Learning English tough but worth the struggle

New Canadians dive in at the deep end and keep themselves afloat by speaking English and/or French. Language is a lifesaver. This is why a new lawsuit by migrant construction workers against Ottawa for requiring a language test before granting permanent residency is ultimately self-destructive.

It’s like a student not studying for an exam, and then saying there shouldn’t be an exam at all, plus the other students got better marks, and they didn’t even study at all because they were born lucky. It’s a fascinating lawsuit because the complainants are exactly the kind of people Canada needs. They’re skilled construction workers from Italy, Portugal and Poland who, as the Star’s Nicholas Keung has reported, have been here for two years under the Federal Skilled Trades program.

I get a bit overwrought about the value of skilled tradesmen. When you live in an older house, you stare at pipes, mystified. These particular pipes in this particular basement were placed flush against the outside wall with the insulation on the inside of the room. That makes no sense. Who does that? A previous owner who did a reno on the cheap, that’s who. Everyone has a dull little story like that, proof that we need expertise.

These construction workers had to pass an English proficiency test before being considered for permanent resident status but despite two years in Canada and repeated tries, they couldn’t do it. Keung talked to a Portuguese tradesman who had failed the mandatory test three times.

“I had to write a letter in 150 words to ask a friend for photos taken during a vacation and a 250-word essay to explain why kids learn faster than adults,” said the man, a 27-year-old Portuguese cement finisher. He complained the test had nothing to do with his job.

I disagree. It’s not just that tradesmen have a lot of prose to deal with, like building codes, violations, instructions on equipment and vehicles, and driving tests. It’s not even that writing a note about a problem or delay might well be required in the course of a working day.

It’s that you would need to read and write such basic things just to survive alone. Imagine not being able to read a rental agreement, ballot or prescription. An illiterate citizen couldn’t fill out a census form, should there still be one in coming years.

I’m thinking of the recent case reported by the CBC’s GoPublic about a 45-yearold man allegedly cheated out of $12,000 in a real estate deal via a document he couldn’t read. Despite having been in Canada since 1990, he had his 17-year-old son translate. The man, whose reading was at a Grade 3-4 level, trusted his realtor friend, the son told the CBC. “He didn’t think someone of the same religion would do something like that to him.”

The fact is, the best new citizens are babies. Children pick up languages easily. Adults can do it but correct pronunciation is hard, thanks to the many small rules of particular languages.

French has its masculine and féminin, which a child imbibes automatically, but English — so popular, so beloved — is said to be the toughest language to learn, clustered with consonants and different pronunciation of letters depending on context.

But as shown by the CBC story, even the best-intentioned English-speaking child can’t completely cover for a parent illiterate in English.

The lawsuit claims the residency rules favour people from Ireland, England, France and Australia who already speak English or French. It claims this is racist intent on the part of the immigration department, but one suspects it more resembles luck. One goes to where the jobs are, as the massive internal immigration within the EU is proving during a time of crisis.

I sympathize with the foreign workers. I struggle to maintain my French in my Anglo world, reading French novels and watching TV5 to keep it flowing through my head. It’s a hard slog until the magic moment, an hour in, when something clicks and comprehension seems to happen.

Writing is different. I could easily ask a friend for photos but could not say in written French whether his cement was “spalling” (flaking) or not, or how to set and cure INTEND, nor which masonry blade to use. I can barely explain this in English.

The French, I’m certain, won’t have me. They’re probably right. I can’t swim in their language as easily as I need to. What use am I to them or them to me?

As for the lawsuit’s allegation of racism, it says Jason Kenney, former immigration minister now in charge of our war, travelled to Ireland and England recently to promote immigration, and has mentioned “shared values.” But I thought the Brits and Irish quietly detested each other. I share no values with Kenney. My values are Canadian. Study harder. Seja bem-vindo, as they say in Lisbon. Welcome.

It’s a fascinating lawsuit because the complainants are exactly the kind of people Canada needs. They’re skilled construction workers from Italy, Portugal and Poland