Asian women and the English language.
 

I see Jack Straw has put his head above the parapet and asked should Asian women be able to speak English before receiving a settlement visa.
An example given was of one Asian woman who came to our shores in 1954 and was still unable to speak the language.
I trust he singled Asian females out because they can be less liable to mix with general society.
Yet surely this question of language ability should apply to everyone coming here?
While we are at it how about insisting that the would be immigrant has a job already fixed up before entering the country or benefits system!

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

yes i agree with you lampman....it SHOULD apply to everyone who comes into this country......my dads cousin lives in australia and when he's drunk he doesnt seem to be able to speak english :)


but seriously it should be made law

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

One of my Asian colleagues,having dealt with two Polish visitors was seen to shake her head,when I asked why she said, 'they couldn't speak very good English.....we are getting a lot of immigrants these days who can't speak the language."
Now this to me shows that some Asians have definately integrated into our society.:p

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

could be a difficult one that lampman, as we can go and live and work in most of the european countrys without speaking the language. i know as i did this,the differance being if i had something i needed to attend to, i would HAVE TO PAY an interpretor to assist me, to me that was fine it was their country and i couldn,t speak the lingo. you certainly do not get the freebies abroad and rightfully so.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I think it would be a good idea for all planned immigrants to be able to get by with the language, you'd think they'd want to. I wouldn't want to go and live in a foreign country without being able to speak the lingo. At the end of the day if you cant speak the language how are you going to get a job and support yourself.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Well Grego that could be the point,Asian women who enter the country as wives(perhaps in an arranged marriage) seldom seek work and so become even more isolated and insular.
As for the latest influx of east europeans well time will tell.Our country has always managed to absorb and thrive on immigration.The Irish,Italians and West Indians spring to mind.Though I think of these three examples, two at least shared some common language which helped.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

If we moved to France we'd have to sink or swim, as there is no offical free translation offered, and offical documents don't come in four languages. It is in French only, and not suprsingly you soon have to learn.

However here, are wooly minded liberal council, amongst others, insist on having offical forms in four Asian languages. This doesn't encourage integration, it just helps people stay even more isolated from the wider community.

I was looking at the website of Accrington's Women's centre this weekend. They offer counselling in Urdu, Gujerati, and Punjabi, as well as English. They can offer courses in hand emboidery and beading for beginners, but sadly not courses in English literacy.

As long as the politically correct loons offer all kinds of things in languages other than English, some people will have neither the need nor desire to learn the language of the country in which they live, thus keeping them in even more isolation.

http://www.womenscentre.org/main.htm

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I think that anyone getting citizenship of this country should be able to speak and understand English. Unfortunately, I tend to find that this is not the case, especially amongst the Asian community. Maybe that is because my work takes me into the Asian community more than other communities, so therefore, I notice it more. I helped to run an Asian women's group which was very popular in the community. I found that most of the supposed non-English speaking women who attended the group could actually speak and understand some English, but never spoke the language in the presence of men. I also found out through our translator that many of these young women were subject to domestic abuse, especially by their mother-in-laws..:( this abuse was condoned by the husband and his family.

Asian women could be the biggest untapped working resource in this country. How many of them will be forced to get jobs when their youngest child reaches 11??

As for the immigration, I don't get how so many women can be allowed to fly into this country when they are heavily pregnant. We have had a few tragedies where women have lost their babies after making a long haul flight too late in the pregnancy. Whether their journey is responsible for their losses is debateable, but coincidental all the same. Many women are coming to husbands who are claiming benefits themselves, so who is supporting these women. Some men also come into the country to be with wives who are not working, which leads me to believe that our immigration policies suck..:confused:

I do think that translation services in hospitals, police stations, council offices banks etc should be paid for.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

A friend of mine who lives down Sussex says down there immigrants sign up for english language courses & at the same time register with an employment agency.As soon as the agency finds them work they never bother to go back to their course,even part time.He reckons they're only intrested in earning.He mentioned east europeans & even south americans but no asians.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Like Lettie, my job involved me with women of the Asian community and many of them had been in this country for many years and could speak only very little English.......and all the money that was spent translating documents into their native languages was, in the main, wasted as very few of them could read their own language.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I can tell you one South American in this country who speaks good English - my missus. When she arrived here 21 years ago, she immediately signed up for an English course - and paid for it. She didn't expect translators or even free lessons. The result is that she can now speak very fluent English indeed (especially when she's demanding to know why it took me three hours to go for a "quck pint"!).

In fact, I know loads of South Americans and they all speak very good English, because they're ambitious and want decent jobs, so don't tar everyone with the same brush!

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Of course they and any immigrant should be able to speak enough english to get by.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

In order to remain in this country they should have to take lessons and pass a test, I'm sure most would be grateful.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

To the point, I don't give a fig whether they can speak English because I wouldn't have them here.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Yes they should, but this is not encouraged because people are too afraid to say it. Instead we continue to print offical forms, and offer translation services, which is both divisive, as well as patronising to the people who have made an effort to learn the language of the country in which they live.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I agree with willow ,asian women shouldnt be singled out here.. But yes being able to speak at least enough of the enlish language to get them by should be part of the visa settlement, but on the other hand there are so many of our own younger generation that cant speak it so how can that be an example to imigrants etc

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Jack Straw is asking all Asian women to speak english? does he realise how many countries are in Asia? I know about 20 women from Hong kong and they speak better english then he does. Maybe he was taking about women from another part of Asia, but in fact was stereotyping them all in to the same bracket. People actually vote for idiots, I am amazed how uneducated some politicians are.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

He is asking them to speak English to get a settlement visa so presumably he means in the UK. As far as I know Tony Blair is only in charge of the UK, George Bush is in charge of the rest of the world :)

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Its a pain in the ass when you have a delivery for someone with an asian name and they cant even understand "just sign at the botoom please in the big box".

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

:confused: :confused: :confused:
What has that got to do with anything?

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Bless him he's an Essex lad, we shouldn't really hold that against him.:D

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Because this makes it look like he is asking all the women in Asia to speak English :)

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Personally,I find the fact that people from the Indian sub-continent are unable to speak English a surprise.After all we did have a presence there for a couple of hundred years.
One reason may be that the immigrants may be largely uneducated in any way.This was explained to me once by a Newsagent,who thought that the influx of so called village dwellers was the problem.These people had received little education in their own countries so struggled once they came here;
before the PC brigade get on my case the Newsagent in question was himself from India.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I was actually pondering the same thought last night in bed. I've known Asians were the women don't live so segregated a life, and therefore don't have problems accessing education. Perhaps it's because a lot of the people that came/come here as immigrants are from rural areas, were their background, both spiritually and geographically, keeps them isolated from education.

I still think pandering to people who don't speak English, by translating everything into other languages, is both patronising and in the long term unhelpful.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Yes I agree Garinda,where does it stop,we now have road signs in Polish.It's nearly as bad as Wales!:o

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

They only do that because Shirley Basssey, Charlotte Church, and Tom Jones don't speak Welsh.;)

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

what about the men?

what if they cant speak english?

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I think the women were used as an example because thats who they've come into contact with, I think it should apply to anyone who wants citizenship.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

The only problem with this is most of the companies are owned by asians for example Tetley Tea , Mittal and his steel empire, Corus owned by Indians, plus loads of others are owned by asians

or maybe Bagpuss is okay working for rich asians..

Come to think of it most doctors asians, what happens when they leave.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

There is no excuse for anyone migrating to another country not to learn the language. You get the same thing, albeit in a totally different context, with British people who migrate to sunny Spain and live in British "colonies" all living together and speaking only English and a tiny bit of fractured Spanish. No, I know it's not everyone who does it but, you must admit, a lot do. Well, OK, they're not dependant on the Spanish Economy to provide them with a living and they don't claim benefits from the Spanish government but it's still, in my opinion, insulting to the natives not to learn their language.

When someone comes here to be "British" it should be a legal requirement that they learn at least the basics of English. So, Mrs. Immigrant, where ever in the world you come from, be it Asia, Europe or the Moon, my taxes are paying for your family's Child Benefit, Tax Credits, Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Housing Benefit, children's education, NHS treatment. You'd better say thank you in my language, OK?

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Mr.Straw is just testing the water for Tony boy if we getan adverse reaction.Tony will say 'nothing to do with me!'

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Can I add to the argument something that I think is being overlooked. You're assuming that these women (or men) are actually coming here by choice. Forced marriage is a totally different situation from arranged marriage. In an arranged marriage the woman (or man) can always say no. In a forced marriage there is no option. If a woman is forced into a marriage they don't have any choice about whether they are brought over to the UK or not and they certainly don't have any option about learning the language.

In theory, I actually agree that to live in the UK there should be some effort made about speaking the language - I certainly would if I lived abroad. However, in practice this is not always possible.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

The immigration procedure is still the same married or not, someone forced to come here by marriage would surely benefit from having to learn the language and intigrate rather than being kept as a slave in the home.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Well yes I totally agree they would benefit, but if they are trapped they may not be able to get out to learn the language and integrate. The word 'slave' is very appropriate as that's what they are. It could actually stop some forced marraiges if there were some sort of immigration controls put in at the point where they are being brought into the country. So would be a good thing from that point of view.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

There is no excuse for anyone migrating to another country not to learn the language. You get the same thing, albeit in a totally different context, with British people who migrate to sunny Spain and live in British "colonies" all living together and speaking only English and a tiny bit of fractured Spanish. No, I know it's not everyone who does it but, you must admit, a lot do. Well, OK, they're not dependant on the Spanish Economy to provide them with a living and they don't claim benefits from the Spanish government but it's still, in my opinion, insulting to the natives not to learn their language.--- --------------thats easy to say if youve never been in that position westender. when i lived their i started to learn the language (off my own bat) couldnt take time to go to lessons as i was building a business, then what i discovered when i attempted to use what i learnt to my customers,they would always answer in broken english, the thing being i was told- they depend on tourism which in that particular place was mostly british so they needed the english more than i needed the spanish, so how is that insulting to them? i still have many spanish friends out there and they still answer me in english to this day.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I take your point, Cashman, it happens to me in Malta - I think they feel a bit sorry for me when I try to speak Maltese (!) but at least English is their official 2nd language. It's still, in my opinion, only polite to try to learn your host country's language. Unfortunately we English have a reputation, in Europe, for being a bit slow at picking up "foreign" tongues.

I only used the Costa Brittanica as an example, however. It's a different scenario to migrating to a country where you expect yourself and your descendants to remain in perpetuity. Speaking the "lingua franca" is part and parcel of integration.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Well then we should be fighting the religions and cultures present in our society that allows this to happen, and not pandering to, patronising and further alienating them by carrying on translating everything into languages other than English. Which in the long term will only prolong the problem not answer it.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

"Me no understand" are the first words taught to these people whatever sex they are, It slows the whole process down they know full well how to get access to whatever is available to them, publicising benefits in Urdu or Gugerati is a joke they cant even read their own languge. But you don't see any Pakistani beggars on our streets.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I take your point, Cashman, it happens to me in Malta - I think they feel a bit sorry for me when I try to speak Maltese (!) but at least English is their official 2nd language. It's still, in my opinion, only polite to try to learn your host country's language. Unfortunately we English have a reputation, in Europe, for being a bit slow at picking up "foreign" tongues.
------ polite/ good manners is spot-on, i found that if you attempt to speak the language in Andalucia, no matter how badly, they love you to bits and have a friend for life.:) unfortunatly if our immigrants did similar,the same would not occur? in many cases. and as for our reputation,many of the english expect people to be able to understand them,so i think the reputation is well founded.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

If you see further on I have suggested that immigration control should put more emphasis on knowing English - which may in turn help to stamp out forced marriages.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Slightly off thread,but yes I feel uneasy about forced marriages,indeed I find the arranged marriage a bit hard to stomach.I know we are of different cultures,but when in Rome.......
I think the problem is that the whole ethnic marriage idea is an antiquated system that we abandoned over a hundred years ago.
Mind you the only emigrating/immigrating in those days available was a one way trip to Aussie land.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I think it helps to understand exactly what an arranged marriage is though and then it doesn't sound quite so awful. An arranged marriage is when the parents look for suitable partners for their offspring. They then make the introductions. If the offspring do not like what they see on initial meetings (and they can meet as often as they want in safe company) they can say so - the woman has just the same right as the man to say no. If both parties say yes, then the parents take over arranging the marriage itself. Really, it's like a parent run dating agency.

Forced marriage is a totally different thing. Forced marriage is when one of the parties has not got a say in matters, they could have been promised from childhood or there could be a business deal behind it.

Forced marriage is not accepted by any world religion.

This was one of the subjects at the conference that I was at yesterday and it was fascinating.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

As far as I'm concerned arranged marriages are a load of cobblers, designed to keep the family money within the families concerned, as our royal family still practice to this day. Just look at the blood lines of Lady Di and Fergie and you will find a connection somewhere to the present day royal family. Most, not all asian arranged marriages are on the same lines either to bring money into the family, or keep it in.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Thanks for the input Gayle,yes I know the difference between the two forms of marriage'guidance'.
Did any of the conference attendees speak of the arranged marriage by photograph.I can assure you this goes on.What next an Argos catalogue of prospective partners?
Many of my work colleagues are Asian and all have strong polarised views on the marriage question.As I said earlier an antiquated system,that has not caught up with modern thinking,third world ideas should not be the norm in a Western country.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Forced marriages are more of a cultural thing. Forbidden in Islam, however it does happen (and that's wrong). Arranged marriages are like dating agencies by parents as Gayle pointed out. In arrange marriages a female has the same right to refuse as the guy. Another thing which is forbidden is dowry. one party (usually the guys family) is not allowed to put any pressure on the other party. Asking for dowry is more common in India.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Hmm! So the gifts of jewellry and/or cash to the bride on the wedding day is not a dowry as such?

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

My late husband and I went to a Hindu wedding in Bolton, about 20 years ago, a colleague of my husband. At the end of the ceremony, after about 5 hours, guests were pinning bank notes on to the bride's sari (she changed saris about 4 times) and then the groom's dad read out a list of presents and the givers. He went on, Mr & Mrs ......, gold chain, Mr & Mrs ......., diamond watch, Mr & Mrs ...... gold bracelet, etc., etc. Then he came to us - Mr & Mrs C*****, Teasmade. We felt a bit - outdone!

I believe it was an arranged (not forced) marriage but they adored each other. I still hear from him, occasionally, and they've got 3 children and live in London.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Money talks it can't talk and it can't walk, In 1946 India was partitioned, everyone was from the Indian sub continent. Lord Mountbatten allowed Jinna to form Pakistan as an appeasment to the Moslems, so that makes them all from 'India' the only difference being their 'religion', so you cannot blame it on the Indians, Kash, the cowboys are to blame for so called arranged marriages.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

One of the Asian girls I work with told me there had been £12,000 worth of jewellery 'donated' to her at her wedding;not a bad start to wedded bliss!

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

No problem here!
My original post was relating to the language problem;the thread seems to have wandered a bit but that's the way it goes with various opinions.
I still think we should not promote third world ideas in a so called modern country,but that is the beauty of the UK; all tastes are catered for and tolerated,only time will tell if this is the best way.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

As far as I'm concerned they are welcome to marry as they like, the only time it would concern me is if a Moslem wanted to marry one of my children or grandchildren, then I would have to think hard and long about it.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

What, like Christianity?:D

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Christianity is on the wane in the UK,the vacuum will be filled by other more 'dynamic' religions.......which is in itself a problem.
We have only ourselves to blame,the Christian Church; Catholic/C of E used to be the backbone of our country's morality,now we have turned our backs on the Church and nothing has replaced it,until now!

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

People go to those new cathedrals on Sundays now....like the Trafford Centre. Shopping and consumerism are now the people's choice of escapism.:D

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

So ? What's wrong with that? gets you out, socialising, family outing and the big globe has got wonderful blue lights to give you pleasant surroundings .. :D Doesn't make you any worse a person than the ones that are attending church.

Does seem sad though that some of the Asian women will come here and be cocooned in their own little Asia and never really integrate into our society due to language problems. How can you if you can't communicate !! Always find it endearing now when I listen to Asian teenagers with a strong Lancashire accent .. brilliant. Some of the little ones though do speak English albeit with an Asian accent which is probably from their parents; expect when they start school this will finally be polished off.

Can observe that lots of the Grannies still can't speak English, but do you not think that as the Generations move up .. this will phase out, or are there still lots of immigrants coming that can't.

Think the Eastern Europeons will be more keen to learn our language.

Hey, Lampman, never seen a road sign yet in Polish ! Where are they ?.. :D

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Nothing is wrong with it. The people need their opiates. It used to be in cathedrals and churches, now it's from malls.

Luckily I am an atheist, and detest shopping.:D

Better stop now, before I get smacked legs for thread wandering.:o

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Just another thing that springs to mind is my attempts at learning French at school .. 2/3 periods x 40 mins per week over 5 years !! Came out not being able to hold a decent conversation in French in France !!

Although a 'skimming' is possible to learn whilst still in their own country, not really possible until you actually live with 'us natives' .. different alphabet too.

Think rather a commitment of some sort that once here they will undertake classes and groups to learn our language, otherwise, back out again. Mind you, who will be the judge as to whether their English is good enough to stay. After all, have to learn all the special sayings we have as depicted in one of our threads on Lancashire sayings .. :rolleyes: Can you imagine teaching Asians 'E-by-gum' :D Sorry being frivolous.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

The thing that makes me a little uncomfortable is when two or more multi-lingual Asians are talking in English with me and then Switch to Hindi/Urdu,to one another.
Am I getting slated? Mind you this used to happen in parts of Wales years ago!:p
Grin and bear it.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

How much does it cost the British taxpayer to print all the Social Security jargon in multilingual languages, to service these people who cannot or will not learn to speak the language of their adopted country? and where could this wasted money be spent?. When I go on holiday I expect the host country to accomadate me and my lack of knowledge of their language, or otherwise I will spend my money elswhere in a country more congenial to my holiday needs.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I think its disgusting they dont speak english, im spanish and i went to college to learn english, its such an easy language to learn and i mean lets be real, everyone should learn the language of the countrie they are going to live to, why should we have to put up with it, im not racist but asian polish or whatever it is, they should learn the language, in spain we have loads of people from morroco and they learn the language really fast because its the only way of living there.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I always struggled with other languages even though its handy. The easiest way to learn is to be in an enviroment that its there constant as there is the need to learn it. Yolanda you are lucky to be bi-lingual and you worked for it and I hope you are proud of that. In time people will be bi tri or multilingual its a case of making the effort as you did. I like the way you discribe English as easy to learn as I am English and still struggle with it especially spelling.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

English has so many words that are exact or derivitives of European languages it may be easier. To your point about simularity in languages a Croat and a Czec can converse because of a simularity in languages ie Slavic. Yet the oddity in the european language is Hungarian (Magyian) as its closer to languages from the Indian sub continent. So in theory any European should be able to learn another Euro one but the irony being a person from the Indian subcontinant might find Hungarian easier. I work or should say worked with a Hungarian women and she really struggles with English despite 20 years her.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

When I am in the presence of immigrants they always to a man or woman revert back to their 'mother' tongue, this I personally find very offensive, this is not something that happens occasionally but always when they are in groups, and is extremely bad manners in my opinion. How does one know if they are racially abusing you, or mimicing you as the postmen found out to their cost.
They are not on holiday here, but making one hopes a better life for themselves, and an education for their children. How unfair it is on native children, to have to teach immigrants offsprings basic English, as their parents can not speak the language of their adopted country.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

You'd never find us Brits doing that!

Oh, hang on, yes you would. By the hundreds of thousands of us that live in Spain.;)

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I would speak Dutch to people in Double-Dutch.:)

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

i must admit im with ianto on this one. those leaflets when printed in urdu are completely wasteful as people who can read urdu generally speaking can read english as Pakistan was a former colony and english has been taught for many years.the majority of people who are unable to read basic english are illeterate and cant even read urdu. i think the printers just make a good living from it.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

the translation sevices are relevant for older people who are not capable of learning the language but for younger women for example some families are only to happy that they are unable to spaek english because it limits their independance. thats why there must be pressure for everyone to learn to speak/read english. its a good idea to have a few interpretorsaround for people but if more people can be ecouraged to learn english than that wont be necessary.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

The point I was trying to make willow, was that these people 'can' speak English when it suits them, but not when we are around. Gary if I lived or aspired to live in another country, I would ensure I could at least get 'by' with the local language. The bad 'manners' comes in when they revert back to mother tongue in our presence, in my opinion this is their way of sticking two fingers up at us, because we do not understand what they are saying. This is not conjusive to good relations, or integration.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

From today's Sunday Times.

Councils told to axe translation help for migrants -News-Politics-TimesOnline

Councils and Town Halls are to be forced by the government to stop translating every published piece of information in other languages, in order to encourage immigrants to learn English.

About bloody time too.

Hopefully soon we won't be seeing languages, other than English, on HBC's website.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Two ex-pat Brits living in Spain, and meeting in a bar/shop/cafe etc., will not be speaking Spanish, even if they can, and even if it is infront of a Spaniard, and won't care a jot about whether the indigenous Spaniard thinks it's bad mannered, or not.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Course it would have been daft not to speak English between you .. agree .. how difficult would that be when you were map reading .. don't think their swear words are quite as flowery :D French would be romantic in the evenings though ;)

All about sticks and stones anyway, and if anyone were speaking about me in a derogatory way in their own language .. wouldn't know what they were saying and couldn't care two hoots.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

About a year ago, Mrs H and one of her Peruvian buddies were walking along the street, yakking away in Spanish, when a chav walked past and said "yer in effing England, talk in effing English." Naturally, they told him where to go (in Anglo-Saxon!), but it seems strange to me that people should expect those whose first language is not English to talk in English at all times!

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Nice one, Willow. :D I'll tell her to say that if it happens again!

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

If the chav attitude was previlent we would never have tourists in this country spending money. Would the chav speak the local lingo if he ever manages to get abroad? I doubt it somehow.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

You are twisting my words again, If you were born here, brought up here, why speak the language of another country, this is the group I am talking about. When I did my bit in the middle east I could get by with Arab lingo as I can in Spain or any other country, any fool can if they visit the country often enough.;)

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

The are supposed to be British, it's the youngsters i'm talking about 'teenagers' who then laugh when they look in your direction, after some remark made by one of them appears to be funny to them. What I do is supprise them by making a remark back in their lingo, they don't like that.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Many years ago, as a student nurse, I worked on one of the ante-natal wards.
The sister on the ward had spent many years in the Asian sub-continent doing voluntary work with the poor......so she spoke a number of asian languages.
One day a couple of asian men visited the ward and made some very derogatory comments about her in their own language. She overheard this and was off like a shot to challenge the men...IN THEIR LANGUAGE.......you should have seen their faces. They were so shocked that a middle aged white woman could speak and understand their mother tongue. This was in 1976.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I really don't think it matters if non-natives speak in their own language to each other. What is important is that they should be able to speak and understand enough English to be able to go shopping, go to hospital/doctor's surgery, go to a government department etc. It's basic common sense to realise that this is in their own interest as well as that of others. It's not easy to do at first, when you've grown up without learning English, but practise makes perfect.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Ah so we're getting to the point now. It's rude teenagers you are actually objecting to. They come in the English speaking variety too but have the disadvantage that even if they speak some modern 'teentalk' us oldies can usually comprehend the gist of what they are saying. It doesn't stop them insulting people though if that's what they really want to do.

Insulting you in a language you can't understand seems to be somehow lacking in purpose to me.

There was a lad on the bus a couple of weeks ago who was very loud and irritating. It was just his volume which I found annoying but apparently he was also saying something to his mates about me obviously thinking he was impressing his mates and being clever. I just wish I'd realised who it was at the time as I would have asked him how his poorly knee was now after falling off his bike outside our house and sitting on our garden wall crying his eyes out. :D

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

I think Ianto is doing well if he can understand the patois of any youngsters, regardless of their background.

Innit.:D

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

he will think so, but the kids will just think him 'sad'..........I know it's not right, but it is a generation thing......boundaries that us wrinklies(and to kids that is anyone over 30) are not supposed or entitled to cross.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

It is the only way to deal with them learn a bit of the lingo and give it back to them they hate it, good on you ianto.:)

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

actually ianto i had a similar experience to you the other day some asian chavs were trying to take the miky out of me saying(in pakistani) hello how are you today in mocking tones. normally i would just ignore them but due to the hot temperatures i told them to get lost. this inspiired more mocking tones. i was a bit ****ed off as i dont expect asian youngsters to behave so rudely to ladies. anyway a few days later one of the lads saw me and came to apologise . it was really sweet as it reminded me that there were some manners lurking in those younguns somewhere

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

Didn't know you could speak Urdu, Bagpuss.

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

It has its uses now and again.;)

Re: Asian women and the English language.
 

It's nice to see a young chap who has embraced multiculturism.:)