TY  - RPRT
        AU  - DeVoretz, Don J.
AU  - Hinte, Holger
AU  - Werner, Christiane
        TI  - How Much Language is Enough? Some Immigrant Language Lessons from Canada and Germany
        PY  - 2002/Aug/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 555
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp555
        AB  - Germany and Canada stand at polar ends of the scientific debate over language integration
and ascension to citizenship. German naturalization, as of January 2000, contains an explicit
language criterion for naturalization. The first German immigration act that will presumably
come into effect on January 1, 2003, does not only concentrate on control aspects but also
aims at language as a criterion for legal immigration. Canada, in effect, does not base entry
or citizenship on knowledge of either of its official languages. Acquisition of a second
language in Canada is voluntary and largely dependent on labour market incentives. Which
system of second language acquisition – the statist German system or the laissez faire
Canadian model – provides the best milieu for immigrant second language acquisition? This
paper undertakes a comparative review of Canadian and German legal and educational
programs in order to answer this question.

        KW  - migration politics
KW  - language skills
KW  - integration
KW  - immigration
KW  - citizenship
        ER  -