Attitudes towards foreigners
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In the news this past week, a British resident has been thrust into the spotlight for refusing to serve customers who couldn’t speak English.
I found this story of particular interest, not least because the man himself is not British. He is of Sri Lankan origin and emigrated to the UK and had to learn the language for himself. His view is that if people want to come to the UK and expect to get along, they should have to learn the language.
And I agree.
When I go on holiday to a foreign country, I would never expect the locals to make the effort to speak to me in English: I’m going to go prepared with some basic phrases to try and get by. Furthermore, if I were ever to move to a foreign country, you can be damned sure that I’m going to make every effort to integrate myself into that country.
Of course, I have gone through moving to a different country myself and though there was not a language barrier (well, you’d be surprised how different British English and American English are), there were certainly cultural boundaries that I had to overcome. I also had to be mindful of staying true to my roots and not losing the culture and heritage from where I hail.
That said, if a family is going to move to England from a foreign country, they should be expected, if not forced, to speak the local language. We already spend and waste enough time on immigration with the UK being such a hot spot for inbound immigrants owing to its “nanny-state culture” without expending extra effort and resources on employing translators to help immigrants bleed our expansive benefits system dry.
Hats off to the man. If I see your name on the ballot, I’ll vote for you.
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