential in today’s day and age. Semple shows that the Central American population the U.S. does not always speak Spanish, as most English speakers would assume. The fact is that many Central Americans speak native dialects that are only known in their communities. Thus, there is a great need for educational services to be provided to these groups. Otherwise, their isolation will only grow and worsen over time and an entire group of people living in the U.S. will be prevented from truly being part of this society and all that it has to offer.
Works Cited
Semple, Kirk. “Immigrants Who Speak Indigenous Languages Encounter Isolation.” In
Everything’s an Argument with Readings, ed. by Andrea Lunsford, John J. Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters.