from ananova.com....

 

Speak English, demands postmaster

A Sri Lankan postmaster is refusing to serve his customers unless they speak English.

 

Deva Kumarasiri, 40, told his customers at Sneinton Boulevard Post Office in Nottingham that it is imperative they speak English otherwise he cannot understand them.

 

The post office, which is attached to a shop, is in a culturally diverse area of the city, but Mr Kumarasiri believes everyone coming to the UK should be able to speak the native language.

 

The father-of-two came to Britain from Sri Lanka 18 years ago. He said: "I've always thought I'm a British person. We have a situation now where British culture is going down so I decided it's time somebody had to put it right.

 

"My feeling is that when you move to a different country you have to respect the flag and the language, but that has gone. I give my country a service and it's necessary for me to learn and understand the language.

 

"People have to speak the language otherwise they cannot give a proper service. It's making people understand that we have to learn a common language.

 

"Everything is written in English, the law is written in English. If people can't understand, they can't read and they can't write, how can they support this country? Working class people, whether we are white, black or Asian, we're all proud to be British. We want to say that to everybody."

 

Mr Kumarasiri said his idea not to serve customers who could not speak English was popular in the local community.

 

Ina Norgate, 49, from Sneinton, said: "I agree with him. It's a bit ignorant to come here and not speak the language. If you went to France you would have to learn French."

 

But Mohammed Ahmed, 22, from Sneinton, said: "This is a multicultural society and this is not right really. If they come here to work, it's their right to stay here even if they speak their own language. Some people can't speak English but they can learn the language once they come here."

 

How refreshing that this postmaster who himself has travelled from another country to live here and learned to speak English and respect the British way of life is speaking up and saying this - at least he won't be labelled racist, anyway....

 

He's got a point.

 

Although, how many Brits move to Spain and don't speak a word of Spanish? The Spanish should operate a similar policy for expats.

Edited March 18, 200916 yr by Ashley

from ananova.com....

 

Speak English, demands postmaster

A Sri Lankan postmaster is refusing to serve his customers unless they speak English.

 

Deva Kumarasiri, 40, told his customers at Sneinton Boulevard Post Office in Nottingham that it is imperative they speak English otherwise he cannot understand them.

 

The post office, which is attached to a shop, is in a culturally diverse area of the city, but Mr Kumarasiri believes everyone coming to the UK should be able to speak the native language.

 

The father-of-two came to Britain from Sri Lanka 18 years ago. He said: "I've always thought I'm a British person. We have a situation now where British culture is going down so I decided it's time somebody had to put it right.

 

"My feeling is that when you move to a different country you have to respect the flag and the language, but that has gone. I give my country a service and it's necessary for me to learn and understand the language.

 

"People have to speak the language otherwise they cannot give a proper service. It's making people understand that we have to learn a common language.

 

"Everything is written in English, the law is written in English. If people can't understand, they can't read and they can't write, how can they support this country? Working class people, whether we are white, black or Asian, we're all proud to be British. We want to say that to everybody."

 

Mr Kumarasiri said his idea not to serve customers who could not speak English was popular in the local community.

 

Ina Norgate, 49, from Sneinton, said: "I agree with him. It's a bit ignorant to come here and not speak the language. If you went to France you would have to learn French."

 

But Mohammed Ahmed, 22, from Sneinton, said: "This is a multicultural society and this is not right really. If they come here to work, it's their right to stay here even if they speak their own language. Some people can't speak English but they can learn the language once they come here."

 

How refreshing that this postmaster who himself has travelled from another country to live here and learned to speak English and respect the British way of life is speaking up and saying this - at least he won't be labelled racist, anyway....

 

lol.. but of course if I had said that i would be branded racist!

 

he is of course quite correct with figures today showing that 1 in 7 havnt got english as their first language. ive already told you all about the school i work in who has to have 13 interpreters ... a recent aditional cost

English is a second language for one in seven school pupils

Daily Mail.co.uk

By James Chapman

Last updated at 10:00 AM on 18th March 2009

 

One in seven primary school pupils does not speak English as a first language.

The number who normally speak a foreign language rose last year to 565,888 - 14.3 per cent of the total.

 

In some areas, English is a foreign language to more than 70 per cent of four to 11-year-olds, putting enormous pressure on teaching staff. And there are ten schools without a single pupil who has English as a first language, new figures show.

 

Teachers say large concentrations of children with a poor grasp of English can lead to some schools being unfairly condemned by inspectors.

Parliamentary questions have revealed that in 2004, 452,388 primary school children spoke English as a second language. By last year this figure had increased by 113,500, a rise of almost exactly 25 per cent.

 

In secondary schools, the proportion of pupils who do not have English as their native language has increased from 8.8 per cent in 2004 to 10.6 per cent last year.

 

The soaring figures reflect the fact that immigration into the UK is now five times higher than when Labour came to power in 1997. Net immigration has increased from 48,000 that year to 237,000 in 2007.

 

Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said the figures suggest that almost a million primary and secondary pupils now speak English as a second language.

He said: 'These shocking figures illustrate how difficult life is for many teachers because of the Government's long-term failure to control immigration.

'They show why we badly need an annual limit on immigration.

'Australia has a limit which it has just reduced because of the recession - Britain should be able to do the same thing.

'The number of pupils with English as a second language makes life difficult for teachers, parents and pupils.

'Whether or not they can speak English, everyone suffers when it's more difficult for teachers in the classroom.

'This is also a huge pressure on local authorities trying to cope with uncontrolled immigration.'

'Everyone suffers when it's more difficult for teachers in the classroom'

 

Mick Brookes, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: 'Where you have a child or a group of children with no English at all admitted to a school, the school needs to create some facility for translation, just in terms of the quality of their education .

'We are now hearing head teachers complaining that they and their schools are being unfairly judged because they have a large number of children with English as a second language.

'Schools are bending over backwards to accommodate these children and then Ofsted comes in and gives them a kicking for poor overall standards.

'But as well as being a challenge to schools, there are real success stories.

'In my own experience, a child came from Estonia with very broken English and two years later she was winning the school spelling competition.'

 

More and more local authorities are now insisting they need more money to help cater for the dozens of languages spoken in some schools.

In the London borough of Tower Hamlets, only 23 per cent of pupils speak English as their first language.

At one school, Nelson Primary in East London, three-quarters of pupils are not native English speakers and some 56 different languages are spoken.

 

Headmaster Tim Benson said his teachers have to use many more hand gestures than usual, as well as drawing pictures.

Teaching assistants fluent in particular languages are brought in to help small groups of children through their lessons.

 

Schools Minister Jim Knight acknowledges there can be problems with high numbers of students whose English is not up to scratch.

Despite his problems, Mr Benson says schools in areas like his are better equipped than many trying to deal with newer immigrant populations.

 

Schools in shire counties 'really struggle' and desperately need more cash, he warned.

'In places like Lincolnshire and Suffolk this is all new to them and the mindset is not there to provide for these children. They haven't got the staff and they haven't got the funding.'

 

Schools minister Jim Knight has admitted that 'undoubtedly there can be problems' for schools with large numbers of non-English speakers.

 

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears will tomorrow call for an 'honest debate' about the pressures that migration can put on local public services.

She will announce that anyone from outside the EU applying for a student or work visa will be required to pay a special tax levied on migrants.

The cash produced by this will go to local authorities who are currently struggling to cope with the impact of immigration on their schools, GP surgeries and other public services.

Ministers hope the tax will raise £70million over the next two years.

Miss Blears is expected to say: 'This fund will pay for the public services in the areas where migration has the biggest impact on our local communities'

 

The Children's Department said last night: 'The language of instruction in English schools is and always has been English.

'We have listened to concerns of headteachers and are increasing funding in the ethnic minority achievement grant to £206million by 2010, to bring students weak in English up to speed.

'We also equip schools to offer effective English teaching for new arrivals, with a comprehensive support package.'

Not really much to add but here and for miles around outside city areas its english or maybe a bit of polish. Very, very, very few British Asians and Afr-Caribbeans. Although there are lots of East Asian and German students in Sixth Form, together comfortably outnumbering British i reckon.

lol.. but of course if I had said that i would be branded racist!

One of the many things that i hate about the "justice" system in England -_-

 

But shouldnt the article also apply to the thousands of people working for Customer Services (many who, to me, have claimed to be called John Smith :lol:) who have some of the harshest accents that make it IMPOSSIBLE to understand when they are giving out crucial information?

If all shops in the rest of Europe adopted that approach most British tourists would find life very difficult.

If all shops in the rest of Europe adopted that approach most British tourists would find life very difficult.

 

We're not talking about tourists though! If someone makes a conscious decision to live in a country then they should make the effort to speak the language. Similarly I agree with what a previous poster said - those ex-pats who go off to live in Spain should learn Spanish.

 

Norma

We're not talking about tourists though! If someone makes a conscious decision to live in a country then they should make the effort to speak the language. Similarly I agree with what a previous poster said - those ex-pats who go off to live in Spain should learn Spanish.

 

Norma

 

totally agree on both points - it's the height of rudeness to decide to live anywhere without even attempting to integrate or learn the local lingo.

He is totally correct, and where i am he'd have the backing of the Prime Minister. The one thing i can't STAND is phoning a call centre to be put through to someone in India who can barely do conversational English.

 

Not a single one of them can cope with my accent.

 

Put it this way, would you be able to serve a non english speaker if there was no common language? No, well supermarket checkout yes, i have done it with great difficulty and fair bit of pointing towards the screen with the total price on it. Luckily they can all understand numbers.

 

But elsewhere it is much harder, it was near impossible when i worked in the cafe.

 

I still stand by my view of 'If you want to live here, fine lovely, JUST LEARN THE LANGUAGE'

Of course people who move country should nake an effort to learn the language - or at least enough to manage everyday things. After all, learning to speak a new language fluently isn't easy. But I still get angry when I hear Brits who've lived in Spain for twenty years or more almost boasting that they don't speak a word of Spanish. They ought at least to have learnt enough to cope in shops etc. even if they still couldn't discuss, for example, the rights and wrongs of nuclear power in Spanish.

I think the guy's basically annoyed that if he can study hard to learn the language and get a job in the Post Office, then he probably feels others should too... But, how many of the people he's serving are actually LIVING here, and how many are just tourists trying to send home postcards or cards and are slightly confused by the Post Office's relatively recent new charging system, or are just trying to buy stamps to put on postcards....? You cant just blithely assume that everyone you're serving is living in the local area, tourists would use Post Offices too....

 

And, frankly, I would say that us Brits are by far the worst offenders when we go abroad, we just shout at people and expect them to understand us... Ex Pats in places such as Marbella, etc, make absolutely no attempt to speak the language of their adopted countries either.... So a lot of it is a case of "pot calling kettle black"...

I think the guy's basically annoyed that if he can study hard to learn the language and get a job in the Post Office, then he probably feels others should too... But, how many of the people he's serving are actually LIVING here, and how many are just tourists trying to send home postcards or cards and are slightly confused by the Post Office's relatively recent new charging system, or are just trying to buy stamps to put on postcards....? You cant just blithely assume that everyone you're serving is living in the local area, tourists would use Post Offices too....

 

 

And, frankly, I would say that us Brits are by far the worst offenders when we go abroad, we just shout at people and expect them to understand us... Ex Pats in places such as Marbella, etc, make absolutely no attempt to speak the language of their adopted countries either.... So a lot of it is a case of "pot calling kettle black"...

 

As someone who's from Nottinghamshire I'd be VERY worried if someone in Sneinton was a tourist, it's not even somewhere you'd want to just pass through, utter $h!tehole! I'd imagine that close to 100% of foreign people that use that post office live there.

 

And whilst yes, with ex pats we are a bit hypocritical, but I still don't think that makes it wrong. Just because we have some arseholes who go live abroad and don't learn that language doesn't mean people should be excused for coming here and not learning ours. As far as I'm concerned we should encourage people who come to live here to learn English and the countries where the British emigrate to should encourage them to learn that language!

Edited March 19, 200916 yr by RabbitFurCoat

it's not very fair to paint all ex pats with the same highly tarnished brush.

 

Just because we have some asswipes who emigrate without integrating doesn't mean that they are the majority, they tend to be the minority as not many chav scum types can afford to move to a different country to further damage ours.

As someone very liberal when it comes to immigration, I do think this should be a key tenet of being allowed to enter the country - it isn't too much to ask to learn the language of where you're expecting to live for at least a few years, and I would expect the same of myself if I were to live in Spain or somewhere else...it isn't particularly discriminatory really :/

it's not very fair to paint all ex pats with the same highly tarnished brush.

 

Just because we have some asswipes who emigrate without integrating doesn't mean that they are the majority, they tend to be the minority as not many chav scum types can afford to move to a different country to further damage ours.

I don't think any of us have suggested that it applies to all British ex-pats. Unfortunately, it does apply to rather a lot of them with emigrants to Spain probably the worst offenders. These are the same people who move to Spain "because there are too many foreigners in England". With logic like that, it's hardly surprising they haven't got the brain-power to learn Spanish.

He's got a point.

 

Although, how many Brits move to Spain and don't speak a word of Spanish? The Spanish should operate a similar policy for expats.

i were gonna say that

I think one of the conditions from someone from outside of the UK being allowed to come and live here is that they take an English test at Heathrow/Gatwick/detention centre or whatever and if they don't pass then they are shoved on the next plane back, knowing English should be a REQUIREMENT not a request

 

As for the expats in Spain learning Spanish while they should it is not as extreme as 90% of bars and restaurants on the Costa Del Sol are "Jim's Pub" "Betty's Cafe" "Paddy O Murphy's Irish Bar" and so on, the Costa Del Sol is effectively Little England so there is less need for Spanish to be learned as there is for English to be known here

 

So yeah anyone coming to live here should prove competence in English first

I think one of the conditions from someone from outside of the UK being allowed to come and live here is that they take an English test at Heathrow/Gatwick/detention centre or whatever and if they don't pass then they are shoved on the next plane back, knowing English should be a REQUIREMENT not a request

 

As for the expats in Spain learning Spanish while they should it is not as extreme as 90% of bars and restaurants on the Costa Del Sol are "Jim's Pub" "Betty's Cafe" "Paddy O Murphy's Irish Bar" and so on, the Costa Del Sol is effectively Little England so there is less need for Spanish to be learned as there is for English to be known here

 

So yeah anyone coming to live here should prove competence in English first

So you would have applied the same test to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany would you?

So you would have applied the same test to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany would you?

Craig's views are a little extreme I have to say, even though I'd kind of agree with them. I'd suggest that any migrants who can't speak the language need to regularly proove that they're learning it to at least a standard where they can have a general conversation with someone who English is their first language.

 

 

I knew I lived in a culturally diverse area of Sheffield but I didn't really realise the extent until today when for the first time I walked past the nearby nursery at a time when the children are about. I saw 20-30 children of which two were white. One of who's parents I heard speak in a foreign language. I've no problem with this at all. However, I would expect them all to know at least enough English to get by with British citizens, in shops, in eateries, asking for directions etc. For instance, if one of them needed an ambulance for their child but couldn't speak enough English to be able to get one and the child ended up suffering more than it needed to or even dying then as harsh as it may sound, as far as I'm concerned it's their own fault.

Edited March 20, 200916 yr by RabbitFurCoat