Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Immigrants: Treasure Your Heritage … and Melt
I've painted a rosy picture of Denmark. But the country is not without its challenges.
One key issue facing Denmark, along with the rest of Europe and the US, is immig-
ration.
When my grandparents migrated from Norway to the US, they lost contact with
their Norwegian relatives, and had little choice but to melt into American soci-
ety. (And, while they arrived speaking barely a word of English, just two genera-
tions later, I barely speak a word of Norwegian.) Today they could use the Internet
to read newspapers and watch television shows from home, and talk to relatives
around the world for free on Skype. Modern telecommunications advances allow
communities of foreigners to settle in more comfortable places while remaining in
close contact with far-flung friends and family. Like the Algerian family I men-
tioned in Chapter 3 (who've been in the Netherlands for three generations, speak
barely a word of Dutch, and are still enthusiastically Algerian), these people have
no interest in assimilating. Consequently, rather than “melting pots,” wealthy coun-
