[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.