When faced with hardships, people require resilience to adapt, overcome challenges and build character. Studies show that when immigrants are unfamiliar with the language of their new country, it creates barriers preventing proper integration into society, harming their mental health. Luckily, resilience is a concept that is built through the process of overcoming these language barriers, particularly in the workforce and by building a community in their new environments. Ultimately, the links between resilience, language and immigrants are incredibly strong and can ‘make or break’ the experiences of those entering a new country.
One of the most prominent challenges immigrants face is not being able to find employment because they cannot fluently speak the language of their adoptive country. This lack of local language skills can result in feelings of discouragement or isolation, but more importantly, it puts their financial security at risk. Language barriers, however, have also proven to inspire motivation in migrants to learn the language in order to adapt to their environment, thus building their resilience. For example, in Quebec, the dominant language is French, and many migrants who do not speak the language have difficulty getting or progressing in a job. In the article “Reconsidering the Conceptualization of Resilience: The Experiences of Refugee and Immigrant Youth in Montreal,” immigrants and refugees are interviewed regarding their experiences in Canada. One of the participants, a 24-year old-female who has lived in Montreal for three years, expressed how her lack of fluency in French impacted her ability to integrate into her workplace and city; the language barrier resulted in no promotional offers and very limited job opportunities in society. This participant’s experience shows how not knowing the language impacts migrants’ access to job opportunities in their new environment. This predicament necessitates prioritizing language acquisition due to its vital importance to the mental and economic stability of newly arrived immigrants. This concept is expanded on further by Ingo E. Isphording, an applied economist who asks, “What drives the language proficiency of immigrants?”. He reports that “language skills are a vital part of an immigrant’s human capital. Acquiring adequate proficiency in the host country language is an important driver of immigrant economic and social integration”. Recognizing the linguistic advantages non-migrants have in economic situations and how the efficiency of language acquisition is influenced by many factors (such as motivation), Isphording explains how low levels of language proficiency create high hurdles to participating in the labor market, joining in the political process, and engaging in everyday social interaction. Having adequate language skills allows immigrants to progress along the job ladder, increase their employment probability, and ease their access to better-paying jobs .
Understanding the importance of having adequate language skills in accessing opportunities available to local language speakers is arguably a major motivating factor for migrants. Their ability to persevere and obtain a working knowledge of the new language not only opens up opportunities but also helps build their resilience. Therefore, as Dr. Mohammed Ateek and other authors conclude, “it is important to understand the importance of language for refugees and its effect on their resilience in the host community as well as the integration process in general.”
When displaced from one’s home, social interaction and connections are essential to the growth, development and mental health of individuals, especially for migrants. Social skills are used to develop meaningful connections and relationships; equally important, interpersonal skills are strengthened through language, a vital form of communication. However, in a completely new environment, social interactions may be difficult to navigate. As a result, individuals who are displaced may struggle to build relationships and may experience a sense of loneliness and isolation. Immigrants face even greater challenges as they deal with both displacement and language barriers, making their experiences arduous. Due to a new culture, customs and stigma towards immigrants, migrants can feel more socially isolated and lonely for long periods of time as they adjust to their new and unfamiliar environment. This loss of social support magnifies the loneliness many immigrants experience, thus increasing the risk of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and even suicide. Although this sense of alienation has a negative impact on mental health, it has also proven to create resilience in immigrants as they overcome hurdles. In an article regarding the relationship between loneliness, social support and resilience in Latinx immigrants, Jane Lee asserts that “despite the negative impacts of loneliness on the mental health of Latinx immigrants, Latinx immigrants may exhibit or develop resilience when overcoming the adversity and challenges associated with migration and beyond” . Lee elaborates by stating that this resilience contributes to “positive outcomes such as academic achievement, employment, and realization of personal goals and social responsibilities”. It demonstrates immigrants’ willingness to rise from challenging circumstances and become more resilient in the process of overcoming social isolation and challenges with migration; hence, through overcoming these hardships, immigrants are able to grow their mental resilience.
While many immigrants have been able to overcome challenges with language barriers, some find it so insurmountable that they avoid using the language of their adoptive country. In this scenario, the difficulty of learning a new language makes migrants less likely to assimilate into their new community and instead results in socialization between people of the same native language. While the connection between resilience and language barriers is supported by evidence, some believe that language barriers do not bring resilience to immigrants and, rather, further isolates them. This occurrence happens because learning and speaking a new language can be intimidating, requiring a significant amount of effort and practice. As a result, immigrants may feel more comfortable retreating to their own linguistic communities, where they can communicate more easily and feel a sense of belonging. While this can be beneficial in the short term, it can lead to a lack of integration into the broader community in the long term, making it even more difficult for immigrants to participate in their new society fully. Yeşim Sevinç and Christine Anthonissen describe these avoidant tendencies in the article, “‘What’s the Problem? I Am Happy That You Are My Customer!’ African Immigrant Women’s Emotional Labour and Resilience in a Multilingual Workplace”. It explains how immigrants become avoidant and are unable to adapt to their situation. The article states that “emotions in the immigrant context indicates that negative emotions such as anxiety related to monolingual or cultural norms may prevail in immigrants’ daily lives. Immigrants may respond to these negative emotions with avoidance, for instance by avoiding using the language that makes them anxious” . This phenomenon is important because it makes it even more difficult for immigrants to assimilate into their new culture and environment. In the same article by Sevinça and Anthonissenma, it is described that immigrants either responded to negative mental health and feelings with avoidance or resilience. Their ability to respond with either avoidance or resilience depended on their ability—or inability—to express their feelings and emotions. When immigrants respond with avoidance, they are likely to have feelings of high anxiety and embarrassment. Sevinça and Anthonissenba found anecdotal evidence of this pattern by collecting personal experiences of immigrants, including the following example:
A 26-year-old second-generation Turkish-Dutch bilingual working as a hairdresser’s assistant mentions a primary source of anxiety and fear in using L2-Dutch to be the condescending way in which some so-called native Dutch clients correct trivial grammaticalities, reminding her of her outsider status, by asserting ‘WE don’t use this, WE use that!’. Immigrant bilinguals’ negative emotions relate largely to their experience of social exclusion channeled through others’ negative evaluations and direct error corrections which signal the authority and power of nativeness.
The article continues on to explain how “Feeling minimized causes anxiety that negatively affects immigrants’ language practices, language competence, and psychological well-being in a vicious circle” . Sevinç and Backus define this vicious circle as the “cyclical effect of a process in which negative emotions lead to avoidance (silence in interactions), avoidance leads to less language use and thus less linguistic improvement, which eventually provokes further negative emotions in the immigrant bilingual” . Therefore, while the immigrant experience has the potential to increase the resilience of migrants, it also has the opportunity to create the opposite effect: avoidance that leads to negative emotions, decreased socialization and a lack of assimilation into their new country.
In conclusion, immigrants face many challenges and adversities when adapting to a new country, one of the most significant barriers being language. However, despite the initial struggles, many immigrants have shown incredible resilience in overcoming these challenges and have built resilience and new lives for themselves. Through learning the language of their adoptive country, immigrants have the opportunity to establish new relationships and connections that can help them feel more integrated into their new communities. Additionally, immigrants who overcome the language barriers can use their newly acquired language skills to become more competitive in the workplace, equalizing opportunities given to local language speakers. While the link between resilience and language barriers is supported by evidence, some studies show that language barriers do not build resilience in immigrants but rather further isolate them. Regardless of which view is taken, one cannot ignore the increased numbers of displaced migrants seen today due to political, environmental, social and economic factors. These waves of immigration into Western counties have caused tension, with immigration becoming a polarizing and political issue. Ultimately, by recognizing the importance of language learning and providing support and resources to immigrants, society can help facilitate the process of integration and build stronger and more resilient, inclusive communities.