Should we insist that immigrants speak our language?

And it's heartless! As if the family hasn't got enough to put up without being criticised for their lack of language skills!

It's incongruous.

I think we feel desperately sorry for the little girl as well as being able to talk about the problems associated with not being able to speak the language of the country one lives in whether it is Bangladeshis in England or an English person in a remote part of Ghana (or Bangladesh, for that matter). The one does not preclude the other.

Having lived in four different countries (three European and one far eastern) I've always tried to learn as much of the language as I could to get me by (except the Chinese dialects, which were beyond me!), as I think it is the polite thing to at least make an effort. It's never really been enough, though. There were times when I could have done with an interpreter! My husband is hopeless at languages; he has no "ear". I suppose there are immigrants who suffer the same problem, especially the older ones. When I was at work, my boss had to conduct an interview, though an interpreter, in the West Midlands with a Sikh gentleman who spoke no English. He had worked in a factory for years without needing to speak any English, as the workforce were almost entirely Asian, and he considered he was now too old to learn. His wife spoke no English either. I'm sure there are many ex-pat English who make no effort to learn the language of the country they're living in, and no one feels it necessary to exert pressures on them to do so.

An awful lot of British and American people living around the world should definitely make more effort to speak the local language- at least they have had an education- unlike the parents of very poor Bangladeshi children I used to teach, who could not read or write.

Annobel, spot on I think. A big difference with everyday communicative language and an interview or Court appearance, thanks.

I do find it very sad though, that instead of feeling desperately sorry for that lovely little girl, now crippled for life, and for her family- is to discuss their language ability

I think you are safe enough, Greatnan as long as Britain remains in the EU. We have to accommodate European citizens as does France, it's mainly the ones who come from the Indian Sub-continent who come in for the most criticism though in generations to come, their descendants will be as British as, say, our Jewish community.

Perhaps I am over sensitive to any hint of immigrant-bashing, being an immigrant myself. I hope France never introduces the kind of citizenship test some people advocate for immigrants to Britain. I tried the one for people wishing to become naturalised Britons (which I don't aspire to in France). After living in England for close on 55 years and having spent several years at university there , I failed miserably.

It is a tragedy for this family made worse by being in a foreign country but it is always being said that the immigrants should learn English - over and over again.

I think we who live in a foreign country notice it.

Maggie's right about how hard interpreting is - I've done it too and it makes me exhausted, sick and with a raging headache - no matter what the subject matter might be.

As for simultaneous translations - this is the stuff of nervous breakdowns, especially when doing German to English, as you have to hold a huge string of words in your head while waiting for the verb, which comes at the end of the clause in German and the beginning in English! All this while listening to the next sentence. I've trained in it but never done it, not being a masochist.

The point I'm trying to make is that everything about a second language is complex, and can be a nightmare. Many people can't do it, others can only manage a little, and many who speak two languages fine, cannot translate or interpret. Immigrants who don't speak English are rarely willfully refusing to do it. We are simply asking too much of them. Luckily the children, pre-puberty, just absorb the prevailing language, like osmosis.

I think that the OP meant to use this tragedy only as an example. We have no way of knowing their family circumstances, anyway. There may be all sorts of reasons why the mother wasn't able to speak English. She may, after all, have a smattering of the English language, if she worked regularly in the family shop, but in the case of speaking in a news interview, and about an issue which was so emotionally charged, I would think using an interpreter was useful for everyone concerned.

A lot of people calling for immigrants to learn English don't themselves speak a foreign langauge or they would know that it is dammed hard work and gets harder the older a person is.
Then we have interpreting and translating. Quite two different things. Word for word interpreting is very hard indeed and I know as I have interpreted in a court in Germany for an US service man who had been beaten up by German men, or as they maintained he had beaten them up.
The vocabulary of body parts, slang and US Army methods of near torture quite threw me out, struggling to find the right word in German. The court paid me very well indeed but as I went home exhausted and upset by what I had heard, I felt I had earned every penny.

greatnan is right. The levels of the foreign language needed in court is very high and in this case the parents would have needed help even if they had spoken English.
In Germany a lot of effort is made to get through to Turkish women to enable them to get away from their husbands in order to learrn a bit of German. We have offered sewing courses and tried to sneak a bit of basic German inbetween. In the second generation this ceases to be a problem.
As to the Poles. They love Poland and will always return.

I wasn't being sarcastic, jings. Just straightforward, as is my wont.

granbunny - my feelings exactly.

I feel sorry if anyone is isolated in our communities because of something which can be alleviated. And that covers many issues.

oh dear. don't fall out.

the little girl should not have been shot, crossfire or not. there should be no casual gun use, so no crossfire.

her parents have enough to cope with and should be looked after.

aside from her case, the matter of people living in the uk without acquiring functional english skills is a thorny issue. circumstances must affect this surely - an aged grandma coming to join her younger family might be reasonably expect to get along in her home language, assisted by her sons or daughters who have learned english having arrived here in their youth, and by her grandchildren who are british-plus-other heritage and will be 'natural' english speakers.

some interpreters will be needed, in hospitals and courts, places where exact meaning is very important.

the feeling i get from the original post is that the issue of immigration is causing discomfort, which it does for many people. although this thread isn't the place to discuss it, i wouldn't have thought (i might be wrong!), it is a matter which causes genuine concern for many people and so perhaps shouldn't be brushed aside.

Costa del Sol awash with Brits who congregate with their compatriots and who don't learn Spanish.
Last I heard it was pretty hard to get English classes if you were an immigrant hoping to learn. Doubt whether things have improved. It is a much harder language to learn than Spanish.
Last time we asked the Bangladeshi students in school whether they wanted us to provide the opportunity to do Bangladeshi GCSE they said no thanks.

Ditto!

It's likely that the parents of the little girl could speak enough English to get by, but not to respond effectively to an interviewer. I can get by pretty well in French, but might quail at an interview.

I guess I should have kept my mouth shut.

Sorry.

jeni I'm not a drinker.

Jingl. Have you got a hangover? You aren't your usual refreshing self this morning!

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

It's OK if you don't understand, jings. The rest of us do. Have fun baking.

Actually, using the case of the little girl was crass and insensitive.

And if you can't see that, I pity you.

We use a variety of interpreters at tribunals! This week I have had a Kurd. A pole and a Bengali. The most common one however is Somali.

And now I've got hot cross buns to make!