Quote:
Originally Posted by CarlW
Most people that can't speak english are usually the older people, as learning a new language is harder the older you get, not to mention some people just don't have the linguistic knack for learning languages. Unfortunately there is also the mind set that "i'm too old to learn english now" My mom and dad run a store and my mom can speak better english then my dad by a fair margin with the same amount of time in North America.
The ethnic communities are great, but can sometimes become a crutch for people, as they think that they don't really need to learn the language because they can just stay in their own community. Unfortunately it creates a large amount of problems in regards to communication with police, government and emergency workers. Like when my grandma was hit by a car this past summer in Chinatown and my aunts and uncles couldn't speak english well enough to understand police officers, doctors, nurses, etc. My mom and dad were caught up at work, so my mom had to call me over to the hospital just to see how she was doing and to communicate with doctors.
I just don't think that Canada has the same problem as whats happening in the UK. Here it is the older generations that have trouble communicating and keeping to themselves, the problem facing the youth is a disconnect with their own ethnic culture in most cases. From what I can gather in the UK, they seem to have even the younger generation having trouble interacting with british society. Though I think even in Canada there is a danger of seperating ethnicities just by the actions of some people, a theoretically possible scenario is with the bars/clubs (you know who you are  ) in Calgary having what looks like racial discrimination not letting asians in, would create the idea of someone opening an Asian bar/club where they would do the same to non asians causing even more problems. |
I think you're partly correct in saying the older generations are where we see this type of 'refusal to integrate'. But on the other hand, look at the average university campus around Canada today. I'm out on Vancouver island, and at times I almost find it hard to believe that I'm in Canada with the amount of foreign langauges being spoken. It's no secret that most are from various places in Asia. I think it's really cool that they (their culture) has such an interest in this part of the world, however I would have to assume that when coming over here, part of the reason they did so was to learn about a different place in the world...And for the most part, I don't see that happening.