The Marmot’s Hole

Sonagi

I wonder how many foreigners in Korea are able to order in Korean? I think that if you are in Korea for more than a few months, you should at least take the time to learn enough to order at a restaurant.

Eating is a basic need. Almost every foreigner figures out within a week or two how to read Hangeul and ask for a certain dish and something to drink.

Sonagi

No, I am not being generous. I spent nine years in Korea and had many opportunities to observe my fellow “weagooks” using Korean. Most foreigners are not proficient in spoken Korean, but learning to decode Hangeul is dead easy. I and many other foreigners learned while commuting on the subway, reading and matching Korean and English letters at each stop. Once a foreigner has learned to decode Hangeul and the names of basic dishes, ordering in a restaurant is no problem. Railway, maybe you run with a different crowd than I did.

Not all “Pedros and Juans” want to become permanent residents in the US. Many come here with the intention of working hard for a few years, saving money, and taking that money back to Mexico to resettle. Some do that, and others decide that staying here is a better option.

The difference between us and many Spanish-speaking migrants in the US is that we are literate in our first language. Many undocumented workers cannot read in Spanish, so of course, they are illiterate in English, too.

Getting back to the English only sign pictured in the OP, I must say that the proprietor has no heart and no understanding of the reality of migrants in the US. I teach migrant children and have interpreted at conferences with their parents. The parents work long hours, sometimes six and half or seven days a week, performing hard physical labor. They have little time or energy for mastering English, and as I have mentioned already, many are illiterate or semi-literate in Spanish, so they might not be able to read an English menu or signboard.

I just relocated to a small Virginia community with a growing migrant population. Once I get up and running in my new job, I am planning on offering free English classes on Sunday to the parents of my students. Helping poor migrants learn basic English is a more positive, pragmatic, and compassionate solution than NINA-type signs in shop windows.

Sonagi

It just occurred to me that the sign is pointless. Any foreigner in America who can’t even order food in English probably can’t read the sign either!

Sonagi

Dda,

It sounds like you and Railway associated mostly with RealExpatDeals paid six-figure incomes and pampered by household staff. I was a humble university lecturer and most of my foreign friends were fellow teachers, missionaries, and the odd artist or small businessperson. There are obviously many subgroups of foreigners, including the ‘invisible’ 3-D workers, most of whom do learn Korean.

As for this comment:

But still end up sucking the milk cow’s tits forever…
And for those who do, doesn’t that it sound like they’re USING the host country, be it the US or other? Take from it, but don’t contribute?

I’m going try my best not to lash out in anger in response to that ignorant comment. Undocumented workers toil in dirty and difficult jobs, scrubbing toilets in motels, piling bricks and mortar under the hot sun, and butchering cows and chickens in meat processing plants. Last year, I taught Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle in a 9th grade Lit class. It’s amazing how little has changed one hundred years later. Instead of Eastern Europeans, it’s Mexicans and Salvadorans with calloused hands, missing fingers, broken bones, and pulled muscles. You call that “sucking milk cow’s tits” and “USING the host country”? Next time you are in the US, don’t buy any meat or produce at the grocery store and don’t eat in any restaurants because much of the food in your cart or on your plate was picked or handled by ‘tit-sucking, USING’ migrant workers. Biting the hands that feed you, indeed!

All those Pedros and Juans and Marias and Elenas earned every cent and more and they can do with their earnings whatever they please, just like foreign workers in any occupation in any country.

Dda, I’m extremely disappointed in your heartless attitude towards a group of people who are paid little for very hard labor and who are often resented, hated, blamed, exploited, and mistreated by citizens of the host country. You started life with so much more than these people and have enjoyed so many more advantages. Where is your compassion towards those who have so much less than you?

Sonagi

Michael,

I said undocumented workers do dirty work. I never said they did work Americans won’t do. That is a common argument in favor of legalizing the status of foreign workers, but it is not an argument I’ve made on this thread. It is true that some work done by undocumented workers is seasonal, like agriculture and construction, and thus more suitable for temporary migrant workers than legal residents seeking permanent full-time work.

What I object to is the demonization of these workers. They are just desperately poor people seeking a better life for themselves and their families. As long as American employers are willing to hire them, they will keep coming, no matter how long we extend that fence along the Mexican border. If Americans want to stop illegal immigration, then go after the cause - US employers who hire undocumented foreign workers - and/or introduce a guest worker program to legalize the status of these workers. Canada is much more progressive, instituting a guest worker program that brings in temporary workers to perform seasonal labor. The workers’ legal status gives them rights, and allows the government to document their presence. Moreover, since families remain in their home countries, there is less strain on public facilities like hospitals and schools.

Another advantage of a guest worker program is that it could be used to diversify the worker population. Eight out of the top ten countriest supplying immigrants to the US are Spanish-speaking. The number one country, Mexico, sends twice as many immigrants as number two China. ESL programs in most school districts are dominated by Spanish-speaking students. Each group of immigrants brings its own strengths and weaknesses, so structuring immigration policy to create a more diverse mix would be better for our country.