Why is it exactly that we are not prioritising language tuition among the countries of the EU? If we have the right to live, work and study across the EU, there must surely be an interchange across cultures and without language skills this opportunity will fail to promote harmony and achievement.
For example, every day in the Spanish village where I live, local Spanish people are faced with a multitude of foreigners, in many cases outnumbering those who were born here. In an horrendous display of ignorance and arrogance, most of the English that live on the Costa Blanca do not speak Spanish. They rely on Spanish services, whether that is Town Hall officials, doctors, teachers, lawyers, plumbers, waiters or builders, and expect them to understand English. Many Brits start up businesses here, own shops or carry out services aimed at their fellow expats, and do so without a clue of the national or regional language. Their businesses have English names, promote English imported foods and goods, and do so shamelessly without any attempt to integrate.
These same people complain that England is no longer their home because it is full of foreigners who do not speak their language or understand their customs. They object to refugees and immigrants taking lowly paid jobs in the UK or living on the dole. However, they expect to be allowed to work here without a smattering of Spanish, fail to understand local customs, working hours, fiesta traditions, systems of banking, schooling or medicine, and loudly disrespect the Spanish as if the locals cannot understand what they are saying.
If we want to stop civil unrest, and nip racist intolerance in the bud, I think that all the countries of the EU should offer basic language tuition along with the residency card. Your right to work here legally should be balanced with a promise to learn the language and integrate with local customs. This should be the case in ALL the countries of the EU, so that its many languages and cultures can flourish.
The need to dominate an Empire of English-speaking countries is a distasteful echo of the past, and it should be put to rest. Except in England, of course, where the ability to speak our native tongue and teach it to immigrant families should be high on the list of any politically savvy government.
