No. Unless you make that a legal and well-known requirement for residence in a country, that's just not okay. Do I agree with the general idea, that 'guests in

No. Unless you make that a legal and well-known requirement for residence in a country, that's just not okay. Do I agree with the general idea, that 'guests in a country' (i.e. foreigners with a working permit) should learn about the local culture, the language? Sure. But - the author claims that he knew some danish. Learning the local language to flirt, order a beer and talk about the weather isn't the same as defending yourself in a legal case - you need the translator anyway for short-term visitors that you want to charge (unless you ask people to learn the language before they go there as a tourist) I'm speaking from the perspective of someone that worked in Tel Aviv for a year. I cannot speak Hebrew (well.. words, stupid phrases. I cannot speak a coherent sentence). That's unfortunate, since I tend to like the parts of the language I know. Languages are just .. hard, for me. Learning a language while you're working full time is worse. Being shy about using it -> even worse. The idea that a cop would've expected me to defend myself in Hebrew is .. a nightmare. Frankly, if I'd be charged in London I'd ask for a German translator. I think antirez wrote an article (during that 'accent' discussion) recently that struck home: Even if you know a foreign language, you're often limiting yourself to the same topic. Smalltalk in English? Why not. Talking tech stuff? Sure thing. But I wouldn't try to argue with a cop just like I wouldn't feel comfortable discussing arts or doing pillow talk in that language.