Challenge of Learning a National Language

Increased globalization forces people to immigrate and families and individuals to different parts of the world interacting across other languages. Since language affects most aspects of everyday life, these newcomers have communication struggles. This inability to communicate is frustrating, and these Candian immigrants become isolated from the rest of the community or even from their cultural roots. This struggle creates problems for them, such as difficulty finding work, getting an education, accessing services, finding a place to stay, generally getting around, and can affect their identity.

Canada has one of the world's largest immigrant populations. More than 1 in 5 people were born outside the country, reported back in 2020 by Statistics Canada. Language is key to a person's self-identity, and it enables a person to express their feelings, tell stories, and convey messages. Canadian Immigrants try to learn the language to benefit many things fluent English speakers can, and stepping out of their comfort zone in learning English can be intimidating. The lack of self-believing can affect the person's identity, but they often experience unmotivated when they are not happy with the results.

Adjusting life to a new country, especially for adults, can impact a person's identity. Not communicating with people in the community can negatively impact a person's self-esteem, and immigrants who can't speak the language well are assumed to be lazy or too stubborn. They underestimate the effort involves in language learning. The outcome of learning a language is unpredictable since it depends on the person's age, level of education, or access to interactional opportunities. The expectancy of learning a language in a short period is usually a factor why immigrants may give up on learning.

Today, Canadian culture has been more open in accepting different cultures, and it is still important to embrace different heritages. But language is always important to find, and it is a never-ending struggle for Canadian immigrants to overcome the language barrier. It depends on the person to not lose their self-motivation to continue and not to give up. It is challenging to perfect a language, and having to face its own set of hurdles may be scary, but nothing is impossible. Learning a new language outweighs the cons, and fighting the fear to meet the challenge can positively result in a person being proud of and enjoying the benefits of this without having regrets.