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I live in Canada, a place where diversity is accepted and hardly ever
questioned! In my neighborhood, you see people from every single corner of the
earth, and you see their different homes, and their different stores, churches
and schools -- everything catered to their needs because we want everyone to feel at
home. I am English. I have no background that stands out prominently, and
therefore, I consider myself to be Canadian.
BUT all that I have just told you is to get to the point that I only speak English.
I know a little French, and about 10 words in Serbian, but I couldn't hold my
own in a conversation! So, when I discovered (while taking my chat room test)
that speaking different languages was not only accepted but ENCOURAGED, I was
outraged. When 6 people are in a chat room and 5 of them are speaking a foreign
language, the 6th person not only feels left out, but sometimes hurt at the fact
that they don't know what the other people are talking about.
I have to go through this almost every day because of the society I live in.
I don't know if they're discussing the weather, talking about what they watched
on television last night, or how bad my outfit is! The fact that a safe haven
such as Whyville encourages people to speak in different languages is a LARGE
contradiction in my eyes, because you never know what people are saying, and
that not only takes from the friendliness level in Whyville, but it takes from
civil decency. If the people don't have the heart to converse with their peers
in a way that everyone can understand, than Whyville shouldn't have the heart to
keep those people in their town.
I'm not a racist person! I think that everyone deserves the right to feel at
home in any location, even if that means to speak a certain language, but
people, be considerate, and take a look around before you confuse, and possibly
upset the people around you!
Thank you,
SailorL
Editor's Note: I think City Hall hopes that anyone who knows another language would help you learn, so that you would't feel left out. How can we make Whyville friendly for the folks who don't know English very well?
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