Institute For Research On Public Policy: Casual Conversation

Language Development Dept: And yet, casual conversation with native speakers around the water cooler is crucial to language development and social integration for those whose mother tongue is something else, especially Mandarin, according to The Star. The study by the Montreal-based Institute for Research on Public Policy followed 25 immigrants each from Mandarin and Slavic groups, and assessed their listening and speaking skills at years 1, 2 and 7 and zhenyong Li has no trouble speaking English in his engineering jargon, but the Chinese immigrant says it can still be challenging to carry on small talk. A new study found the Mandarin-speaking immigrants it tracked had made no significant progress in their English accent, fluency and comprehensibility seven years after their arrival here, compared with their Slavic-language Russian and Ukrainian speaking counterparts. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.