topic of the month

Inspired by the post made by our lecturer of English, I decided to present my opinion about quite controversial subject, and more precisely, to answer the following question:

“Should those who choose to live in a foreign country be required to learn its official language?”

Firstly, forcing immigrants to do something against their will is a sign of xenophobia and, in a word, it’s simply unfair. It's their life and their own wish to learn a language or not. Moreover, as a student of French philology, I know that it’s extremely difficult to learn a new language.

What’s more, one of the reasons for people to come to a foreign country, is to start a new life, without any requirements. Everybody should be allowed to come to the new place no matter what language he speaks. So why make unnecessary demands?

But on the other hand, it makes sense that the newcomers should learn the official language. How else would they supposed to communicate? What happens if there would be an accident and they would need help and finally didn't get it because they didn't speak the language? There are a hundred different reasons why people need to learn the language of the country they live in, not just for assimilation but also for safety. I would say that it’s a sort of survival.

Furthermore, there’s no need to speak like a lawyer, I mean, to be grammatically correct. You need just learn the basic words and that's all. I think that people are smart enough to choose for themselves if they want to speak one language or not. In the course of time, for whatever reason (to earn more money or even to be able to speak with others), the newcomers will probably learn one language so it’s no need to force them to do it.

To sum up, in my opinion, learning official language of the country you choose to live in, should be a matter of personal choice and not of the requirement of law.

And what is your opinions about it? Are you agree with me? :)