To bridge the gap

Jessica:	America has often been called “the land of opportunity.” Do you think it still is?
Chris:	Depends on who you ask...
Jessica:	It’s fair to say that immigrants still think of the United States as the land of opportunity. Almost 13% of the U.S. population is foreign-born. That’s more than 40 million people! And according to the Census Bureau, by 2060 that number is projected to reach 78 million!
Chris:	So what you’re saying is that the growing immigrant population is proof that at least this group of people still sees the “opportunity?”
Jessica:	Absolutely.
Chris:	That’s a very interesting angle because you know, you could argue that immigrants are the group that has to work hardest to take advantage of those opportunities.
Jessica:	Yes! I’m both amazed and humbled when I think of all the hard work that immigrants need to do to bridge the gap between themselves and their new communities in the US.
Chris:	There’s so much to do and so much to learn when you’re trying to integrate. Just think of the first and most obvious challenge: Learning English!
Jessica:	I’m not sure how they do it, but most of the newcomers that I’ve met in my life have bridged the language gap within just a few years to become very versatile in English. And their kids, forget about it! They become fluent within months!
Chris:	Yeah, but language acquisition in children has its challenges, too. I’ve read that some kids go through a so-called “silent phase.”
Jessica:	Is that a period of time when a child refuses to speak?
Chris:	Yup. Some children appear to shut down and withdraw from their classes at school, as they struggle to bridge the gap between themselves and their classmates.
Jessica:	That must be so hard on them.
Chris:	But, hey, it might be worth it… Studies show that in comparison to monolingual children, bilingual children demonstrate higher levels of performance, in both language and literacy skills later in life.
Jessica:	I don’t mean to be a stick-in-the-mud but I think there is a downside to these first-generation Americans bridging the language gap so easily and quickly.
Chris:	Really? Besides the temporary silent phase, I can’t think of a single one.
Jessica:	Their parents speak their native language at home and their children respond in English!
Chris:	Oh! So the challenge then becomes saving your native language.
Jessica:	Many immigrant children who came to this country at the age of 10 or earlier aren’t fluent in their native language as adults. This is especially true for children who didn’t have a “house rule” to speak that native language at home.
Chris:	So immigrant parents need to learn English at the same time that they are trying to maintain their native language at home so their children won’t lose it.
Jessica:	That’s it. Double duty for the parents. And that’s on top of bridging the gap socially, culturally and economically, it’s no surprise that many families who come to the U.S. just focus on English.
Chris:	Or sometimes we get an interesting fusion of two languages at home, like Spanglish!
Jessica:	Good ol’ Spanglish! Yes, cultural integration can take many forms. I guess America will always be a land of opportunity...as long as we all make an effort to bridge the gap.

To bridge the gap

What does a bridge do? It connects two pieces of land across a geographical divide –or gap– often a body of water. Here is another way to look at it: a bridge makes the distance between two places, shorter.

Figuratively speaking, to bridge the gap means to make the difference between two things, smaller or less significant. Bridging the gap means connecting things or people, which are otherwise unrelated, by adding something or finding something in common between them. This phrase is often followed by the word “between.”

We most often say bridge the gap to describe a thing or an action which brings individuals or groups of people closer together in some way. Another possible use of bridge the gap is to describe a thing which has qualities from two different types of things.

This idiom is likely very old, which makes sense because so are bridges! It first starts to appear in print in the late 1800s.

Example 1:

An interpreter can help bridge the gap between patients and doctors who don’t speak the same language.

Example 2:

This car bridges the gap between utility and leisure. It combines the towing power of a small truck and the speed and design of a sports car.

Example 3:

I did not get along with my roommate at all until we discovered that we had something in common. Our love for classic movies bridged the gap!