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Do refugees speak better German and Swedish then Portuguese?

by nazgob 10y ago

dalke 10y ago
The important question is can refugees communicate better in Germany and Sweden than in Brazil? One option is German or Swedish. It's very unlikely that a refugee will know either language. A large percentage of Germans and Swedes know English. If a refugee also knows English, that's one language possibility. Also, French is another widely spoken second language in Syria, though less common than English. (Remember, Syria was a French Mandate.) There is an existing minority population in both those countries which speaks Arabic. If a refugee also knows Arabic, that's another possibility. On the other hand, in Brazil, fewer people know English (5% says https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-s... , compared to 64% for Germany and 86% for Sweden). And far fewer Brazilians know Arabic, or refugees know Portuguese. (I don't know the mutual overlap in French.) In any case, you can see it's much more likely that a refugee from Syria can communicate in either Germany or Sweden than in Brazil, even without knowing German or Swedish.
- nazgob 10y ago
  You can make this argument foc any country in the world that has decent English level among population. Given the fact that Sweden has a lot of Arabic speakers, do you think that they should get even more or that maybe effort should be distributed more evenly?
  - dalke 10y ago
    Yes, I can. English is the modern lingua franca. That's why I think your question was poorly posed, and why I think it's obvious why a refugee, when given any sort of choice or allowed to express a preference, would have a bias towards German or Sweden over Brazil. Do you not agree? As for Sweden, I think we should accept more refugees and refugees should be accepted more evenly across the EU. There's plenty of room. We accepted 160,000 asylum seekers last year, for a country with fewer than 10M people. The EU is 508M people, or 50 bigger than Sweden. 160K*50 = 8 million, while there are only 5M displaced Syrians outside of Syria. Many of those don't want to flee to the EU, while on the other hand there are about an equal number of displaced people from Iraq and Afghanistan. So, what's the point of your question again?
    - nazgob 10y ago
      >Do you not agree? Yes and no. It's a rational choice for a refuge but not for language reasons, let's be honest here. >As for Sweden, I think we should accept more refugees and refugees should be accepted more evenly across the EU. I agree that there is more place in Europe however Sweden seems to be out of capacity now. Last year new people where put into tents. There are no jobs, SFI is overcrowded (and always was kinda bad). Food for thought. I'm leaving Sweden after my SO finishes her PhD in a few months but boy that country has changed. I hope its for the better for old and new Swedes. Rapid immigration and big changes in fabric of society seem to have generated big party of right-wing crypto-nazis which is damn scary.

Do refugees speak better German and Swedish then Portuguese?

by nazgob 10y ago

Do refugees speak better German and Swedish then Portuguese?

dalke 10y ago

The important question is can refugees communicate better in Germany and Sweden than in Brazil? One option is German or Swedish. It's very unlikely that a refugee will know either language. A large percentage of Germans and Swedes know English. If a refugee also knows English, that's one language possibility. Also, French is another widely spoken second language in Syria, though less common than English. (Remember, Syria was a French Mandate.) There is an existing minority population in both those countries which speaks Arabic. If a refugee also knows Arabic, that's another possibility. On the other hand, in Brazil, fewer people know English (5% says https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-s... , compared to 64% for Germany and 86% for Sweden). And far fewer Brazilians know Arabic, or refugees know Portuguese. (I don't know the mutual overlap in French.) In any case, you can see it's much more likely that a refugee from Syria can communicate in either Germany or Sweden than in Brazil, even without knowing German or Swedish.

nazgob 10y ago
You can make this argument foc any country in the world that has decent English level among population. Given the fact that Sweden has a lot of Arabic speakers, do you think that they should get even more or that maybe effort should be distributed more evenly?
- dalke 10y ago
  Yes, I can. English is the modern lingua franca. That's why I think your question was poorly posed, and why I think it's obvious why a refugee, when given any sort of choice or allowed to express a preference, would have a bias towards German or Sweden over Brazil. Do you not agree? As for Sweden, I think we should accept more refugees and refugees should be accepted more evenly across the EU. There's plenty of room. We accepted 160,000 asylum seekers last year, for a country with fewer than 10M people. The EU is 508M people, or 50 bigger than Sweden. 160K*50 = 8 million, while there are only 5M displaced Syrians outside of Syria. Many of those don't want to flee to the EU, while on the other hand there are about an equal number of displaced people from Iraq and Afghanistan. So, what's the point of your question again?
  - nazgob 10y ago
    >Do you not agree? Yes and no. It's a rational choice for a refuge but not for language reasons, let's be honest here. >As for Sweden, I think we should accept more refugees and refugees should be accepted more evenly across the EU. I agree that there is more place in Europe however Sweden seems to be out of capacity now. Last year new people where put into tents. There are no jobs, SFI is overcrowded (and always was kinda bad). Food for thought. I'm leaving Sweden after my SO finishes her PhD in a few months but boy that country has changed. I hope its for the better for old and new Swedes. Rapid immigration and big changes in fabric of society seem to have generated big party of right-wing crypto-nazis which is damn scary.