Abstract

There is an oft-expressed assumption in immigration nations such as the U.S. and Germany that with the recent increases in immigration there has been a decrease in the speed with which immigrants become proficient in the host language. We decided to put that assumption to the test with two large immigrant groups in two large immigrant nations: the Mexicans in the U.S. and Turks in Germany. There is a great concern in both these countries that immigrants assimilate as quickly as possible. Our overarching question was: to what extent is <i>linguistic assimilation </i> occurring among these groups in these countries and how are language policies impacting language assimilation and affecting the groups involved.