Sur le site dutchnews.nl j'ai trouvé cet article. American must integrate - after 20 years
Monday 21 September 2009
An American man who has lived in Amsterdam for 20 years and writes speeches for Dutch firms has been told to take a compulsory integration course because he does not know what huursubsidie - housing benefit - is, the Parool reported at the weekend. Don Seidenberg, who has an indefinite residency permit and speaks fluent Dutch, was ordered to report for a preliminary chat about taking an integration course a year ago. But he failed to answer three questions correctly and has now been told he has to take the course because he does not know enough about official institutions. As well as failing to understand housing benefit, Seidenberg - who owns his own home - wrongly stated he would look for work via internet websites rather than the state run CWI job centres. He also said he would help out on school trips rather than read stories out loud if asked to volunteer at his children's school. 'It is compulsory but no-one can tell me what will happen if I don't turn up,' he told the paper. 'It is an exercise in time-wasting.'
Lisez aussi les réactions des internautes dans lesquelles ils parlent de leurs propres expériences d'intégration aux Pays-Bas. Je me suis amusé à souligner quelques highlights :
:-) "I work for a major international company and we have plenty long term ex-pats who make only token efforts to learn Dutch. If they struggle a bit, then they just say it's impossible. They wouldn't get away with this in most other countries (say France!)." Ouais !
:-) "Dutch is not particularly difficult for English speakers to learn." D'accord.
:-( "I do not understand why looking for work via internet and opting for helping out on school trips are wrong answers. May be I am also not integrated yet!" J'avoue que je ne suis pas un néerlandais modèle-type non plus..
:-(( "I got that same letter. I'm leaving Holland. I'm dead serious." Ai.. les effets pervers, ça fait mal.
:-| "This is another example of how Dutch bureaucrats will BLINDLY follow written rules without using any commmon sense." La bureaucratie française n'est pas exclusive.
;-) "The issue for ME is people speaking English to me the second they detect you are a foreigner. I live in LIMBURG, not Amsterdam where that is common." D'un point de vue linguistique, le néerlandais reste inimitablement courtois !
