Political correctness vs. common sense.

[StevePSB]

This man has a point:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nott ... 951778.stm

I work in an area packed with immigrants (and I don't doubt plenty of illegals as well) from all over the world. I am English, I live in England, work in England and I speak English. Often customers who come to me who live here can barely speak a word of English, in one case not a single word of English. How on earth do they expect you to help them? Why come here if you can't/won't make the effort to speak the language? It's not as if it's a holiday to these people - they live here!

The people arguing that the comments made by this chap are unnacceptable are so blinded by the infuriating political correctness that blights us all these days they can't see the common sense argument that's right in front of them. I despair sometimes.


StevePSB

[Radiophonic]

I think the English language, as we know it, will die out over the next hundred years or so. But then language is ever-evolving.

Y'getme?

[Your Funny Uncle]

While I do think that people who come to the UK should have to learn English, I don't think it's in shops that it needs to be enforced.

It may not be a holiday for those you are talking about, Steve, but the idea of not serving someone in a shop because they don't speak English would indeed discriminate against real holidaymakers.

I do think that even within the EU, those that that go to live on a permanent basis in another country should be made to learn at least the basics of the local language. This would also apply to British ex-pats in Spain and France, for example...

[BlueSwan]

I don't think he has a point at all. Infact, I think he's an arrogant bigot. Yes, I expect immigrants to make the effort to learn the local language, but not everybody are capable of it. Some refugees suffering from PTSD are virtually unable to pick up a new language. Governmental agencies should be able to service all inhabitants, regardless of them not all being able to speak english fluently.

[Undertaker]

You can now walk into a shop in your home town where they don't understand English. There are more and more Polish food shops opening and Eastern European stores.

Only yesterday i got a fire prevention book through the letterbox and half of it was in Polish.

[DJ_Couture]

Is he also going to be refusing deaf customers who use sign language? "Can't understand that nonsense mate, sorry!" Or how about people whose language skills are somewhat sub-par. "What do you mean you want less stamps? You mean you want fewer stamps. Clear off!"

Yes, he does have a point, but I don't think this is the right way to go about it.

[Kris]

I do think that even within the EU, those that that go to live on a permanent basis in another country should be made to learn at least the basics of the local language. This would also apply to British ex-pats in Spain and France, for example...

Yes, I was going to make a similar point. I don't know how many English ex-pats in Spain can speak Spanish but I bet it's not that many as most seem to move into 'English' areas and don't bother assimilating with the locals. That's not right at all, in my opinion.

I definitely agree that those who move here should speak English or at least learn it but in my experience - I live in an area of London with a very high population of immigrants - I've very rarely encountered someone who couldn't speak a word. I often frequent a local cafe and about six months ago a waitress who had recently emigrated from Hungary started working there and had a very limited grasp of English. Now she's more or less fluent, so people do mostly try, and are capable of picking it up fast.

[Fugitive1979]

In my opinion, genuine refugees should be welcomed and helped appropriately. Those who are coming here for the sake of it should have to have at least a basic grasp of English AND be willing to improve on their current standard. ALL should be willing to adapt to the British way of life and British Cultures and laws. Those who don't can catch the return flight/ferry/lorry trailer, etc back home.

[loveetc]

Agree with Steve here. How can you expect post offices and other services' staff to speak the 6000+ world's languages or the 100+ foreign languages spoken in England? It's clear that immigrants have to learn at least the basics.

Of course that takes a while, but in the meantime, they can get things written down for them or something, but I don't think it's fair to make other people cope with the longer waits and all the hassle caused by communication through gestures etc.

That said, I think most English-speakers (even expats) are very unkeen on learning a second or third language, which tends to be of enormous help in understanding the mindset and culture of foreigners.

[StevePSB]

It may not be a holiday for those you are talking about, Steve, but the idea of not serving someone in a shop because they don't speak English would indeed discriminate against real holidaymakers.

If someone is on holiday and doesn't make the effort to help themselves get by in a country with another language then they deserve all the problems that creates. If you live in a country which speaks in a language you don't then you have to question why bother coming here?

I have read a few more bits about this chap and he does seem to have gone a little far in certain cases, of which the story I linked to didn't mention, but I think the original argument applies.

He made the effort 18 years ago when he came to the country and he can be rightly proud of wanting to be part of this country, wanting to fit in and make his life successful here, but he also says (correctly IMHO) that there are certain people who come over here and have no intention of trying to fit in. He says that eventually we'll have second or third generations who can't speak the language and this type of behaviour is going to create ghettos. Britain divided up into ethnic and religious divides, sections not wishing to integrate with the rest of society and suspicion and lack of trust that comes as a result is not a future I wish to see for our country.


StevePSB

[StevePSB]

Meanwhile, in Australia I was reading of an English woman who has gone over there has to take some official test to prove she can speak English! You can't make it up!


StevePSB

[Drico One]

He says that eventually we'll have second or third generations who can't speak the language and this type of behaviour is going to create ghettos. Britain divided up into ethnic and religious divides, sections not wishing to integrate with the rest of society and suspicion and lack of trust that comes as a result is not a future I wish to see for our country.


StevePSB

That works two ways. Ghettos are not always the fault of the immigrant. They are very often the result of the racism of the indigenous population to the new arrivals. The fact is, many people are racist. These people then wonder (conveniently) why immigrants huddle together with their own.

The Daily Mail loves this kind of stuff. But heaven forfend that anybody consider readers of such a rag racist. They'd be highly offended, you know.

Drico.

[glennjridge]

some people leave their countrys to have a better life in others but they retain such diehard loyalty to their own former country that they dont want to assimilate to the new one. instead they would rather create their own little sub-citys and create somekind of proxy of the failed place they lived. weird.

the countrys they go to bend over backwards for these people.yet if you complain you are a racist. we're far to hard on ourselves for the success of our own countrys we look for excuses for those that come here and dont even want to assimilate.

[Your Funny Uncle]

Ghettoisiation of society is certainly something we should strive to avoid, however I very much doubt that you'll see generations of kids that don't speak English unless they never watch TV and never go to school. Young kids are sponges for languages and immigrant kids are usually bilingual and speak the language of their adopted country far better than their parents. If they are exposed to English in school, on TV, on the net and in films there's no way they aren't going to learn it.

[skyhigh]

Gimme a healthy dose of common sense any day please and as for political correctness, ram it!