[jaysay]

Originally Posted by susie123

I have been looking into this. Since 2007, anyone who wishes to become a British citizen has to take a test about life in the UK

UK Border Agency | Knowledge of language and life in the UK

They then have to take an oath and a pledge at a citizenship ceremony. The wording of these is not dissimilar to the Canadian one quoted by Eric.

UK Border Agency | Citizenship ceremonies

The pass mark for the citizenship test is 75%. There are many sample tests on the www - I have taken a couple and failed to meet the required pass mark. This is quite disconcerting as my Polish neighbour is considering applying for citizenship and has suggested that I might be able to help her prepare for the test! I have to say that some of the questions seem completely ridiculous, for example the ones in this example from the BBC about Santa Claus. Most British people wouldn't have a clue about a lot of this stuff - I don't know who came up with the questions.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Can you pass a citizenship test?

How British Are You? | You may think you know everything about being British, but could you pass the British citizenship test?

So ya recon everybody who lives in this country speaks English, there's a article on one of the papers this morning which has a photo of a classroom full of kids where 31 different languages are used as the kids first language and most of were born in this country. There are women who have lived in this country for 30 years who still can't speak a word of English