Very true. I did not say though that past immigrants didn't assimilate, but that simply as more and more immigrants have came in the desire for assimilation over intigration has increased.
This is compounded by the increase of illegals, which by and large generally have less of a grasp for the countries history and heritage and a far worse grasp on the language.
As a person who has a familial relationship with immigrant cultures from two different countries (by birth and marriage, many of which originally entered the country both legally and illegally) and friendship relationships with immigrants form many other countries, I would say that it really depends on the individual (and the grasp of English often has to do with the country of origin. Nobody in the Irish culture has a language problem when they come here, but I know a **** ton of formerly illegal Irish immigrants).
I would say that the real issue is whether the immigration from that nation decreases over time or increases/stays the same over time. If the former, assimilation will occur in very few generations. If the latter, it tends to happen in later generations.
Language is an extremely important barrier for a country and a culture. Legal Immigrants must demonstrate at least a workable level of English based on an oral test and answering variety of questions given in English. This is not the case of Illegals.
I may be wrong, but I'm not aware of any specific tests required to gain legal residency, only for Naturalization
For example, my mother-in-law spoke no English when she arrived in the US as a legal immigrant in the mid-70's. In fact, my wife (a natural-born US citizen) did not speak any English herself until she was five because Italian (more accurately Sicilian) was the only language spoken at home.
Ironically, my father, as an Irishman, spoke English fluently when he arrived here
illegally in '71. (He became a US Citizen in 1977 shortly after my birth, so if anyone wants to freak out and calls for his deportation have at it, but it ain't happening :2razz
The Language barrier has increased drastically as more and more illegals have came into the country.
And while there were the places like little italy and china town, to my understanding many of those places were rather open and inviting to the population to come into them (Though honestly I may be wrong on this). While they kept their culture they did not necessarily essentially form into sub pockets isolated from others which seems to be more common now.
Additionally, and correct me if I am wrong Tuck, but it has always been my understanding that there was generally a notion of patriotism that went through much of the immigration population that came into the country. Not a feeling that somehow they're entitled to be here, but that they were lucky to be in a place of such oppertunity. That they loved the country and while they did keep and honor their past culture they embraced also that this was their home. I don't remember a lot of resturants in the past, or even in modern day DC's china town, with Chinese flags strewn along the wall or hanging outside the shop. I don't know if in Little Italy shop names were written out Italian rather than English.
Depends on the country of origin. Chinese flags will probably be unlikely in part due to the nature of the Chinese government.
Irish flags and Italian flags are insanely common in Chicago. And polish flags have been all over the place since the Polish president's plane went down.
Also, sticking with Chicago, I've seen shop names in Korean, Chinese, Polish, Italian, Serbian, Arabic, etc, etc, etc.
Perhaps I'm wrong on that, but even if I am it doesn't change the notion that I think that's what many believe...even if it is a romanticized perhaps hollywood version of it...and the prevelance of something so strikingly different from that causes the aggitation.
Personally, I believe it is a romanticized version of things. And I also agree that this romanticized version of things does tend to cause the agitation once the not-so-romantic-reality intervenes.
That said, I know I can go around through Herndon Virginia and see China King (chinese), Spice World (indian), and Mediteranian Breeze (greek) with a mix of customers going in and understandable english being spoken while seeing "la computadora estacion" and "El Supermercado III" with mexican flags hanging from it and not a single white person within site.
There are a few factors here:
1. It's Virginia. Not knocking Virginia in any way, but how big are the immigrant communities from other places besides Mexico? You said it's a more recent phenomenon. If there is a small immigrant community from these restaurant's countries of origin, they will need to target Americans. Would your average Virginian go to a restaurant named "Lao Sze Chuan", "Tandoor" or "Psistaria" (which would be some of my favorite Chinese, Indian, and Greek restaurants, respectively, here in Chicago)? Not to mention Edelweiss (German), Oggi Tratoria (Italian), Staropolska (Polish), San Soo Gab San (Korean) etc, etc, etc.
2. Are these restaurants with English names actually
owned by immigrants who's food it is serving? The Greek restaurant might be since Greeks tend to love starting restaurants all over the world. HAve the burger joints in Chicago are Greek owned. Hell, the the Chinese and Indian place could be owned by Greeks as well. :lol:.
Maybe the fact that I'm from Chicago, which has one of the most diverse immigrant communities in the country affects my stance about assimilation.
And I'm not just seeing Spanish either. In fact, I see quite a few more Polish signs than Spanish ones. Especially in my neighborhood, which has become predominantly Polish and Serbian.
Sure, its superficial and its silly, and its mostly just an image thing, but its stuff like that which causes some of the split between what people think of as immigrants and what they think of when they think illegal. When 80% of the illegal immigrant population is hispanic, and when the hispanic culture and locations in the country seem to be the least inviting and the least assimilated, then it raises the dislike for the seeming lack of assimilation in people.
It's really just the same old, same old. People tend to dislike the primary immigrant group of a region, regardless of where they come from. Mostly because of their misguided ideas that immigrant groups usually assimilate when they come in large numbers.
In reality, it's the general size immigrant community in the region, regardless of whether it is legally here or illegally here, that prevents the appearance of assimilation. this is because assimilation occurs at a slower rate than immigration.
