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Comment by kaesar14 | Hacker News Reader

Even if it was a “gradual” process it’s 10+ years. How do you talk to the people of that nation without learning any English? What about anything to do with documentation or the government?

Integrating into a society can mean many things but the FIRST step of that should be learning the local language to be able to talk to locals.

By the way, I’m American. Anyone who lives here for that long without learning English is what I’m talking about.

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Learning the language may not be a strict requirement if the country and its people are friendly [] to immigrants. In that case the country makes extra effort to be welcoming and offers translation in their Government affairs.
For example, almost all Government locations in the Bay Area make every document available in several languages, including posted signs, forms etc.. And they have staff who can speak multiple languages. Also, many elders of Chinatown in San Francisco do not speak English, have spent almost all of their life here, yet are reasonably integrated into the American society (their kids generally know English).

[] Friendly needs explanation: US is friendly once you immigrate, not while you are immigrating. This is simply the demand-supply forces at play (too many people wanting to immigrate).

I may be mistaken, but I don't think any EU country makes an active and conscious effort to be "immigrant friendly".

Also, by "immigrant" I mean those who immigrate legally. American media clubs both legal immigrants and illegal aliens into the "immigrant" category, which can be hella confusing.

Because a large percentage of Germans probably speak English so you can still communicate with them without learning German. This is not the same as a single language country.

And yet many don’t - certainly wasn’t the case in my travels in Germany that everyone could speak English and that was coming into it as a tourist. Surely most Germans would prefer to speak their native language among friends as well, implying no such need among those who’ve never been able to learn it.

Clearly you can manage but I stand by my original opinion that I would not approve of hearing such a story from an immigrant.

>And yet many don’t - certainly wasn’t the case in my travels in Germany that everyone could speak English and that was coming into it as a tourist.

I've been a tourist in Germany too. Basically, if the German person you're talking to is university-educated, they speak English, and probably extremely well. If they aren't (like the cashier at the supermarket), they probably don't speak English much at all.

So many people don’t.

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