Immigrate and emigrate

[Ju]

"It depends on where you are when you say it.
Let's say Anya migrated from Sweden to England.
If you are in England, you can say, "Anya immigrated [to here] from Sweden ".
If you are in Sweden, you can say, "Anya emigrated [from here] to England."

But if you are in France, you don't say, "Anya immigrated from Sweden." nor, "Anya emigrated to Engand." These would imply 'to France' and 'from France' respectively."

I copied the above post from the old thread. I don't understand the second paragraph about in France.

Can someone help?

Thanks.

 

[Tdol]

A person in France is not at either end of Anya's journey, so the prefixes don't make much sense. The Swedish and British perspectives seen in the directions the prefixes give are not very useful to someone outside the loop, like someone in France as they have neither entered nor left it.

 

[Ju]

A person in France is not at either end of Anya's journey, so the prefixes don't make much sense. The Swedish and British perspectives seen in the directions the prefixes give are not very useful to someone outside the loop, like someone in France as they have neither entered no left it.

Hi Tdol,
Do you agree with the context in the first paragraph?

 

[GoesStation]

A person immigrates to the country they're moving to. They emigrate from the country they have left. You can say that someone immigrated to the United States regardless of where you are when you say it.

The prefix im-​ is helpfully similar to the preposition "in", so this is easy to remember.

 

[Ju]

A person immigrates to the country they're moving to. They emigrate from the country they have left. You can say that someone immigrated to the United States regardless of where you are when you say it.

The prefix im-​ is helpfully similar to the preposition "in", so this is easy to remember.

Hi GoStation,

Your explanation is very helpful. Then how about the usage of "migrate"? Does it only apply to animals?

Thanks.

 

[GoesStation]

Then how about the usage of "migrate"? Does it only apply to animals?

Not entirely. We speak of migrant farm workers, for example. But the verb migrate is only rarely applied to people.

 

[Ju]

Hi GoStation,

Your explanation is very helpful. Then how about the usage of "migrate"? Does it only apply to animals?

Thanks.

I'll try to make sentences as follows.

1. Jan has just immigrated to the United States last week.

2. Jan has just emigrated to the United States from China last week.

3. A flock of birds migrates from the south to the north coast of the country.

Are they correct?

 

[GoesStation]

I'll try to make sentences as follows.

1. Jan has just immigrated to the United States last week.

2. Jan has just emigrated to the United States from China last week.

3. A flock of birds migrates from the south to the north coast of the country.

Are they correct?

1 and 2 would be correct if you removed either has or last week.

Number 3 is grammatical, but the present continuous is more typical in most contexts.

 

[Ju]

1 and 2 would be correct if you removed either has or last week.

Number 3 is grammatical, but the present continuous is more typical in most contexts.

The correction will be:


1. Jan has just immigrated to the United States.

2. Jan has just emigrated to the United States from China.

3. A flock of birds is migrating from the south to the north coast of the country.

Are they correct now?

 

[Barb_D]

I would reorder #2: emigrated FROM China to the United States. The US part is not part of the idea of emigrating from China.

 

[Tdol]

Your explanation is very helpful. Then how about the usage of "migrate"? Does it only apply to animals?

Not to me, though the noun is more common. However, we might be more likely to use another verb like moved/went to live, etc, in this context.