gizmo_2655
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Australian Politics
Posts: 16010
South West NSW
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This is a really silly thread.
Every single group of new migrants, arriving in a new country, live in 'enclaves'.....The Irish did it in Colonial Australia, the Italians, the Polish, the Chinese etc etc...
It's perfectly normal, you arrive in a strange new land where you don't understand the language ( ok the Irish DID, mostly) , the customs and the mores.....so of course you'd seek out people who speak your language, worship your gods, understand your restrictions on food, clothing and behaviour...it keeps you comfortable, while you learn the language, customs and attitudes of your new home...
I had some 'new' Italian neighbours when I was a kid, my family spent ages teaching the parents about Australia...BUT they'd sent their 2 children to school to learn english (so they could translate for their parents) but I remember my father spending hours teaching their father what words were 'acceptable' in polite conversation (while the 3 of us were replacing the fence between our houses)....the guy worked at a factory, so the Aussies there taught him (of course) 'poo', f*ck and sonofabitch' first....before 'Hello' 'G'day' and 'I'll have a pie'...
the mother and grandmother never really learned english....but they were lovely people, always giving us gifts of food at christmas and homemade grog (either beer or wine) in summer...
Try making friends with your 'foreign' neighbours, you MAY be surprised....and there's a good chance that the neighbours will appreciate it too...after all there's a better than 75% chance that they want to intergrate, but just don't know how to...
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