Obama says it's OK to ask immigrants to learn English

[DFW]

17. He is exactly right. We have the same issue in Germany.

Several Americans come over to Europe wanting to live, thinking "well, everybody knows English there." First of all, no, not everyone does. Sure, many do, especially if they interact with tourists for any reason. But many don't, and it is considered extremely arrogant when American (or any other, for that matter) tourists show up somewhere and automatically start speaking English without even asking if the person understands them.

By the same token, I have seen Russians applying for residence permits in Germany speaking nothing but Russian, bringing a relative to translate for them. Whatever these people are thinking, they are wrong. You can no more integrate into Düsseldorf society speaking only English or Russian than you can integrate into Dallas society speaking only German or Russian. If you are going to move to another country and expect to stay there, you MUST learn the local language. Period.

It doesn't mean you have to suppress your own language or culture. I always banter with shop owners in my town with my minimal Turkish or Kurdish, but most of our conversation is in German. We're in Germany, and it is our common language.