What to Get out of It?
There is a huge population of immigrants in the United States and the projections for 2050 indicates a raise of Hispanic and Asian immigrants. For example, the Hispanic population in the United States will jump from a 14% in 2005 to a 25% in 2050 (Passel, J.; Cohn. 2008). Most of this huge wave of immigrants entering the States speaks and reads a second language. But, do they know the advantages they have over the monolingual population?
For my research, I interviewed four immigrants, currently living in New York City. Why this City? New York City is one of the most diverse city in the world, attracting people from everywhere around the world. I focused on young adult women with college education and trying to "make it" away from home. It was a structured interview, with the intention of comparing responses. These are the questions I addressed to them:
1. What is your highest level of education?
2. Do you speak more than one language? What language(s) do you speak?
3. How the knowledge of more than one language influenced your education?
4. Do you see knowing more than one language as an advantage? Why?
5. Do you think knowing more than one language benefit your career? How?
6. What is the main advantage of knowing more than one language for you?
7. Is there any disadvantage of knowing more than one language? Explain
8. Do you think education in the United States should become bilingual? Why?
9 When should a bilingual education starts?
10. Did you know that 2/3 of the world population is bilingual?
All of these questions were based on the purpose of discovering the effect of knowing a second language and their knowledge of the advantages they possess. The findings were really interesting and I compared these to the findings of all the studies I analyzed for this research.
For my research, I interviewed four immigrants, currently living in New York City. Why this City? New York City is one of the most diverse city in the world, attracting people from everywhere around the world. I focused on young adult women with college education and trying to "make it" away from home. It was a structured interview, with the intention of comparing responses. These are the questions I addressed to them:
1. What is your highest level of education?
2. Do you speak more than one language? What language(s) do you speak?
3. How the knowledge of more than one language influenced your education?
4. Do you see knowing more than one language as an advantage? Why?
5. Do you think knowing more than one language benefit your career? How?
6. What is the main advantage of knowing more than one language for you?
7. Is there any disadvantage of knowing more than one language? Explain
8. Do you think education in the United States should become bilingual? Why?
9 When should a bilingual education starts?
10. Did you know that 2/3 of the world population is bilingual?
All of these questions were based on the purpose of discovering the effect of knowing a second language and their knowledge of the advantages they possess. The findings were really interesting and I compared these to the findings of all the studies I analyzed for this research.