An official British Government agency chose to mark UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day and its theme of ‘harmonious environment for all languages’ by questioning whether non-English speaking immigrants should be admitted to the country.
The recently established Commission on Integration and Cohesion “wants ministers to consider changing immigration rules to ensure new arrivals have some command of the language before being allowed to come as a worker or through marriage”. The BBC also report that “The government also proposes to cut benefits to those who cannot prove they are learning English”.
Where such statements to be made regarding skin colour or religion there would be howls of protest, however the London government takes for granted language supremacy of the and the need force it upon all those unfortunates who have not yet been civilised with the Queen’s English.
Despite much tolerance towards immigrant communities regarding dress and religion why is it that the British seem to feel such great discomfort with those who do not adopt English as their mother tongue? This is stark contrast to hundreds of thousands of British people when they themselves re-locate and refuse to learn the languages of the countries they have moved to such as the Mediterranean costas or rural Wales.
In the past indigenous languages such as Gaelic and Welsh were prohibited form the British education system in an attempt to eradicate them. Even this Saturday (24 Feb, 2007) campaigners will hold a demonstration outside Belfast City Hall calling for basic rights and recognition for Irish, a language illegal in British ruled Northern Ireland until the early 1990s.
Where such statements to be made regarding skin colour or religion there would be howls of protest, however the London government takes for granted language supremacy of the and the need force it upon all those unfortunates who have not yet been civilised with the Queen’s English.
Despite much tolerance towards immigrant communities regarding dress and religion why is it that the British seem to feel such great discomfort with those who do not adopt English as their mother tongue? This is stark contrast to hundreds of thousands of British people when they themselves re-locate and refuse to learn the languages of the countries they have moved to such as the Mediterranean costas or rural Wales.
In the past indigenous languages such as Gaelic and Welsh were prohibited form the British education system in an attempt to eradicate them. Even this Saturday (24 Feb, 2007) campaigners will hold a demonstration outside Belfast City Hall calling for basic rights and recognition for Irish, a language illegal in British ruled Northern Ireland until the early 1990s.
Comments
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Second skin
22.02.2007 11:25
- you can't learn a new skin-colour; and if you could, that would imply discarding the present colour. It's not the same thing.
"why is it that the British seem to feel such great discomfort with those who do not adopt English as their mother tongue?"
Nobody is being asked to change their mother tongue; they are being asked to learn the local lingo, as a second language, if they want to immigrate.
"This is stark contrast to hundreds of thousands of British people (...)"
Are we supposed to see the behaviour of the British abroad as examplary? I hope not.
It would be a major benefit to immigrants if they could learn the language. Many immigrants, especially women, are prevented from learning the language. This is disempowering. They have restricted access to work, and are excluded from political processes. I think it's nuts that we allow people to immigrate without making any commitment to learning english.
Mr. D.
Don't confuse
22.02.2007 14:54
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PS
22.02.2007 14:59
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ban the deaf aswell
23.02.2007 03:43
How dare they , they should be taught to speak Lizzies English at once.
Gettin' like bleedin' Deffistan round ere lately.
daggle
Oh the hilarity!
23.02.2007 23:03
They are just beating the right-wing straw men again.
A certain degree of local language is essential for the social mobility of any incomers. Do you really think that it is a bad thing to insist that immigrants empower themselves with a certain level of communication? Or do you think it is totally fair to leave them in minority language ghettos?
The sick thing is Blair is silently backtracking on helping immigrants from gaining the very skills he is demanding.
The argument shouldn't be about whether they should learn English but rather to get away from that distraction and demand that the government puts it money where its mouth is.
English Language Teacher
Agreed But
24.02.2007 08:52
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