Italy makes immigrants speak Italian By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Saturday, March 5, 2011 More... (03-05) 21:01 PST FLORENCE, Italy (AP) --
Svetlana Cojochru feels insulted.
The Moldovan has lived here seven years as a nanny to Italian kids and caregiver to the elderly, but in order to stay she's had to prove her language skills by writing a postcard to an imaginary friend and answering a fictional job ad.
"I feel like a guest," said Cojochru. She had just emerged from Beato Angelico middle school where she took a language test to comply with a new law requiring basic Italian proficiency for permanent residency permits following five years of legal residence.
Italy is the latest Western European country turning the screws on an expanding immigrant population by demanding language skills in exchange for work permits, or in some cases, citizenship. While enacted last year in the name of integration, these requirements also reflect anxiety that foreigners might dilute fiercely-prized national identity or even, especially in Britain's case, pose terror risks.....................>>>>.............>>>>...................http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/03/05/international/i042057S56.DTL&tsp=1
"fiercely-prized national identity" is the expression the media uses to try to make them look like violent and terrible for expecting literacy skills and integration. That is why liberals have a mental disorder and should never be trusted.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
"fiercely-prized national identity" is the expression the media uses to try to make them look like violent and terrible for expecting literacy skills and integration. That is why liberals have a mental disorder and should never be trusted.
no kidding.....and they wonder why things aren't more cohesive between the plebs....there's nothing wrong with learning the language of a country that one CHOOSES to live in....it's common sense....and it stimulates parts of one's brain that wouldn't normally get used
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Why do Americans encourage ignorance ? What kind of patriotism makes you better because you only speak english ? People that are bi- lingual have many more opportunities in life-
and this person was taking s test for basic Italian proficiency for a permanent residency permit following five years of legal residence- you need to know alot more than basic english to be a permanent resident alien in the US - for one thing you take a test written in english
It's amazing that they are pushing ENGLISH ONLY in a community like Rotterdam, where much of what you hear is spoken in Italian!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Why do Americans encourage ignorance ? What kind of patriotism makes you better because you only speak english ? People that are bi- lingual have many more opportunities in life-
I don't think speaking English makes you more of a patriot. I think government hiring interpreters for every language spoken on the face of the earth to help guide them through paperwork to receive one of our many social programs is counter productive to the assimilation process.
Voluntarily learning a second language to build your resume for when applying for a job with an international company is different than paying for interpreters to accommodate immigrants that refuse to speak the common language – English.
Exactly how many languages do people expect us to learn? There's a whole bunch of them.
Why should Spanish be treated specially?
All of my grandparents came "right off the boat", through Ellis Island.
German, Italian, and none of them even had a native accent. When I went to my grandfather's house, it didn't sound like the "that's a spicy meatballs" commercial. When I want to my grandmother's house, it didn't sound like Colinel Klink, from Hogan's Heroes.
It's called assimilation you lazy bastards.
I have a standing offer, for VERY good money, with Cirque du Soleil, but I don't speak French, and the technical terms that you need to know off the top of your head, are mind boggling, even in English.
I really don't expect that the whole cast, and crew, should learn a few thousand technical terms in English, just to accommodate me.
I don't believe the point is to provide a basis for patiotism. I think it is intended to make the statement that you have come here to make a better life for yourself. One way is to attempt to melt into society to some level and be able to participate in the society you have chosen to live in. To be a citizen, we ask that you show some proficiency in our language. We don't ask you to stop using your language, but we would appreciate you trying to use our language, too. When many of our families came here from Europe and other places, that is exactly what they did. If you recall, there were limits to immigration, and you had a certain length of time to apply for citizenship and some proficiency in the language was a requirement of that citizenship (as it stil lis today). What is wrong with that. Yes, PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH does annoy me. The fact now tht I see ads on TV that are done in Spanish with English subtitles does annoy me....sorry. It does not in any way mean I am a bigot or prejuidiced. It just means that "you came to my country, make an attempt to become part of my country"!
Sorry for the rant, but it is just my opinion....
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
Don't worry Joebxr, we will be pressing 2 for English soon, anyway as we anglos are not the politically favored race of the various governments in these United States anymore. We are the whippings boys. Time for left-wing payback.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
I love to watch these "English only" Americans when they vacation in Montreal!
They speak English to a French speaking Canadian in his own country and get angry when he doesn't understand them.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Logged
