Social Cohesion

There is a common train of thought that when you move to a new country you will need to learn the language to help you assimilate into your new culture that you are living in.

Not so in Britain (or in many western countries for that matter) where different cultures, religions and languages are not only accepted but openly welcomed. The idea of not needing to speak English has been passed down through the generations. The result has been generations upon generations of native speaking enclaves / communities who have no contact with their English speaking neighbours. Brick Lane by Monica Ali highlighted the problems faced by illiterate, non-English speaking women in the Bangladeshi community of Tower Hamlets.

As quoted by Mrs Laura Bush in an earlier blog ‘Literacy builds the foundation’. In parallel to this, I believe that the inability to communicate with our neighbours has created more divisions in society. Do we value the freedom of speech (to worship whomever we want and to say whatever we want) over social cohesion?

(reference: http://www.communityesol.org.uk/community-esl-teaching-english.htm)

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