General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

While I have been reading all the postings on this thread a thought occured to me regarding the early settlers in places like America and Australia,I wonder how many those people made an effort to learn the native language,granted there were,and probably still is,many different ones.But that did not occur,instead our ancestors inflicted or least attempted to,their culture and religious beliefs on the native population and in their ignorance and arrogance wiped out thousands,if not millions of the indigenous peoples.Nearly everywhere the Europeans settled,then deserted,is now the net result of what is happening today,the people were exploited and suppressed,and yes they wanted independence and had to fight for it,but their former colonial masters,with a few exceptions,left them in the hands of dictators and despots.Even as these people try to leave their war torn and ravaged countries they are being exploited so I think the last thing on their minds would be to learn the language of their intended destination.I remember in the '50s migrants going to UK had to be able to read a calendar and count to to 26. Perhaps if we could turn the clock back and our forebears had approached colonialisation in a different way we would not have the problem we have today,but given the greed for wealth and power then and today I suppose it is just a flight of fantasy.
On a lighter note,despite the fact that we came from an English speaking? country,us ex-pats downunder had to learn to speak the local language,'Strine.