A Cambridge University professor has urged Britons to learn Urdu and Polish to further national integration.
It is ‘very important to think of integration as a two-way street,’ the varsity’s French philology and linguistics professor Wendy Ayres-Bennett said. The academic, who has supported calls for immigrants to learn English, wants the British to strive for greater flexibility too.
‘Considering the issue from the point of view of language learning, we rightly expect immigrants to learn English but, as a nation, we often don’t see the need ourselves to learn another language, and consider it to be something difficult and only for the intellectual elite,’ she said.
‘I would like to see more opportunities for British people to learn some of the community languages of the UK, such as Polish, Punjabi and Urdu, particularly in areas where there are high numbers of those speakers, so that there is some mutual effort in understanding the others’ language and culture,” the academic said.
Supporting recommendations of two documents emphasising the need for greater English language classes to promote integration, the professor said, ‘Without English, immigrants are likely to develop exclusive social networks and alternative labour markets. For most people, language is at the very heart of their identity.’
