In 
today's news in Le Figaro, I read that the Immigration Bureau (actually, it's the whole shebang, ministry and all), have decided to make the knowledge of French and French culture a requirement to opt for the visa. Immigration, you mind, not tourism. The idea is that people who wish to go live in France already possess a certain degree of knowledge about the language and the customs, so immigrants have an easier time adjusting to the community. Then again, it's not like you have to have the C2 to apply for the visa, but you have to have a minimal level of French and knowledge of France and the French culture in order to apply. In all honesty, I find the idea great, and I think all countries should apply it. (It doesn't apply to people over 65 or under 16, nor to people escaping from countries in war or from natural catastrophes.)
I dunno how it is in your country, but in my countries (both Costa Rica and particularly Hungary) there are many immigrants who don't care about integrating into the community or interacting with it in any productive or positive way. People who live for years without learning to speak the language, and though it is already outrageous when someone spends ten years in Hungary without learning a single word in Hungarian, it is far worse when someone spends fifteen years in Costa Rica and never learns Spanish because that's "the language of the beaners and Indians". People who don't learn the language, nor learn the treats of the culture they are immigrating into, are prone to form tight groups which do not help them integrate, but feed the separation, and ultimately that can bring trouble for the group and for the society they are immersed. Now, I'm not saying that if you go to Frace, you must kiss good-bye your heritage, your language, your culture and all that that gives you a "national" identity, so to say, but you must bear in mind that you ARE going to live to another country, which you have chosen, probably, and not the other way around, so you better start doing the adjusting and making the commitments, because a whole country won't change to fit to your liking.
Now, if you can't or you don't like it, stay in your own country. If you simply refuse to give up your culture and customs and the whole deal, dude, stay in your own country. Or move to a deserted island.
What surprised me in the article was that there was this guy, Gaye Petek of the Elélé Association, that complained against the measure because it made the immigration very difficult. Dude, really, if it is so difficult for you to learn some French, why the hell do you want to go to France? First of all, French ain't difficult. Actually no language is difficult, it's just a matter of adjusting your language-thinking process, and once you get the hang of it, it's a piece of cake. Second, you are bound to learn it sooner than later, so why the resisting? And finally, when it comes to work, because one must assume that if you with to immigrate to a country, you wish to work there too, and for everyday things, you do need the local language. Understand the media, get services and products, understand lables at the store, prepare a C.V. for a job, and the motivation letter (it's so funny, because in Costa Rica, there's no such thing as a motivation letter, so when we have to write one, we just stare and the paper wishing to write: Hello! Smile! Be Happy! Hire Me! You are Awesome!), interact with coworkers, understand the public transportation and the laws... for all of these you need to know the language, and yes, learning it before hand easies your chances.
This year is the first time I'm going to a place where I do not speak the local language, not even on the most basic level. Yes, the world wide famous trip to Bulgaria (to which my husband refused to go with me, by disappearing for ages from the MSN, thank you. Sorry honey, now I'll score Bulgarian Hotties and have loads of fun. ^_^). In case you wonder, I'm hurrying to pick up some phrases and so... just like I should be working on my German to prep it up, so I don't have to rely time and again on God to illuminated me with his infinite wisdom so I can understand and form phrases I can't actually say, but which I'm able to mutter once I've spent a few hours in Vienna. It's not my intention to say a blasphemy, and I beg forgiveness if I do, but really, my German is pretty much a sort of miracle. I would really believe that I get to speak in Tongues, because I really don't know as much German as I manage to squeeze there. Funny thing is, this topic makes me remember my ex-fiancé, and how he would bet his head and swore and was 100% sure that he would speak in Tongues (which I believe he neves did) and yet so far... I seem to on regular basis. ^_^ No pun, no blasphemy intended, just mere comparing and remembering!
So anyway, the point is that when you arrive to a new country, it feels good to be able to communicate with the people. I can't tell you how beautiful and easy my life is when I can go to any store in Paris, any little restaurant or stop someone on the street and be able to ask them a question. A lot of people say the French are mean, but they are not. The lady at this bakery near the Opera smiled at me and was patient while I picked the sandwich I wanted, and gently explained to me which is the difference between the kinds and wven went back to explain one fo them because my memory is really poor. All policemen have always been nice and patient, and a man at the Gare du Nord actually WALKED ME to the corner to show me which is the Rue Maubeuge, since streets and maps in Paris have little resemblance to each other.
Vienna was even more of a blessing, because, like I have so colourfully stated it, I do not speak German, only a very, very little. Then again, God is merciful to me and has made Austria a country full of lovely, gentle people who undestand that there are a few people, like me, who have difficulties learning their language (lack to determination to actually follow through it decently, even though every January I decide to spend the year learning German, and in November I realize I have 6 week and have done nothing of it!), and are patient and help a lot.
Yet so, I make a point out of not speaking English in Vienna, and again, it feels good to be able to exchange some simple phrases with the cleaning ladies of the hotel, buy a "semmel" (a small bread of round shape... like a bagel without the whole and made out of "regular bread" doug... well, a bit lighter, maybe. Anyway, I love them!) at the U3 store, order food from the menu, understand the tags and prices at the stores... And that's for someone who is staying over night or only three days tops!
One could go can care less, because one goes as a tourist and that's that, why would I learn their language-ain't like I'm using it again/that much, and all that, which is wrong, but let's not go there. However, when you are MOVING into another country, TO LIVE, don't you want to be able to be at ease, the more you can? You already have to learn the new public transportation system, the schedules, the streets, the customs, traffic, currency, the bills you have to pay (in Costa Rica there's no winter-winter, and so no house has heating, so we don't pay heating bill. There's no gas outlet either. If you want to cook with gas, you have to buy the gas tanks, and for that there's a whole system known only to the "initiated". We have a gas oven and the water heats up with gas, but I still don't really get how the gas tanks get home, or where should I go to buy them.), the social obligations, the healthcare system, police... why add to it the impediment of not being able to communicate in order to learn them easier?
I would tell you one mean thing that comes to my mind about why: because there are stablished groups that want people to feel defenseless and dependant of their guidance. The Community seeks for a good job for you with one of our own. The Community has all the people in the system that will help you... Don't worry, the Community got your back, but you've got the Community's back too.
This breeds separation. These breeds the underground "apartheid" that reached beyond race and feeds on xenophobia.
today's news in Le Figaro, I read that the Immigration Bureau (actually, it's the whole shebang, ministry and all), have decided to make the knowledge of French and French culture a requirement to opt for the visa. Immigration, you mind, not tourism. The idea is that people who wish to go live in France already possess a certain degree of knowledge about the language and the customs, so immigrants have an easier time adjusting to the community. Then again, it's not like you have to have the C2 to apply for the visa, but you have to have a minimal level of French and knowledge of France and the French culture in order to apply. In all honesty, I find the idea great, and I think all countries should apply it. (It doesn't apply to people over 65 or under 16, nor to people escaping from countries in war or from natural catastrophes.)I dunno how it is in your country, but in my countries (both Costa Rica and particularly Hungary) there are many immigrants who don't care about integrating into the community or interacting with it in any productive or positive way. People who live for years without learning to speak the language, and though it is already outrageous when someone spends ten years in Hungary without learning a single word in Hungarian, it is far worse when someone spends fifteen years in Costa Rica and never learns Spanish because that's "the language of the beaners and Indians". People who don't learn the language, nor learn the treats of the culture they are immigrating into, are prone to form tight groups which do not help them integrate, but feed the separation, and ultimately that can bring trouble for the group and for the society they are immersed. Now, I'm not saying that if you go to Frace, you must kiss good-bye your heritage, your language, your culture and all that that gives you a "national" identity, so to say, but you must bear in mind that you ARE going to live to another country, which you have chosen, probably, and not the other way around, so you better start doing the adjusting and making the commitments, because a whole country won't change to fit to your liking.
Now, if you can't or you don't like it, stay in your own country. If you simply refuse to give up your culture and customs and the whole deal, dude, stay in your own country. Or move to a deserted island.
What surprised me in the article was that there was this guy, Gaye Petek of the Elélé Association, that complained against the measure because it made the immigration very difficult. Dude, really, if it is so difficult for you to learn some French, why the hell do you want to go to France? First of all, French ain't difficult. Actually no language is difficult, it's just a matter of adjusting your language-thinking process, and once you get the hang of it, it's a piece of cake. Second, you are bound to learn it sooner than later, so why the resisting? And finally, when it comes to work, because one must assume that if you with to immigrate to a country, you wish to work there too, and for everyday things, you do need the local language. Understand the media, get services and products, understand lables at the store, prepare a C.V. for a job, and the motivation letter (it's so funny, because in Costa Rica, there's no such thing as a motivation letter, so when we have to write one, we just stare and the paper wishing to write: Hello! Smile! Be Happy! Hire Me! You are Awesome!), interact with coworkers, understand the public transportation and the laws... for all of these you need to know the language, and yes, learning it before hand easies your chances.
This year is the first time I'm going to a place where I do not speak the local language, not even on the most basic level. Yes, the world wide famous trip to Bulgaria (to which my husband refused to go with me, by disappearing for ages from the MSN, thank you. Sorry honey, now I'll score Bulgarian Hotties and have loads of fun. ^_^). In case you wonder, I'm hurrying to pick up some phrases and so... just like I should be working on my German to prep it up, so I don't have to rely time and again on God to illuminated me with his infinite wisdom so I can understand and form phrases I can't actually say, but which I'm able to mutter once I've spent a few hours in Vienna. It's not my intention to say a blasphemy, and I beg forgiveness if I do, but really, my German is pretty much a sort of miracle. I would really believe that I get to speak in Tongues, because I really don't know as much German as I manage to squeeze there. Funny thing is, this topic makes me remember my ex-fiancé, and how he would bet his head and swore and was 100% sure that he would speak in Tongues (which I believe he neves did) and yet so far... I seem to on regular basis. ^_^ No pun, no blasphemy intended, just mere comparing and remembering!
So anyway, the point is that when you arrive to a new country, it feels good to be able to communicate with the people. I can't tell you how beautiful and easy my life is when I can go to any store in Paris, any little restaurant or stop someone on the street and be able to ask them a question. A lot of people say the French are mean, but they are not. The lady at this bakery near the Opera smiled at me and was patient while I picked the sandwich I wanted, and gently explained to me which is the difference between the kinds and wven went back to explain one fo them because my memory is really poor. All policemen have always been nice and patient, and a man at the Gare du Nord actually WALKED ME to the corner to show me which is the Rue Maubeuge, since streets and maps in Paris have little resemblance to each other.
Vienna was even more of a blessing, because, like I have so colourfully stated it, I do not speak German, only a very, very little. Then again, God is merciful to me and has made Austria a country full of lovely, gentle people who undestand that there are a few people, like me, who have difficulties learning their language (lack to determination to actually follow through it decently, even though every January I decide to spend the year learning German, and in November I realize I have 6 week and have done nothing of it!), and are patient and help a lot.
Yet so, I make a point out of not speaking English in Vienna, and again, it feels good to be able to exchange some simple phrases with the cleaning ladies of the hotel, buy a "semmel" (a small bread of round shape... like a bagel without the whole and made out of "regular bread" doug... well, a bit lighter, maybe. Anyway, I love them!) at the U3 store, order food from the menu, understand the tags and prices at the stores... And that's for someone who is staying over night or only three days tops!One could go can care less, because one goes as a tourist and that's that, why would I learn their language-ain't like I'm using it again/that much, and all that, which is wrong, but let's not go there. However, when you are MOVING into another country, TO LIVE, don't you want to be able to be at ease, the more you can? You already have to learn the new public transportation system, the schedules, the streets, the customs, traffic, currency, the bills you have to pay (in Costa Rica there's no winter-winter, and so no house has heating, so we don't pay heating bill. There's no gas outlet either. If you want to cook with gas, you have to buy the gas tanks, and for that there's a whole system known only to the "initiated". We have a gas oven and the water heats up with gas, but I still don't really get how the gas tanks get home, or where should I go to buy them.), the social obligations, the healthcare system, police... why add to it the impediment of not being able to communicate in order to learn them easier?
I would tell you one mean thing that comes to my mind about why: because there are stablished groups that want people to feel defenseless and dependant of their guidance. The Community seeks for a good job for you with one of our own. The Community has all the people in the system that will help you... Don't worry, the Community got your back, but you've got the Community's back too.
This breeds separation. These breeds the underground "apartheid" that reached beyond race and feeds on xenophobia.
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