[Denver]

I live in an area where people hardly speak English and have seen circumstances where they require a translator to talk to people who speak English.

So do you believe that migrants should be able to speak English before coming to the UK?

[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by Adam.

I live in an area where people hardly speak English and have seen circumstances where they require a translator to talk to people who speak English.

So do you believe that migrants should be able to speak English before coming to the UK?

Yes.

[Withano]

It isnt mandatory to speak a second language to move from Britain to a different country, and I'm a fan of practice what you preach, and not being a hypocrite.. so no.. I don't think it should be mandatory..
All those British journalists, holiday reps, teachers, doctors, soldiers etc working abroad would be devastated if they were fired tomorrow cos these rules were put in place, as would all the prospective workers planning on a career in any of these fields.

[Denver]

Originally Posted by Withano

It isnt mandatory to speak a second language to move from Britain to a different country, and I'm a fan of practice what you preach, and not being a hypocrite.. so no.. I don't think it should be mandatory..
All those British journalists, holiday reps, teachers, doctors, soldiers etc working abroad would be devastated if they were fired tomorrow cos these rules were put in place

Holiday reps usually speak the language .

Soldiers are there to create peace not stay for ever.

They cant come to this country and expect benefits and free NHS if they are not will to become part of British culture

[Withano]

Originally Posted by Adam.

Holiday reps usually speak the language .

Soldiers are there to create peace not stay for ever.

They cant come to this country and expect benefits and free NHS if they are not will to become part of British culture

Your rules aren't equal for what you expect of British people working abroad, and others working in Britain.. so, thats where we're differing on this subject.
If holiday reps usually speak the language, and migrants usually speak the language, you shouldnt have a problem unless your rules are unequal.

[Denver]

Originally Posted by Withano

Your rules aren't equal for what you expect of British people working abroad, and others working in Britain.. so, thats where we're differing on this subject.

British people are required to speak the Language of other countries they wish to work in because the jobs they go for are very important jobs that require such a thing

[Withano]

Originally Posted by Adam.

British people are required to speak the Language of other countries they wish to work in because the jobs they go for are very important jobs that require such a thing

No, thats not true (as we've both already suggested in this thread). But at least you pretending to believe this stops your point being hypocritical I suppose.

[Kazanne]

Originally Posted by Adam.

Holiday reps usually speak the language .

Soldiers are there to create peace not stay for ever.

They cant come to this country and expect benefits and free NHS if they are not will to become part of British culture

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Withano

It isnt mandatory to speak a second language to move from Britain to a different country, and I'm a fan of practice what you preach, and not being a hypocrite.. so no.. I don't think it should be mandatory..
All those British journalists, holiday reps, teachers, doctors, soldiers etc working abroad would be devastated if they were fired tomorrow cos these rules were put in place, as would all the prospective workers planning on a career in any of these fields.

I agree with this, I'm pretty sure I recall a few articles a while back that made a point about how unwilling UK Emigrants are often known to be when it comes to intergration so I believe in leading by example for anyone that wants this enforced. If knowledge of the English language should be made mandatory to live in other countries than UK citizens must face similar restrictions when it comes to emigration.

I personally would never choose to live in a country where I couldn't speak, read and write the language since I'd never be able to fully integrate but I don't believe in forcing standards I'd set for myself on anyone else. Instead I think we should encourage migrants to learn the language and provide ample opportunity for them to do so. I also think on the flip side that language education in general should be expanded on for all of the UK. In a lot of European countries, children are often taught a second language from a young age which gives them more prospects in later life while in the UK, the education of foreign languages is often an afterthought reserved mostly for Secondary Schools and few students bother to pick it up afterwards because it is an afterthought. Language education should form a part of a child's education from Primary School and I believe there should be more opportunities available for adult learners to pick up other languages because it can help broaden horizons and prospects and we should try to catch up to the rest of the world on the language front.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I agree with this, I'm pretty sure I recall a few articles a while back that made a point about how unwilling UK Emigrants are often known to be when it comes to intergration so I believe in leading by example for anyone that wants this enforced. If knowledge of the English language should be made mandatory to live in other countries than UK citizens must face similar restrictions when it comes to emigration.

I personally would never choose to live in a country where I couldn't speak, read and white the language since I'd never be able to fully integrate but I don't believe in forcing standards I'd set for myself on anyone else. Instead I think we should encourage migrants to learn the language and provide ample opportunity for them to do so. I also think on the flip side that language education in general should be expanded on for all of the UK. In a lot of European countries, children are often taught a second language from a young age which gives them more prospects in later life while in the UK, the education of foreign languages is often an afterthought reserved mostly for Secondary Schools and few students bother to pick it up afterwards because it is an afterthought. Language education should form a part of a child's education from Primary School and I believe there should be more opportunities available for adult learners to pick up other languages because it can help broaden horizons and prospects and we should try to catch up to the rest of the world on the language front.

Racist

[Babayaro.]

Originally Posted by Withano

It isnt mandatory to speak a second language to move from Britain to a different country, and I'm a fan of practice what you preach, and not being a hypocrite.. so no.. I don't think it should be mandatory..
All those British journalists, holiday reps, teachers, doctors, soldiers etc working abroad would be devastated if they were fired tomorrow cos these rules were put in place, as would all the prospective workers planning on a career in any of these fields.

This is my view on it too.

[smudgie]

I would imagine you need to speak the language of any country to be able to communicate enough to carry out most jobs.
So in most cases then yes.

[jaxie]

I think it's fairly vital to be able to speak enough language to communicate effectively wherever you live. It's detrimental to any individual to be unable to communicate.

[DemolitionRed]

Originally Posted by jaxie

I think it's fairly vital to be able to speak enough language to communicate effectively wherever you live. It's detrimental to any individual to be unable to communicate.

Try telling that to all the Brits who move to France and can't/won't speak a word of French

[jaxie]

Originally Posted by DemolitionRed

Try telling that to all the Brits who move to France and can't/won't speak a word of French

I don't know enough Brits living in France to be able to comment on their language skills but would hope that the sensible ones will learn enough language to communicate.

[DemolitionRed]

Originally Posted by jaxie

I don't know enough Brits living in France to be able to comment on their language skills but would hope that the sensible ones will learn enough language to communicate.

Our home in France isn't a tourist area and so the small clusters of English families tend to fit in with the French and that includes speaking the language. I have met English people who just don't bother but they more likely live in large ex-pat communities.

The thing about the Brits is, unlike many of our European cousins, they aren't taught a different language at a young age. Romanians for example will learn Russian, English and French from infant school upwards. British kids don't normally start learning French/Spanish/German till senior school and language class isn't taken seriously. Most kids leaving British schools will speak little to no other language.

This means, when we go abroad for a holiday, we can usually rely on those foreigners speaking our language. If we go and live abroad, we can usually get by, by learning the minimum. For those that do make the effort to learn the language of the country who is hosting them, good for them but we have to be sympathetic to those with learning disabilities, elderly people (who often find a new language very difficult) and certain types of dyslexia which makes learning a new language almost impossible. We must carry those same sympathies over to foreigners in Britain with the same problems.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by DemolitionRed

Try telling that to all the Brits who move to France and can't/won't speak a word of French

Didn't you tell us at one point that you live in France for part of the year? How's your French?

[Firewire]

No because there are people who speak Gaelic or Welsh for example that don't speak any English at all or vice versa

I can't speak Gaelic and I'm not interested in learning Gaelic yet I live in Scotland

If I moved to Spain tomorrow I wouldn't be able to speak Spanish. I may learn Spanish in time but I would not be in any rush to as it is very time consuming to learn another language.

So people can move here and not be able to speak the language. It will be very difficult for them but there's their choice.

[Denver]

Originally Posted by Firewire

No because there are people who speak Gaelic or Welsh for example that don't speak any English at all or vice versa

I can't speak Gaelic and I'm not interested in learning Gaelic yet I live in Scotland

If I moved to Spain tomorrow I wouldn't be able to speak Spanish. I may learn Spanish in time but I would not be in any rush to as it is very time consuming to learn another language.

So people can move here and not be able to speak the language. It will be very difficult for them but there's their choice.

All Welsh people speak English and Welsh is hardly ever spoken and kids dont learn it these days

[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Firewire

No because there are people who speak Gaelic or Welsh for example that don't speak any English at all or vice versa

I can't speak Gaelic and I'm not interested in learning Gaelic yet I live in Scotland

If I moved to Spain tomorrow I wouldn't be able to speak Spanish. I may learn Spanish in time but I would not be in any rush to as it is very time consuming to learn another language.

So people can move here and not be able to speak the language. It will be very difficult for them but there's their choice.

This for me too. It would be ideal if they could speak English, but mandatory? What are the problems we'd face by those people coming over? Inconvenience that we wouldn't be able to overhear their conversations? The real problems would be faced by the immigrants themselves not us so I don't why it's something we should force onto them. If someone decides to emigrate to a country where they can't speak the language then there must be pretty important reasons for them doing so.

[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

This for me too. It would be ideal if they could speak English, but mandatory? What are the problems we'd face by those people coming over? Inconvenience that we wouldn't be able to overhear their conversations? The real problems would be faced by the immigrants themselves not us so I don't why it's something we should force onto them. If someone decides to emigrate to a country where they can't speak the language then there must be pretty important reasons for them doing so.

Or it costs the NHS, police etc a fortune for interpreters. Why should we help people who won't help themselves.

[Withano]

Originally Posted by Brillopad

Or it costs the NHS, police etc a fortune for interpreters. Why should we help people who won't help themselves.

"There shouldnt be migrants that cant speak the language because I want to put language interpreters out of work" (also source? Id imagine most families are perfectly fit to help for free)

[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by Withano

"There shouldnt be migrants that cant speak the language because I want to put language interpreters out of work" (also source? Id imagine most families are perfectly fit to help for free)

The money is desperately needed elsewhere in the NHS and shouldn't be wasted on interpreters for those that don't bother to learn the language.

I work for the NHS - and if no one can speak the patient's language no one can be sure the family are giving the patient the correct info/interpretation. It is a safety issue.

[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Brillopad

Or it costs the NHS, police etc a fortune for interpreters. Why should we help people who won't help themselves.

Is it a fortune? It's a small number of people to start with, and then a smaller number who wind up in a situation where they need an interpreter, it doesn't strike me as something that would cost a lot in the grand scheme of things.
And if they need help, we help them because of the benefits they and their future generations can bring to the country (as well as being because they want to improve their lives), there's a lot of british people today who work and pay into the system and boost our economy who live here because they had ancestors who emigrated here.

[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

Is it a fortune? It's a small number of people to start with, and then a smaller number who wind up in a situation where they need an interpreter, it doesn't strike me as something that would cost a lot in the grand scheme of things.
And if they need help, we help them because of the benefits they and their future generations can bring to the country (as well as being because they want to improve their lives), there's a lot of british people today who work and pay into the system and boost our economy who live here because they had ancestors who emigrated here.

It is very expensive.