One of the biggest social and practical challenges that people living abroad face is the language barrier. I believe that this can lead to very serious social problems in many countries, but technology has made the practical issues less relevant over the last several decades.
The main reason that having to speak a foreign language can cause social problems would be through the breakdown in understanding between people of different cultures. The most salient example of this is in the United States where there has been an influx of Hispanic immigrants, especially along the Southern border. These immigrants are typically able to integrate well if they learn English, but those that have not learned have provoked social problems and even violent reactions. Many English speaking residents resent the immigrants' failure to integrate and this has resulted in discriminatory practices and widespread racism towards Hispanics. This in turn has caused many Hispanics to develop an antipathy towards other residents and segregate themselves in homogeneous neighbourhoods.
There are comparatively fewer practical problems caused by not knowing the language of the country where you live because of the development of technology in general and smartphones in particular. Computers have made it much easier to look up directions, find important information and get quick translations. Smartphones have made this even easier. If someone doesn’t know the language of the country where they live, they can still find restaurants to their liking on Facebook and get simple directions through Google Maps. They can even order food online without having to use another language at all. If they need to communicate with someone who does not speak their language they can simply take out their phone and use Google translate to slowly, but effectively, convey a message. The problems that not knowing the language of the country where you live causes are therefore minimal and easily overcome.
In conclusion, I only partly agree with the statement in question. Not knowing a language when living abroad can cause social unrest, but pragmatic concerns have been mitigated by recent technology. In the future, it will become even less important to know the language of the country where you live, although there is great potential for increased social unrest and heightened tensions in many parts of the world.
One of the biggest
social
and practical challenges that
people
living abroad face is the
language
barrier. I believe that this can lead to
very
serious
social
problems
in
many
countries
,
but
technology has made the practical issues less relevant over the last several decades.
The main reason that having to speak a foreign
language
can cause
social
problems
would be through the breakdown in understanding between
people
of
different
cultures. The most salient example of this is in the United States where there has been an influx of Hispanic immigrants,
especially
along the Southern border. These immigrants are
typically
able to integrate well if they learn English,
but
those that have not learned
have
provoked
social
problems
and even violent reactions.
Many
English speaking
residents resent the immigrants' failure to integrate and this has resulted in discriminatory practices and widespread racism towards Hispanics. This in turn has caused
many
Hispanics to develop an antipathy towards other residents and segregate themselves in homogeneous
neighbourhoods
.
There are
comparatively
fewer practical
problems
caused by not knowing the
language
of the
country
where you
live
because
of the development of technology
in general
and smartphones
in particular
. Computers have made it much easier to look up directions, find
important
information and
get
quick translations. Smartphones have made this even easier. If someone doesn’t know the
language
of the
country
where they
live
, they can
still
find restaurants to their liking on Facebook and
get
simple directions through Google Maps. They can even order food online without having to
use
another
language
at all. If they need to communicate with someone who does not speak their
language
they can
simply
take out their phone and
use
Google translate
to
slowly
,
but
effectively
, convey a message. The
problems
that not knowing the
language
of the
country
where you
live
causes are
therefore
minimal and
easily
overcome.
In conclusion
, I
only
partly
agree
with the statement in question. Not knowing a
language
when living abroad can cause
social
unrest,
but
pragmatic concerns have
been mitigated
by recent technology. In the future, it will become even less
important
to know the
language
of the
country
where you
live
, although there is great potential for increased
social
unrest and heightened tensions in
many
parts of the world.