Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/21373 
Year of Publication: 
2002
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 555
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
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.
Subjects: 
immigration
integration
language skills
migration politics
citizenship
JEL: 
J61
F22
J60
I29
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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