Bringing languages ​​and cultures into dialogue with displaced people

By Virginie Kremp

Associations and public authorities think they are doing the best they can, but they provide little support to those responsible for caring for migrants in terms of continuing training. Few volunteers or professionals are trained in linguistic kindness.

This is undoubtedly why I regularly hear those responsible for training in French as a foreign language say: “migrants must at all costs integrate, become autonomous, and learn French. ” I agree with that. I also hear: “in French classes, you must only speak French, otherwise they will not integrate. » I agree less. Imagine arriving in China in a Chinese language course without understanding a word of this language? I think you would like some explanations in a language known to you.
I still hear French elected officials declaring: “why should our libraries buy books in the languages ​​of migrants when they are there to speak French? »

In Switzerland, for more than 40 years, there has been a network of intercultural and multilingual libraries. For what ? Because good integration requires good reception conditions, respecting the languages ​​and cultures of people seeking asylum or the right of residence.
Intercultural libraries make media available in the languages ​​of these people. The public authorities have understood that anyone residing in a foreign land will be more inclined to adapt if they feel respected and recognized and accepted in their intrinsic identity, that is to say also in their language.

As a welcoming country, we must accept that the cultural perceptions of displaced people, different from ours, interact with ours. It is up to us to open this dialogue, by explaining the expectations of our societies. We can create moments of exchange with migrants about their social and cultural practices, as we do spontaneously when we are traveling with them, and they open their doors to us to offer us tea and chat.

It is firstly up to the people welcoming and training the migrants to show their open-mindedness, to understand and make people understand that what seems natural – our values, our culture, our way of thinking – is a cultural construction. which shapes us from childhood.

The quality of our welcome will depend on the acceptance of linguistic and cultural difference. There is no welcome worthy of the name without acceptance of the Other in his part of the unknown which refers to ours and which sometimes frightens.