Who Resides behind the Words? Exploring and Understanding the Language Experience of the Non-English-Speaking Immigrant

Abstract

Issues of cultural diversity, race, and ethnicity have been profusely addressed in contemporary social work literature. However, the dimension of language experience in the recent immigrant has received minimal attention, and social service workers often overlook the importance of the client's native language in practice. Challenges facing the treatment of immigrants include language barrier and the immigrant's worldview, factors that need to be identified to discover the person within the client. Using the author's own experience and accounts from other immigrants, this article explores the non-English-speaking new immigrant's language subjective experience and its unique implications for self-evaluations. Honest curiosity on the part of the worker is emphasized.