When in Rome

Picking up on something I tripped over earlier this week in the news; Rita Verdonk, the Dutch Minister of Immigration and Intergration, has been thinking out loud about making Dutch the mandatory spoken language in public places in her country. When I heard about it first, I thought it might be a hoax - somebody got out the gate a little early for April Fool's. Quick research, however, would appear to confirm that she's serious indeed. Now, I realise that there's the background of the Rotterdam Code, which, in itself, sounds like a very commendable effort - the cumulation of a lot of popular discussion, with the intent of making the city of Rotterdam more "leefbar". What I don't like at all is a) ANYONE trying to dictate to others what language they should speak - that sounds so narrow-minded and xenophobic I don't even want to imagine the kind of people who would come up with the idea and b), the fact that this rule is intended to force-boost integration of foreigners into the country. I'm all for mandatory language classes when someone wishes to immigrate into another country - go for it, it'll make everyone's life, particularly the immigrants', so much easier. However, I don't believe being forced to speak whatever language in public by law will make people from a foreign culture integrate more easily into what is to them an alien environment. An example: most Chinese, Japanese and Indian students who come to England/the US to study or make a living speak English fluently. Does that make them want to integrate into Brit or American society? Does the society in question make any additional effort to integrate the aliens because they speak their mother tongue? From my experience, neither of both is the case. I don't believe a forced language monopoly will decrease culture shock; nor will it stop foreigners from retreating into the relative safety of their own ethnic communities. Finally, racism and xenophobia are not cured by making everyone speak the same language. It may help to some minor degree, but language is only one of the factors that trigger fear when confronted with members of a different ethnic group than one's own. To completely avoid racial paranoia, we'd all have to look, smell, think, act and feel the same. Now, doesn't THAT sound like a horrible version of reality to you? It sure does to me!