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Subject:One more bit about Official languages From:Shannon Ford <shannon -at- UNIFACE -dot- NL> Date:Mon, 24 Jan 1994 14:14:58 +0100
Many others have spoken eloquently on the subject, but I wanted to add something
from a different perspective.
Living abroad, and not being proficient in the mother tongue,
has made me much more sympathetic to people in the U.S.
who are living away from their mother country. IT CAN BE VERY DIFFICULT.
A little help, such as giving important social information in their
native language and providing legal assistence, is much appreciated by those
who are still assimilating. I cannot imagine if, for example, I had to go
to court here (in the Netherlands) without an interpreter.
I think making English officially official would mostly play into the hands
of people like D-FENS in _Falling Down_ who says to the Korean shopkeeper
that if he's gonna live in his country, he better learn his language
(farce or no farce, people *do* have that attitude--if they don't like it
they can go back home sort of thing).
