PM says immigrants should learn English.

[Tangled up in Blue]

http://gu.com/p/2zevf

Should they?

 

[OldBlueLady]

Simple answer, yes. Certainly for anyone under the age of 50 who should, in theory, be either in the employment or education sectors. I appreciate there would necessarily be exceptions to this, but in the main, I believe any able bodied and mentally competent immigrant should learn English as part of their integration process. It is one of the most widely used languages in the world. And before anyone says anything else, I believe that should also work in reverse and that any English person going to live in a non English speaking country should also learn the language of where they're living.

 

[Hotman]

Yes.

Should there also be a true "stamp" system for our welfare state, based on yours (or if under say 30, your parents) contributions? Allowing true quality of life to those genuinely on hard times, but poverty for those who have not contributed or will not contribute?

 

[MK Shrimper]

Some English people should start speaking English!

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

"Cameron will say this has placed serious pressure on schools, housing and the NHS, and has also created social pressures".

I'd be interested to hear from anyone working in these areas in the UK who can confirm that immigrants lack of English language skills has created "serious" or "social pressures" on frontline services rather than the actual weight of immigrant numbers itself.

This is the link to Cameron's speech btw.http://gu.com/p/2zexb

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

No, I think we should all learn Urdu or whatever mumbo jumbo they spit out. We need to conform to their standards after all. Allahu Akbar! (It's a trap!)

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Irrespective of language, where is the evidence in Cameron's speech that welfare dependency and immigration are linked?

 

[canveyshrimper]

Irrespective of language, where is the evidence in Cameron's speech that welfare dependency and immigration are linked?

As an aside from that. As a resident in Spain or Catalonia, do you speak Spanish or Catalan?

The answer to the question of speaking English is of course yes, it doesn't have to be the first language but immigrants coming to settle here must be able to both speak and understand the language to a resonanble degree.

 

[OldBlueLady]

"Cameron will say this has placed serious pressure on schools, housing and the NHS, and has also created social pressures".

I'd be interested to hear from anyone working in these areas in the UK who can confirm that immigrants lack of English language skills has created "serious" or "social pressures" on frontline services rather than the actual weight of immigrant numbers itself.

This is the link to Cameron's speech btw.http://gu.com/p/2zexb

I can confirm the enormous pressure put on schools where upwards of 30 languages are spoken in some cases, particularly in London. While you may, usually, end up being able to communicate with a child, because children do have that wish to please, talking with the parents is often only possible with the child acting as interpreter (or?), which is clearly farcical when it's them you are discussing! In my own experience locally, a child coming into a school with English as a non or 2nd language will have a certain number of hours support funded by the LEA (I think when we had a Greek boy a few years back, it was 6 hours, just to cover the actual Literacy lessons!), but for the rest of the time the school will have to support that child to the best of its ability from its own budget. Multiply that by three or four in schools with larger immigrant populations and it explains why many schools run into deficit budgets, and this is all at a time when they're being told to cut back on their support staff!

So please don't get me started on this subject as it's quite emotive!

 

[TrueBlue]

Better still round all the ***** up and send them home

 

[Berrichonne shrimper]

To partly answer your question Harry i speak french(badly) as do my wife and kids(fluenty) but none of us speak berrichonne,many british live here and do not will not speak french.
To be honest you can survive without speaking the countrys lanague,it just makes life a whole lot easier.

 

[Uncle Leo]

http://gu.com/p/2zevf

Should they?

I think they certainly should. Just coming up with one tiny personal example....

My wife gave birth last year so we spent many long hours at the maternity hospital waiting for check-ups and such like. Amongst all the expectant mums and bored looking dads there were also a team of interpreters ready to speak to the doctors/nurses/receptionists on behalf of mums who couldn't speak a word of English.

Nice for these interpreter ladies to have jobs of course, but surely if you're going to have a child in the UK it can't hurt to learn the English 'twenty weeks gone' 'my ankles are getting fat' and 'blimey that ultrasound gel is cold isn't it'.

As an aside, I've said it on here before but it's worth saying again - the NHS were absolute stars for us last year and continue to be so as the twins grow.

 

[Rudi Luftwaffe]

I regret not learning a bit of the local lingo after losing a small fortune on fruit machines whilst holidaying around the Spanish costas.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

As an aside from that. As a resident in Spain or Catalonia, do you speak Spanish or Catalan?

The answer to the question of speaking English is of course yes, it doesn't have to be the first language but immigrants coming to settle here must be able to both speak and understand the language to a resonanble degree.

My spoken Spanish is fluent and I've attended Catalan classes in the past.I read El Pais every day and regularly listen to Spanish and/or Catalan news broadcasts.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Yes Cameron is right immigrants should learn english, of course it would help if he hadn't cut funding to the ESOL courses teaching it...

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I can confirm the enormous pressure put on schools where upwards of 30 languages are spoken in some cases, particularly in London. While you may, usually, end up being able to communicate with a child, because children do have that wish to please, talking with the parents is often only possible with the child acting as interpreter (or?), which is clearly farcical when it's them you are discussing! In my own experience locally, a child coming into a school with English as a non or 2nd language will have a certain number of hours support funded by the LEA (I think when we had a Greek boy a few years back, it was 6 hours, just to cover the actual Literacy lessons!), but for the rest of the time the school will have to support that child to the best of its ability from its own budget. Multiply that by three or four in schools with larger immigrant populations and it explains why many schools run into deficit budgets, and this is all at a time when they're being told to cut back on their support staff!

So please don't get me started on this subject as it's quite emotive!

Thanks for this.It's quite a long time now since I taught or worked in the UK so this helps to bring me up to date.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Yes Cameron is right immigrants should learn english, of course it would help if he hadn't cut funding to the ESOL courses teaching it...

Good point.:winking:

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

No, I think we should all learn Urdu or whatever mumbo jumbo they spit out. We need to conform to their standards after all. Allahu Akbar! (It's a trap!)[/QUOTE]

Is it? In what way? :unsure:

 

[Kent Shrimper]

Yes.

Should there also be a true "stamp" system for our welfare state, based on yours (or if under say 30, your parents) contributions? Allowing true quality of life to those genuinely on hard times, but poverty for those who have not contributed or will not contribute?

100% Spot on MC

 

[Crabby Shrimper]

My spoken Spanish is fluent and I've attended Catalan classes in the past.I read El Pais every day and regularly listen to Spanish and/or Catalan news broadcasts.

and this is to your credit. Now, if you had decided to move there, but insisted on speaking English still, how do you think you'd have gotten on? I'm betting you'd have far fewer native friends. When I lived in Wales I tried learning some Welsh. I'm hopeless at languages, but I tried, and that was taken well locally.

Now, if you moved into the country in which I lived, and although another language was your primary, made the effort to speak English wherever possible, I'd respect you for trying, and appreciate the effort. I'd still think your politics are ****ed up, but I'd respect you as a person for making the effort, as I'm sure your Catalan/Spanish friends do.