Daily Express to launch Polish language edition for lazy foreigners
“MIGRANTS SHUN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE,” states the Daily Express. “4 million spell living here hardly speak it.”
Time for the Express to produce a Polish-language editions, surely.
Sarah O’Grady writes:
MORE than four million migrants in Britain cannot or rarely speak English.
She knows this because…
In figures showing the stark impact of years of mass immigration, one million barely use English with a staggering 138,000 unable to utter a word of it.
Four million has become 138,000 temporary residents.
Polish is now the second language spoken by 546,000 people, reflecting the huge influx of Poles during the last decade.
Do none of them speak English, also?
And in some areas up to four out of 10 people only speak English as a second language.
So. These migrants are not shunning the language, more speaking a different one when talking to people from a shared background. You know, like ex-pats in France and Spain do. Dos beers, garçon. Of course, this being the Express, the news that English is not uniquely spoken in every British bungalow (India) by the plebs (Latin) eating their ketchup (China) and drinking their booze (Dutch) is terrible. English was the lingua franca of the colonies of the British Empire. It’s enough to make a Briton (French) go berserk (Norse).
Says Sara O’Grady:
Last night experts [Latin for ‘show us your certificates’] warned of the potential damage to local communities and one said: “Those who want to live in Britain should make an effort to learn to speak English.”
Who says they don’t make an effort to learn and speak English?
The figures come from the 2011 Census which was the first to ask how well people could speak English when it was not their main form of communication. A total of eight per cent of the population in England and Wales – more than four million – reported speaking a different main language other than English or Welsh.
Does O’Grady read her own copy? Speaking a different main language does not mean you don’t speak English.
Of them, 1.7 million said they could speak English very well, 1.6 million could speak it well, 726,000 could speak English but not well and 138,000 could not speak English at all.
Does she remember the headline, “4million migrants shun the English language”?
What they don’t shun is the language of the English. Still, O’Grady has some point to make, and presses f9 on her keyboard to call Sir Andrew Green of MigrationWatch. Says he:
“[Immigration] also brought a huge problem of integration for which ability to speak English is absolutely essential.”
No, Sir Mike. It isn’t. They’re doing ok. They are integrated. And – whisper it – they might only be pretending not to speak Ingleeesh when stuck in a lift with you….
Posted: 31st, January 2013 | In: Reviews Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
