WELL DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am getting sick & tired of all this whining about making immigrants learn the language of the country they move to. My maternal grandparents were immigrants from Italia. & I grew up in an Italiano neighborhood in my hometown of Oelwein. I saw what it was like for the few elderly Italiano women who didn't learn any English as they grew older. It made them too dependant on the few realatives that could speak Italiano. & for those of us who didn't understand, it made us difficult to communicate with them. I will fault our parents for not making us learn the language, but the reason behind it was to make sure we fit into society.

In the article Alev Korun, a Turkish-born member of the opposition Greens party who immigrated to Austria when she was 19 claims that "The German language is increasingly being used as a marginalization tool." Well, she may not like it, but it was the lack of knowing English that marginalized those 1st generation Italiano immigrants.

As for Svetlana Cojochru saying that she feels like a guest, well DUH!!!!!, she is a guest not a citizen. She strikes me as coming across like a spoiled brat who isn't getting her way & doesn't like it. & i don't exactly see how she can do her job if she can't speak Italiano.

I know that what I am saying isn't going to be popular among the PC inclusive gang, but i don't care. What they are doing isn't making people feel including, they are destroying the society that is providing these people an opportunity for a better life.

& for those who may want to say that Catholic teaching doesn't to supportt my stand I quote from paragraph 2241 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens." (emphasis mine) & a part of that heritage is the language of that country you immigrate to.

Italy makes immigrants speak Italian

FLORENCE, Italy -- 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.
Some immigrant advocates worry that as harsh economic times make it harder for natives to keep jobs, such measures will become more a vehicle for intolerance than integration. Others say it's only natural that newcomers learn the language of their host nation, seeing it as a condition to ensure they can contribute to society.
So far, Italy is only giving a gentle turn to the screw. Cojochru and other test-takers described the exam as easy. No oral skills were tested.
In Austria, terms are tougher. There, where native speakers have been sometimes known to scold immigrant parents for not speaking proper German to their children, foreigners from outside the European Union need to prove they speak basic German within five years of receiving their first residency permit. Failure to do so can bring fines and jeopardize their right to stay.

Follow above link for rest of story.