Why do people migrate to another country

There are various reasons why people leave their native countries to go and live elsewhere. Perhaps they might go overseas in order to gain employment or for other economic reasons. Perhaps they might move for personal reasons, such as marrying someone from another country.

Whatever the reason, going to live in another country is not easy. If you have moved for reasons of employment, you are probably already familiar, to some extent, with the language of your adopted country. But what of your family?

The older members of your family, such as your mother or grandmother, might not feel able or willing to accept the challenge of learning a foreign language. They may prefer to stay at home and let you, or other members of the family, provide them with anything that they might need. This is not a good idea as this inability to communicate will lead to your family members becoming isolated and lonely.

Even people who learn to speak the language of their adopted country often decide to ignore the culture and customs of their new country. Instead, they cling to the customs of their native country.

I can understand people who are reluctant to give up the customs of their native land. To them, their native culture and traditions must represent something familiar and comforting in what is, otherwise, a strange land. By sticking to their own foods, dress and other aspects of their original culture, they may well feel that they are preserving their links with their old home.

Yet, if they have made the decision to move permanently to another country, I think that they should make an effort to become familiar with the culture and customs of their new home. By so doing, they are more likely to become accepted by members of their new community and to become quickly integrated into it.

If they obdurately follow their own customs and ignore what is happening around them, they are likely to be seen as an alien presence by the local population. The locals may then regard the immigrants with resentment and even hostility.

I think that this is a situation which calls for a degree of compromise. There are some areas of their previous lives, especially things that relate to religion, that immigrants might fervently want to preserve. However, there are many ways in which immigrants can stay in touch with aspects of their own culture while embracing aspects of that of their new country.

For example, they can broaden their culinary horizons by eating their own native dishes whilst also experimenting with the cuisine of their new country. Similarly, they can continue to enjoy their own traditional forms of entertainment, such as music, while also learning to appreciate those of their host country.

In this way, a process of gradual integration can take place. Such a process makes it much easier for the next

generation of immigrants to feel totally at home in the country in which their parents had settled.