Rhetorical Analysis

Jose D Junco
University of Texas at El Paso
















Abstract

Language barriers still stop many Latinos from seeking better jobs and U.S. citizenship is an
article that will give us insight into how difficult can it be for an immigrant to come to a whole
new country where they need to adapt into whole new ways of living and we will also see if that
proves to be an advantage or can it be a weakness for the person that is going to immigrate. The
article will provide several facts and statistics that will show the reader if coming into the United
States without knowing the English language looking for a better or stable job is a good idea.














Coming to live into a whole different country can be difficult, even more if you arent
familiar with the language that is spoken in that country. This can cause major communication
problems between people. The article being presented is dealing with this very important issue,
and hopefully will help anyone who is facing the same problem. The article that is going to be
analyzed is written by Velia Quiroz, who is a recurrent writer on the website Borderzine. The
title of the article is Language barriers still stop many Latinos from seeking better jobs and U.S.
Citizenship, and it was written on February 7
th
, 2014. In here we are presented with the issue of
language, and how difficult can it be for someone who comes from another country to arrive into
a whole new culture and traditions. Immigrants can have doubts about this, is it worth the
money, the wait? Hopefully this article will be able to provide a clearer picture for them.

Latinos keep having difficulties finding a better job inside the United States, and they
also have problems seeking their U.S. Citizenship, because of where they come from. People
keep coming over to the United States looking for a better job that the one they currently have,
and even for a better life overall. Juan Garcia Aleman was one of this people. He came into the
United States looking for a job in the 1950s. At the time it wasnt necessary for him to know the
English language, since he worked inside the boot-making Tony Lama Company for twenty
years. He was able to obtain his citizenship only because he was over the age of fifty, and was
able to take the exam in Spanish, and as I said earlier, had lived in the United States for over
twenty years. Mr. Aleman has a wife and five children, whom which all are bilingual, except for
him.Most of the time the people that come over to the United States don't know the basics of the
English language, as Juan Garcia Aleman, and this has proven to be a real problem for them and
their immediate future because thanks to this they will struggle inside the United States because
they aren't able to communicate properly their interests, hence not getting a job, or the U.S.
Citizenship.

Immigration from Mexico into the United States has increased in the last thirty years. As
a result many citizens have found the necessity of learning either the English language, or the
Spanish language, creating a bilingual community all over the border. El Paso is a pretty good
example of this. Many citizens of El Paso have relatives in Ciudad Juarez, and vice versa, so
learning either language can prove to be an advantage, because if you learn either language then
youll not have to face this big problem of language barrier. Bilingual communities are also
increasing inside the United States. For example, Los Angeles has a population of 3.8 million
citizens, and less than fifty percent speak English as their first language. In the future will may
see an entire bilingual country because of all the citizens that have the ability to speak both
languages, and theyll maybe teach it to their children, siblings, etc.

There are various ways for applying for a U.S. Citizenship. Like the process of
naturalization for example. Thanks to the naturalization you can get the citizenship within five
years of being a United States resident. Another example presented in the article is the one of
marrying a United States citizen; in this case they can apply for a citizenship after three years of
marriage. This provides various ways for immigrants to obtain their citizenship, and wouldnt
take that long as in comparison with other options.


The article also provides us with very useful information about how you can learn the
English language. It gives us contact information about the Diocesan Center, which is located
here in El Paso, Texas. It offers English classes that are open to the public in general. They
provide with classes from Tuesday all the way to Thursdays on the afternoon. This information is
really valuable because thanks to these Immigrants coming into El Paso will be able to see that it
isnt that hard for them to go out and learn the English language.

There is a website of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in this website we
can see a lot of information regarding naturalization, and everything that is needed in order to get
a citizenship. There is also mention, in the article, about what benefits do citizens receive. A
citizen of the United States will be able to vote, apply for a federal job; a citizen is also able to
run for elected office. They will also have their U.S. passports of course. All of this gives us a
clearer picture about the whole naturalization process and what comes with it.

The text is written as an article/interview. The article is characterized by dealing with
breaking news, stories with human interest topics. The article is divided into four sections, which
are headline, lead sentence, body, and conclusion. Well written articles are characterized by the
writers objectivity and it shows to the audience all the sides of the problem being presented
inside the article. Also all the articles have reliable sources. Interviews on the other hand can be
characterized by discussing temporary issues. The interviews can include graphs, photos, polls,
debates, debates on the topic, etc. anything that supports the topic being discussed. The topic
being discussed in this article is that language can prove to be a real tough barrier for Latinos that
are coming into the United States, or even more if you want to get a job.

The targeted audience is, in the majority, Latinos who are looking to immigrate to the
United States and perhaps are concerned about what troubles it can cause to arrive to the United
States without knowing that well the English language. The article is trying to convince the
audience by making use of logos throughout the whole article.

The author of the article is Velia Quiroz. She is currently pursuing a Major in Multimedia
Journalism here at the University of Texas at El Paso, and has written several articles for the
website Borderzine.com. She has the motivation to write this article because she is a bilingual
herself and she feels the need of helping someone who maybe needs to come to the United States
and wants to make them aware of what maybe they'll be facing if they come into the country.

Language barriers still stop many Latinos from seeking better jobs and U.S. citizenship
resulted to be a really insightful article/interview about what immigrants have faced and could
face when they come into the United States. It relies heavily on logos and it is really effective on
the reader. Since the beginning, Quiroz (2014) provides us that there are several cases of
language barriers here in the city, and that he isnt alone on this problem. The article also
provides great useful data for immigrants and citizens of the border to see that they arent alone
on the aspect of speaking a foreign language and that there is an easy solution for it.





References

Quiroz, V. (2014, February 7). Language barriers still stop many Latinos from seeking better
jobs and U.S citizenship | Borderzine. Retrieved from http://borderzine.com/2014/02/language-
barriers-still-stop-many-latinos-from-seeking-better-jobs-and-u-s-citizenship/