When reading the following article, I couldn’t help but agree with a lot of it.
Immigration is a constant subject of discussion between my wife and I. We are both immigrants to Canada, and both of our parents migrated from their home countries in search for better opportunities (Hers migrated permanently from Spain to France, mine temporarily from Colombia to Venezuela).
Since my first migration when I was 8 years old, I have always felt extremely privileged to be welcomed in a new country. When I migrated on my own to Canada, I was extremely grateful, and later when I decided I wanted to become Canadian, I made a strong effort to assimilate to Canadian culture.
Assimilation takes many forms, but at the very least I do not think it’s unreasonable to ask immigrants of three things when they immigrate:
Learn the official language of the place you are migrating to.
Follow the laws and general customs of the country you are migrating to, even if they are different that where you come from.
Do not impose your customs, culture, and religion onto others in the new country you are migrating to.
Canada is an amazing country in that it allows us the freedom to maintain our customs and practice our religions freely. I feel it is part of Canadian culture to accept and embrace the cultures of those who migrate here. However that welcoming and embracing of new cultures seems to be diminishing, and I believe this is due in part because a portion of those who have migrated here in the past decade simply have no desire to assimilate into Canadian society.
I think if we can figure out a way to encourage new immigrants to embrace assimilation into Canadian culture, Canadian society will slowly heal and go back to a place where we can all live together in harmony.
Learn the official language of the place you are migrating to.
Yes, this sounds completely obvious to me.
Of course, learning languages takes time, and may be more difficult for older people. So I wouldn’t expect fluent speech from the start, and maybe from the older generation even in a year or two—just a gesture of trying. The important thing is that they do not isolate their kids and themselves from the local society behind the language barrier. Become bilingual.
Heck, if I had to emigrate somewhere, I would want my kids to speak the local language, because it expands their options. Not even as a sign of respect or thanks to the locals, but for completely selfish reasons. It will be better for my kids to have more job opportunities, more social opportunities, etc. Not doing so would be like putting my kids in a prison for a lifetime—limiting their social interaction to the few neighbors who speak the same language.
Follow the laws and general customs of the country you are migrating to, even if they are different that where you come from.
Do not impose your customs, culture, and religion onto others in the new country you are migrating to.
Basically, be able to fit in the mainstream culture, and keep everything else on the level of “hobbies, that shouldn’t annoy my neighbors”.
.
There are some steps the welcoming country can do for the immigrants, such as organize cheap language courses for them. But it’s on the immigrants to take that opportunity.
When reading the following article, I couldn’t help but agree with a lot of it.
Immigration is a constant subject of discussion between my wife and I. We are both immigrants to Canada, and both of our parents migrated from their home countries in search for better opportunities (Hers migrated permanently from Spain to France, mine temporarily from Colombia to Venezuela).
Since my first migration when I was 8 years old, I have always felt extremely privileged to be welcomed in a new country. When I migrated on my own to Canada, I was extremely grateful, and later when I decided I wanted to become Canadian, I made a strong effort to assimilate to Canadian culture.
Assimilation takes many forms, but at the very least I do not think it’s unreasonable to ask immigrants of three things when they immigrate:
Learn the official language of the place you are migrating to.
Follow the laws and general customs of the country you are migrating to, even if they are different that where you come from.
Do not impose your customs, culture, and religion onto others in the new country you are migrating to.
Canada is an amazing country in that it allows us the freedom to maintain our customs and practice our religions freely. I feel it is part of Canadian culture to accept and embrace the cultures of those who migrate here. However that welcoming and embracing of new cultures seems to be diminishing, and I believe this is due in part because a portion of those who have migrated here in the past decade simply have no desire to assimilate into Canadian society.
I think if we can figure out a way to encourage new immigrants to embrace assimilation into Canadian culture, Canadian society will slowly heal and go back to a place where we can all live together in harmony.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/magazine/denmark-immigration-policy-progressives.html
Yes, this sounds completely obvious to me.
Of course, learning languages takes time, and may be more difficult for older people. So I wouldn’t expect fluent speech from the start, and maybe from the older generation even in a year or two—just a gesture of trying. The important thing is that they do not isolate their kids and themselves from the local society behind the language barrier. Become bilingual.
Heck, if I had to emigrate somewhere, I would want my kids to speak the local language, because it expands their options. Not even as a sign of respect or thanks to the locals, but for completely selfish reasons. It will be better for my kids to have more job opportunities, more social opportunities, etc. Not doing so would be like putting my kids in a prison for a lifetime—limiting their social interaction to the few neighbors who speak the same language.
Basically, be able to fit in the mainstream culture, and keep everything else on the level of “hobbies, that shouldn’t annoy my neighbors”.
.
There are some steps the welcoming country can do for the immigrants, such as organize cheap language courses for them. But it’s on the immigrants to take that opportunity.