Poll: Do you agree with proposals to give a language test to people applying for citizenship?

Red5

This poll is related to the following weblog entry...

http://www.usingenglish.com/weblog/a
rchives/000038.html

Sampson

Total immersion is the best way to learn a language. Make information available upon applying such as cd's or cassette tapes and volunteer tutoring. I wouldn't want to be tested myself and for pete's sake don't teach anything but English in public schools.

willbut

I agree with Sampson. I don't think dumping kids in classes with little or no English as they so often do in the UK is a good idea.

willbut

I agree with Sampson. I don't think dumping kids in classes with little or no English as they so often do in the UK is a good idea.

blogal villager

The addition of Welsh and Gaelic (is that Scots Gaelic, by the way) is interesting to the transatlantic observer. Not that Nigerian immigrants will go out of their way to memorize the Mabinogion, of course. But it seems a bit like the U.S. making Native American languages semi-official.

belaja

Total immersion is NOT the best way to learn a second language--especially for young children. And if you were familiar with the EXTENSIVE research on the topic, you'd know that. The problem is that the facts are counterintuitive and the situation much more complex than people realize. I know--I have taught ESL (for 7 years) in a bilingual setting and an immersion setting. Bilingual wins hands down.

italianbro

Whoever has applied to be naturalised in a specific country must be thinking to live in it, hence I would have thought that is a fare deal: you�ll get the passport, yet before getting it you prove me some level of English. Now the problem consist on how to teach a language, which in some of these applicants is of little or no interest at all.

Willbut

The passport method is the legal equivalent of brute force. It might well guarantee a minimum level, which can't be altogether bad.

italianbrother

Yes but sometime one does not know a single word of the county's language.

willbut

One should.

an odd person

They don't exactly have to know english to be American

S-At

Belaja,
How would bilingual work in a classroom with twenty languages?

pp

myself,i live in the U.K
if i were to live in another country i would learn their laungage and customs

Doaa Yehya

absolutely i do agree, it is hih advantage you will feel its importancy later

Elisa

I completely agree that learning the country's language is a most important step to integration. I have lived in three other countries besides my birth country and have learned all languages. Learning the language not only allows you to communicate, but also opens doors to understanding the culture as well.

Fergie

I think they should test language because you have to speak tha language your future nation speaks.

Statuess

Yes, to be a citizen, you should be able to function as a citizen.

Note that people should still be allowed to visit the country beforehand and learn the language by immersion if they desire (plus, you'd have to visit to know you wanted to become a citizen!).

Unless they're actually going to be useful to the country, though, they shouldn't automatically have the right to stay permanently.