Why don’t they learn the language? (Or have they already?)
I usually
choose newspaper articles for these entries, but in this case it is another
blog. How do you feel about people
coming to, or staying in a country, when they don’t speak the language
well. Many claim that this is a sign
that they don’t want to integrate, but can they really know what others want
based on this? Why would newspapers
inflate the numbers of those who do not speak well? Can any parallels be drawn in terms of the attitude of some Slovaks
towards the Hungarian minority here?
Feel free to follow the links that the author provides in his post to
get more information.
The opinions on the issue about people, coming to a country whose language they do not speak well, differ individually. Personally, I do not have a problem with these people because they do not cause any “harm”. There are more important issues to be discussed, which may be more harmful for the economy or the country, which tend to be ignored.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the negative opinions on people who come to a country and do not speak the language well are mainly due to the unknown reasons, which tend to be underestimated. The reasons why people do not speak the language of the country in which they live in differ in high varieties. Some reasons may include cultural aspects or difficulties with the language. I would argue that those, who claim that this is a sign of unwanted integration, cannot know what other want based only on this particular issue.
The newspapers may have a tendency to inflate the numbers of those who do not speak the language because of giving possible public awareness to normal citizens in order to highlight the possible problem of “unwanted people” in the country. Newspapers are read by most of the population, so the issue in a newspaper my act as a source of advertisement and influence for those who have a neutral position to the issue.
There is a possibility of drawing some related links to the issue of Slovaks towards the Hungarian minority, because there were many cases when this problem was discussed in the newspapers too. The Slovaks criticized the Hungarians for not knowing the language perfectly as well as blaming them for occupying the area of the south Slovakia. Many people were against the Hungarian minority in the southern part of Slovakia similarly to the issue of immigrants, who do not speak the language of the new countries.