Language Issues of Migrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Reimagining Migrant (Linguistic) Integration Programs in (Post-)Pandemic Times

Abstract

This paper surveys the language issues experienced by migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently proposes a (linguistic) integration program for migrants, which is responsive and sensitive to their needs particularly during crises and emergencies. Migrants’ access to disease prevention and health care has been limited, and one of the reasons for this is the language barrier. Likewise, migrants have also voiced out their difficulty communicating with health care providers also because of language. Migrants have also felt isolation because of their inability to reach out to people who could likewise speak their language and they can communicate with. Another harsh situation they have been put into during the pandemic was when racist and xenophobic language was directed at them, when they have been thought of as carriers of the dreaded disease. Changes and disturbances in migration patterns have likewise impacted how language has been used in contexts of mobility. A proposed (linguistic) integration program for migrants gives special attention to crisis and emergency situations, one which equips them with necessary knowledge, information, skills, and language for living in their destination countries and surviving crises and emergencies.