Reverse Colonialism

I found this essay on a cartoon website. I like the way the author thinks.

I have always been of the mind that when you visit a foreign country you're the one that should make the effort to communicate with the locals. Speaking your birth tongue slower and louder doesn't make yourself any more understandable, it just makes you look like a jackass. The onus to learn the local language is even heavier if you're an immigrant. After all, you're the one asking for the privilege of becoming a part of someone else's community. That means you can bloody well learn the language; you don't even have to succeed, you just have to show that you're willing to try.

And trying is the attitude that counts! I recognize that a lot of older folks immigrate to Canada, and it's a little tough for an 80-year old Mongolian granddad to become even quasi-fluent in English. But if he smiles and can say "hello" and "goodbye" and "thank-you" at least I'll know that he cares about his adoptive community enough to make the effort, which is what I expect from an immigrant.

Hopefully a day will come when my wife and I can buy property in the Dominican Republic. They speak Spanish there, and as a result I will learn Spanish! The first phrase I learned was Lo siento, no comprende. Habla ingles? Most of the time the local will say no, but will happily work with me to figure out a way to communicate with each other. He knows I want to try, and that his language is the one that rightfully takes precedence in his country.

Those immigrants who refuse to learn the local language are in effect attempting to carve out an enclave, or colony, for themselves in their new country, an enclave where they can ignore all of the locals and in fact reject the community in which they live. I abhor this behaviour, as it serves only to erect walls within the community, and in this age of globalization that can't possibly end well. Make no mistake, if you're an immigrant to a nation that speaks a language other than your own, and you're so arrogant as to refuse to try to learn the local tongue, you should turn around and go home. We don't want you here, wherever "here" may be. And you can take your colonial arrogance home with you.