I agree with you Tom - completely and utterly. When I emigrated here I went on a compulsory Swedish For Immigrants course, which all people new to living here must do. I often think of how poeple would react in the UK if there was a compulsory "English For Immigrants" course - wouldn't the name alone be enough to stir ill-feeling?! That said, your point about some sections of your community only interacting (vocally or otherwise) with other non-English-speaking people isn't so surprising. England isn't exactly always the welcome-with-open-arms nation it sometimes likes to portray itself as, just as not every immigrant is willing to embrace English culture/society. You make some good points about how we generally treat others well......but even as an Englishman I found myself ostracised by stigma and/or snobbery, so for some 'outsiders' it cannot be easy, especially in light of relatively recent suspicions, fears, paranoia & propaganda (from ALL sides of that argument!!). It's a bloody good job though that there are still people out there in positions of authority and care who remember that visual body language still makes up at least 55% of the importance of communication. Not sure how I want to end this post other than to say 'integration' as I've written about before, is often a lot harder than just learning the language - I've found that out here (equivalent of 'A' Level now)....the hard way...but that's another story....