As a warning to not take anything I say too seriously, I've only been in the Netherlands for three months, and I don't get out much. I live in a quiet residential middle-income neighborhood. I'm blond-haired, blue-eyed, and pasty white. My experience may radically deviate from that of other immigrants in the Netherlands.
Today I was reading an online newspaper article from back home (Seattle) discussing the experiences of a couple families that had recently immigrated from Bhutan. It was an Uplifiting Piece, as newspapers are wont to publish when it's been a slow day. Family X moved from Bhutan 2 years ago, the teenage daughter loved having opportunities and was gaining confidence in speaking English, and her mother was regularly attending language classes.
Three people had made comments: 1) Teenage girl is hawt. 2) Fix the real problem and end the instability in Bhutan in an unspecified manner, with the implication that emigrants should fix their unstable countries instead of fleeing persecution. 3) Why's the mother taking so long to learn English? Why aren't they speaking only English at home to learn it faster?
It's comments like those that make me an apologetic American. I am an American and I'm not ashamed of being an American, but I would like to apologize for my idiotic fellow-Americans that simply do not know better, can't be arsed to educate themselves about a subject, and are convinced their first gut reaction is right regardless of any contradictory evidence with which they are presented.
Learning a language does not happen overnight, even when immersed in it. People take classes because classes help, a lot. Not all people learn at the ideal speed of gaining competence in a year. Older people immigrating from third-world countries have probably not had much experience with a formal education, and their brains are not accustomed to having a lot of info shoved at them all at once.
I had three years of Spanish classes and still don't speak it as well as I speak Dutch after 15 months of Rosetta Stone and 3 months of Dutch TV. Let's face it, most language instruction in the US follows the same formula, and doesn't work very well without a LOT of studying and rote memorization. Of course, that's the American attitude toward education in general: we've been using rote memorization for decades, and even if it doesn't work very well at least it's familiar so let's keep doing it.
So why did Idiot #3 think someone should speak sufficient English after a year or so? Probably because she has no experience learning a language and doesn't like non-European immigration and it was the only part of the article that was even vaguely vulnerable to criticism. Speaking only English at home? Give me a break! I'd go nuts if we only spoke Dutch at home. First of all, I can't communicate sufficiently for us to handle the essentials of living together. Second of all, it's enough to deal with a new country and culture and crappy TV programs without adding more stress by not being able to talk to anyone in a meaningful (or therapeutic) manner. It's probably 100 times worse for people coming from a non-western country after living in a refugee camp for a decade or two. Immigrants -want- to learn the language. We also want to adjust in a manner that doesn't sacrifice our sanity.
Based on posts I've seen both on American and Dutch sites, it's not uncommon in either country to be unhappy with immigrants that are slow about integration. But individuals' tolerance toward immigrants seems quite a bit higher in the Netherlands. For starters, the government takes proactive steps to encourage and help immigrants learn Dutch. Nearly free language classes! Integration appointments where someone talks to you about the process and what happens, and what's expected of you as an immigrant.
Both countries have the same expectations of immigrants, but they are approached very differently. In both countries, there is a widespread social expectation that immigrants will integrate to some extent. In the US, there is no official requirement that immigrants try, and no official support. There are no taxpayer funded classes available to the majority of immigrants. In the Netherlands, there is. The Netherlands provides immigrants, especially poor ones, an essential opportunity that the US does not.
What's the likely effect of these different policies? Immigrants in the Netherlands learning Dutch quickly and able to work productively. Immigrants in the US unable to speak much English after decades of living there, and maybe able to work in an ethnic restaurant or martial arts studio, but more likely living in poverty and raising their children in poverty, surrounded by poverty, and starting a cycle that is difficult to break in the so-called Land of Opportunity.
Which brings up another issue: how people treat immigrants on an everyday basis, versus rants on blogs and newspaper sites. Speaking non-English in public in the US often results in various levels of hostility, even if racism isn't a factor. Here it usually results in someone speaking English to me, or smiling politely and apologizing to me before leaving ("sorry" is the same in both English and Dutch). Worst case scenario, they keep talking to my fiance then pause so he can translate for me.
Why so different? Maybe because Dutch society is more tolerant in general. More likely because all Dutch people under the age of 60 or so and over the age of 12 were required to learn a second language in high school. And while they know it's possible to learn a second language very well, they also know that it's not easy and it takes time. Ignorance results in ignorant reactions.
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