|
Feb 17, 2010, 02:44 PM
|
|
|
|
Member Since: Jun 2007
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Posts: 5,518
|
|
Hi Shangrala 
This country has always depended on immigrant/slave labor coupled with the promise of the "American dream." Employers weren't interested in Americanizing their workers or their families. They merely wanted them to boost their business or provide a particular service. 
It still happens today. When people hire Mexican laborers off the streets for odd jobs, they don't choose the most "American" or "civilized" in the group. They choose the one with the strongest muscles and cheapest price. 
I worked closely with doctors for over 10 years. We all spoke in English, even when we were taking a break and chatting. Occasionally, doctors from the same region would speak to each other in their native tongue - but it wasn't a big deal to me, even if they were talking about me. It feels good to be able to speak your native tongue and be understood. 
When I traveled to Finland and Denmark as a teenager in the early '70s, all the big cities accommodated English-speaking tourists. All the local grade schools required 4 years of English in order to graduate. My same-age cousin wouldn't even be able to get a sales clerk job without being fluent in English. 
I spent most of my time there in local areas, where English was not spoken. I was so homesick just to hear my own language. We were in a restaurant one day, and I heard someone at another table speaking English - not only English, but AMERICAN! I had an overwhelming urge to run over to the table to chat with them about anything because I had only mom with me. She was too busy speaking Finnish, and it was too much of an irritation for her to stop and translate everything that was said.
They tried to teach me some Finnish, but learning a new language is not as easy as it looks. It's even harder for adults to learn a new language.
If all the job opportunities dried up here and your ONLY choice was to move to...let's say.....South Korea. How long would it take you to become fluent in the language and social customs without using English? Could you easily give up your past and completely immerse yourself in their culture, not even thinking in English or about the land you had to leave behind?
After all these years, despite their efforts, I can only say "good day" and "thank you" in Finnish. My Danish is even worse, despite my grandfather's efforts. I can only say "strawberries and cream" and "thank you."
Besides English, are you fluent in any other language?
|