[lg policy] For small-town America, new immigrants pose linguistic, cultural challenges

[Harold Schiffman]

 For small-town America, new immigrants pose linguistic, cultural challenges

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.
 By Richard Mertens, Correspondent March 14, 2015

   -   RICHARD MERTENS
   View Caption

  Marshalltown, Iowa — 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.”

On a warm July evening in 2012
<http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/2012+%28Movie%29>, while
Marshalltown <http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Marshalltown>, Iowa
<http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Iowa>, celebrated Independence
Day, three refugee children from Myanmar
<http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Myanmar> (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.

“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.”
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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.
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<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0314/For-small-town-America-new-immigrants-pose-linguistic-cultural-challenges#>
 Graphic West Liberty, Iowa
<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0314/For-small-town-America-new-immigrants-pose-linguistic-cultural-challenges#>

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 United States
<http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/United+States> illegally.
Meanwhile, the meatpacking industry has looked to refugees, who enjoy legal
status, as a way of avoiding problems with undocumented Hispanic workers.

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.

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.”

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.
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.”


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0314/For-small-town-America-new-immigrants-pose-linguistic-cultural-challenges
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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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