“Huer is da bas?” — El Book teaches Spanish-speaking immigrants basic English
El Book, developed by Fluenz, is an English primer aimed at Spanish-speaking refugees and “disadvantaged immigrants” (such as migrant workers). The developing team put the short book and its accompanying CD on the Internet for free; they encourage groups and individuals to print out the book, burn the CD, and distribute them to migrants.
The book teaches English words and phrases that migrants may find useful. By pairing descriptive graphics, simple English sentences, and Spanish transliterations, it gets its point across even to migrants with little education.
A page from El Book.
It would be interesting to see this guide adapted for migrants who speak languages other than Spanish. Considering that the US has a large Chinese-speaking immigrant community, Chinese may be a good place to start. In August, Beijing Sounds featured a 1993 English phrasebook for Mandarin speakers published in China. The phrasebook transliterated English sentences into Chinese characters; theoretically, a Standard Mandarin speaker would be able to produce fairly understandable English by saying the nonsensical strings of characters printed in the book. The guest blogger invited a TV announcer to read the phrases; the book clearly did not accomplish its goal, as the sentences were incomprehensible. He then shows that careful transliteration can make such a phrasebook viable.
El Book is an innovative way to help migrants navigate American society. It doesn’t judge by nationality or immigration status, and attempts to make itself useful even to migrants with little education. If you have any interest in this, I encourage you to spread the word.
