Explain How Immigration And Cultural Diversity Affect Communication

Communication is arguably the most important skill set we possess. Because of its important role in our everyday lives, it is very critical that we look into ways to improve and also understand ways communication can be harmed. There are various ways in which communication can be influenced whether it is beneficial or detrimental. Specifically, immigration and cultural diversity are two of the harmful things that cause negative effects on communication. Immigration and cultural diversity in the US often lead to several different conflicts for communication between Americans and immigrants independently, Americans and immigrants dependently, and also between different cultures. Between Canada and the United States, more than one half of
The first of the six is reaffirmation. This level is best described when people maintain their own culture and completely reject the new culture. Next is synthesization where people piece together parts of both their old and their new culture. They integrate parts of the new culture that are necessary to survive and keep certain values and beliefs from their old culture. The third level is withdrawal. In withdrawal, people experience culture conflict and consequently withdraw wholly from either the new or old culture. Fourth is constructive-marginality. In this case, immigrants are accepting of both their old and new culture, however, they do not totally assimilate with either culture. The next level is biculturalism in which people completely assimilate with both cultures (Battle, 2012). When people partake in the is level of assimilation, there are often reports that they feel like they are living a double life or have two identities (Urban, 2010). Level six is compensatory adaptation. In this level, people become fully engaged in new culture and no longer assimilate with their old culture. In the past, people in this level would go as far as changing their last name and religious views to fully dissociate themselves from their old culture
Also disclosed in the 2012 Census was the four major language groups identified as Spanish, Asian/Pacific, Arabic, and Indo-European which includes Germanic, Scandinavian, Romance, Slavic, Indic, and Celtic (Ryan, 2013). In a 2009 survey, six percent of Americans reported that they speak “less than very well” English (Battle, 2012). A different survey reported that sixty two percent of first-generation Hispanic immigrants, eleven million people, speak little to no English. Also reported in the survey was that forty percent of Hispanic immigrants do not think it is necessary to learn or speak English (Newman, 2012). Other sources indicate approximately sixty three percent of both Chinese and Indian immigrants reported their level of English proficiency as “very well” (McCabe, 2012; Whatley, 2013). Because of the high levels of immigrants who do not speak English, the subject has become very popular in the political world. As of 2012, thirty US states had executed certain laws as an attempt to lower the level of non-English speaking people. An example of one of these laws is that in order to obtain a drivers license, a person must speak English adequately (Newman,