English

“Every inmigrant who comes here should learn English within five years or they will have to leave  the country “said Theodore Rooosevelt in 1918.In facty,almost all of them did amnage to learn English.Earlier in the 1900s ,it still migth have been possible to find isolated towns in the Midwest where the inhabitants only spoke Duth,German or Danish.

When they did learn English ,you migth think they also kept their mother tongue to speak at home,but in fact they did not.In the end ,Englsih become the only language people spoke .

Nowadays ther must be very few families in the United States that do not use English both inside and outside the home.

By 1930,so many immigrants had arrived in the United States  that more than 35% of Americans must have been  born outside the country.Many parents thougth their childtren should learn their mother tongue first,but many children of immigrants refused to learn it ,many of them felt embarrased when their  parents spoke their mother tongue in public.

To get ahead in America ,immigants felt they  had to give uptheir old habits and become more American,to do this ,they thougth they had  to get rid of their exotic name and have an American name ,wear American clothes and speak like an American.It might have been possible to get  by without learning English but most immigrants  chose to learn the new language.