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For small-town America, new immigrants pose linguistic, cultural challenges</h1>
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<p>A new generation of immigrants is arriving in Midwest towns from
far-flung places such as Myanmar, Somalia, and Iraq. The communities are
trying to adjust.</p></h2>
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<span id="authors" class="">
<span class="">By</span>
<span class=""><span itemprop="author">Richard Mertens</span>, Correspondent</span>
</span>
March 14, 2015 </h3>
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<div id="photo_credit-0" class="" itemprop="author"> <span class="">RICHARD MERTENS</span></div> <div id="view_caption-0" class="">View Caption</div> </div>
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<p><span id="dateline" class="">
Marshalltown, Iowa — </span>The voice was frantic – and unintelligible
to the 911 dispatcher. “Ma’am, I cannot understand you,” she said. After
80 seconds, one word leapt out: “Riverview.”</p><p>On a warm July evening in <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/2012+%28Movie%29" title="Title: 2012 (Movie)" target="_self" class="" rel="nofollow">2012</a>, while <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Marshalltown" title="Title: Marshalltown" target="_self" class="" rel="nofollow">Marshalltown</a>, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Iowa" title="Title: Iowa" target="_self" class="" rel="nofollow">Iowa</a>, celebrated Independence Day, three refugee children from <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Myanmar" title="Title: Myanmar" target="_self" class="" rel="nofollow">Myanmar</a>
(Burma) drowned in the Iowa River. The drownings at Riverview Park cast
a grim light on the challenges facing both the city and its newest
immigrants, most of whom spoke little English and had scant
understanding of life in their new home – including the perils, known to
more established residents, of the river’s treacherous currents.</p><p>“We
preach to kids all the time: You don’t swim in the river. You don’t
play around the river,” says Kay Beach, president of the Marshalltown
school board. “But they didn’t know that.”</p><div class="">
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</div><p>For two decades, rural communities across the Midwest have been
finding ways to absorb Latino immigrants. Now, a new generation of
immigrants arriving from far-flung places such as Myanmar, Somalia,
Iraq, and West Africa has brought a bewildering variety of cultures and
languages. Many towns are struggling to cope.</p><div id="story-embed-column" class=""><div id="story-inset-0" class=""><div class="">
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<div class=""><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0314/For-small-town-America-new-immigrants-pose-linguistic-cultural-challenges#"><img src="http://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2015/03/unnamed_1.jpg?alias=standard_218x145" alt=""></a></div>
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<span class="">Graphic</span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0314/For-small-town-America-new-immigrants-pose-linguistic-cultural-challenges#"><span class="">
West Liberty, Iowa
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</div></div></div><p>Experts say the changing face of
immigration in the rural Midwest reflects stricter federal enforcement.
Tighter border security has slowed the influx of immigrants from Latin
America entering the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/United+States" title="Title: United States" target="_self" class="" rel="nofollow">United States</a>
illegally. Meanwhile, the meatpacking industry has looked to refugees,
who enjoy legal status, as a way of avoiding problems with undocumented
Hispanic workers.</p><p>Much of the difficulty surrounding the new
immigration is linguistic. Language barriers complicate services from
law enforcement to health care. Ms. Beach recalls a school expulsion
hearing that required two interpreters – the first to translate from one
dialect of Myanmar to another, the second to translate into English.</p><p>Cultural
differences can cause problems, too. “Back where we come from, people
used to live how they want,” says Nyein Pay, who was a guerrilla fighter
against the Burmese government and now cuts pork at a local meatpacking
plant. “We used to grow up in the forest. Here we live in a city. It’s
different. Here they have tight laws.”</p><p>Communities are trying to
adjust. After the Marshalltown drownings, the schools and the local YMCA
organized swimming classes. In Columbus Junction, Iowa, the town
started a community garden for immigrants from Myanmar; the local health
clinic hired an interpreter.</p>Mallory Smith, director of the
Columbus Junction Community Development Center, says police have grown
experienced at dealing with language barriers. “You know when you’ve got
to use sign language, to use simple words, to draw a picture, or get a
translator.”<br><br><br clear="all"><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0314/For-small-town-America-new-immigrants-pose-linguistic-cultural-challenges">http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0314/For-small-town-America-new-immigrants-pose-linguistic-cultural-challenges</a><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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