I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet

Former Member

There's always an issue of explotation as well; someone with a good understanding of English in the US or the UK is presumably going to have better access to information on their rights - especially in pretty bad jobs or working conditions.

Not that I necessarily believe it should be a requirement for entry - I would just think immigrants would be open to learning a language rather than believing what a gangboss might be telling them about minimum wages.

Former Member

Think of how many ex-pat communities there are in the World where no-one even bothers trying to learn the language though. Or they just learn a few phrases. I mean like how many Brits etc live in Saudi, Spain, Cypress, Greece etc and only ever speak to other English speakers.

Former Member

Randomgirl wrote:

Think of how many ex-pat communities there are in the World where no-one even bothers trying to learn the language though. Or they just learn a few phrases. I mean like how many Brits etc live in Saudi, Spain, Cypress, Greece etc and only ever speak to other English speakers.

Brits in Saudi Arabia aren’t immigrants. If you’re not a Muslim you’ll find it almost impossible to get a visa to even visit Saudi Arabia unless you’re an engineer, a diplomat or travelling on business.(And a non-Muslim wouldn’t be allowed to stay beyond the time they’re working in Saudi Arabia as an engineer or whatever and a non-Muslim can never get citizenship). Anyway I think a lot of Brits in Saudi Arabia do speak Arabic.

I’m not sure what your point is anyway. If some British expats in Spain are too lazy to learn Spanish it doesn’t suddenly make it unreasonable for Britain to expect immigrants to speak English. A pretty high proportion of British expats in Spain are retired anyway whereas most immigrants come to Britain to work – for everybody’s benefit it makes sense for them to speak English.

Former Member

So you think only people planning to migrate to a country permanently should be required to learn the language.

I do think people should make an effort to learn the language whether they want to settle permanently somewhere or not. Not just for a holiday but if you're going somewhere for more than a few months then why wouldn't anyone want to learn the native language?

The last time I went on the bus it took a diversion and I asked the driver where we were going as I was lost (it was late at night). He was Polish I think, and couldn't understand me. That was kind of annoying.

Former Member

Disillusioned wrote:

Brits in Saudi Arabia aren’t immigrants.

The law there isn't enforced. You just have to say you're a Muslim. You don't necessarily have to be one.

Former Member

PussyKatty wrote:

I do think people should make an effort to learn the language whether they want to settle permanently somewhere or not. Not just for a holiday but if you're going somewhere for more than a few months then why wouldn't anyone want to learn the native language?

Exactly. For the most part anyway immigrants in Britain do learn English if they don’t already speak it. This immigrants not speaking English thing is (at least from my experience) a bigger issue in America than here.

Former Member

turlough wrote:

The law there isn't enforced. You just have to say you're a Muslim. You don't necessarily have to be one.

Sorry, my mistake. By the look of it Saudi Arabia has actually liberalised (sort of) it’s visiting laws – it’s started issuing visitor visas for non-Muslim tourists for the first time. (As long as you’re not Jewish). BBC. No idea how (or if) that is enforced though.

Former Member

Disillusioned wrote:

Exactly. For the most part anyway immigrants in Britain do learn English if they don’t already speak it. This immigrants not speaking English thing is (at least from my experience) a bigger issue in America than here.

That's because they've got far more immigrants. In the UK, if an immigrant doesn't learn English, they'll find their opportunities cut drastically. In America, there are plenty of areas where the Spanish speakers outnumber the English speakers. In this case Americans would be annoyed because it is them that would have fewer opportunities because they can't speak Spanish, rather than the other way around.