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Acceptation or rejection?

Doing my EVS in Germany in short time I realized, that here the situation is totally different. Walking on the streets of Berlin I barely could hear someone speaking in German. For me it sounded amazing and my first thought was: so many different nationalities and interesting people at the same place can bring just positivism. But then I met a woman...

Growing up in East-Europe for me, and to my directly environment, was something typical to move, to study or simply just live especially in the west side of Europe. Surely the number of emigrants was (and still is) higher, than the number of immigrants, so my country did not have to deal with the big number of immigrants, with their culture, their education or with their daily lifestyle.

Doing my EVS in Germany in short time I realized that here the situation is totally different. Walking on the streets of Berlin I barely could hear someone speaking in German. For me it sounded amazing and my first thought was: so many different nationalities and interesting people at the same place can bring just positivism. Then I met a woman, a not German one, at my language course. Since I have never learned German before, I had to start everything from zero. Let’s call it officially A1 level. So I met this woman, she seemed really nice and I was highly motivated to meet new people. After asking her something in English, I realized that in this situation the only common language could be just German, both learning sentences like "Ich bin die..."/ "Ich komme aus… "/ "Ich bin … Jahre alt" etc. Anyway, I thought it's a good way to meet people and to practice the language. With the help of her hands she told me that she has been living in Germany for 22 (!!!) years… I was actually shocked and I am more than sure, that she could see this on my face. Entschuldigung.

Do not misunderstand me, I am not and I dont want to be in a position to judge anyone, but living in a foreign country for 22 years, the minimum what you, the citizen, can do, is to learn the language. Even if you don’t want to learn it and you are against it, your brain is functional. Or at least I thought this is the way how it’s working. But it seems I was wrong.

I started to have discussions about this topic with my German friends who assured me that at the moment Germany has some new rules: B1 level, orientation curses (so in this way nobody can confuse Switzerland with Germany) and lots of other programs. To be honest I find it an excellence initiative, but the only way that so many emigrants can live in peace in Germany is that they also are willing to learn… at least the language. Nobody is asking them to turn their back to their own culture or religion, just to integrate to the German society.

From my side this seems really understandable and acceptable. But will this ever work…?

Comments

09.10.19, 12:08
A very nice article. I also had some similar experiences when I came to Germany. Somehow people try to throw this topic under the carpet and politicians are also afraid of being called racist if they raise questions about integration. The definition of integration and assimilation shall be clarified. Language plays a vital role in getting integrated. I recently read a consensus which stated that every forth immigrant between age 18 to 32 doesn't like German culture and doesn't want to integrate. Although they speak the language to some extent but it is culture, they never associate themselves with the culture and never feel themselves as a part of the society.
Waqas
09.10.19, 12:08
I think you dont have to become part of the society 1oo%... everybody has his/her own religion, culture, habbit and so on... but since someone chose to live here day by day, than has to make some sacrifices... :)
fodortekla
fodortekla
09.10.19, 12:08
This is also considered a huge problem in the Netherlands and the main reason why right wing populists are now having so much influence. But if my experience of living abroad gave me one thing, it is understanding towards the position of immigrants. They mainly live concentrated based on ethnic and linquistic group, so they can speak their own language and practice their own culture amongst themselves. My situation was simular. I was surrounded by an EVS community and more liberal Macedonian youngsters so I could maintain my Western-European identity and speak mainly English. When it comes to taking the big step of going to a new country, it is comforting that you can be somewhat in your own comfort zone and express some of yourself (both language whise as well as culture wise) The problem is that most people are not challenged to take it any further eventually. They accept a narrowed life that is based on what their current possibilities are of communicating, rather than to try and expend their skills. It takes a lot of practice and effort to learn a whole new language and to engage in new interactions, and lets face it, Western-Europeans (or at least Dutch people) are not the most welcoming. This is what I have experienced with EVS volunteers who did their EVS in the Netherlands. Nobody took an effort to take them in. I felt ashamed of my fellow country men. So why should these people than do an effort to engage in interaction with people who are not particular motivated to take them in? Well, the answer is that it will expend their possibilities. I now live in Serbia and I am motivated to learn the language, eventhough I can speak English with almost everybody around me. Just for the sake of feeling connected to my enviroment. But than again, here I am the only Dutch person. Who knows how it would be if there were whole neighborhoods full of them. And intergating culturewise? No, I am not going to change my mentality towards life and relations. I think it is stupid to ask that from people. The core idea is that every interaction is from one person to another and that you feel connected with that person or not. And since a person is also shaped by his culture this is something that has to be preserved. I think it will really wreck a lot in the uniqueness of relations when everybody has to unifie based on some artifical idea of what the dominant culture and related behaviour should be. Just follow the laws that count in a certain country and be respectfull and understanding towards their attitudes. That will get you a long way.
RamonMartensen