Very recently, a wise young lady told me: America is a true melting pot, whereas Belgium is rather like a mosaic: everybody is a little different but they are all on the same frame.

I thought: that’s very interesting.

Though the “melting pot” concept may be a cliché the size of Texas, I think it is undeniable that there’s a totally different approach to immigration in the US as opposed to here on the Old Continent. I’m not saying better or worse, I’m no sociologist and can’t judge about these things, but still: different.

At San Francisco’s international airport, at least half of the customs officers where non-Caucasian. However, nobody seems to doubt their suitability to welcome travellers to America, even though they themselves may just be the first or second generation of their family to have relocated to the US. Heck, the lady who had to order the queues of people coming off the plane didn’t even seem to speak proper English. But nobody seemed to think it was a problem.

While in San Francisco, I noticed that in buses and so on, all written notices and spoken announcements were in not only in English but also in Spanish and Chinese. Obviously, that would be the first language of a large part of the population in the city, and maybe even their only language. So then I wondered if by providing all this information in their native languages, do authorities actually help these people to get more integrated in society, or does it, on the contrary, increase their isolation and segregation? If they never need to speak English, can they be “true citizens” of America? (Then again, if I’m not mistaken, the US don’t even have an official language, not even English. Correct me if I’m wrong, those who know.)

So then it got me wondering: what if signs and announcements here would not only be in French, Dutch, English and German as it is now in Brussels, but also in Arabic and/or Turkish, addressed at the large immigrant communities present in the city, with many of their members having a very poor level in French or any other of the official languages. Would it help their civic inclusion? Would it make them feel more accountable for their acts and behaviour? Would it make them feel more welcome here?

But of course such a thing would be totally impossible here in Brussels. (Or imagine, in Flanders! It would be so cool: buses with Arabic notices driving through the Vlaams Belang/N-VA heartland!) As it happens, we’re living in a linguistically hyper sensitive country here. In the Brussels subway, the music on the radio has to be in English (70%), Spanish or Italian (15% each), so as not to discriminate against either the French or Dutch-speaking people. One day though, when as an exception they played a chart hit sung in French, some Dutch-speaking people found no better than to write a letter of complaint to the public transport company, vociferating their poignant grief after having been subjected, against their will, to this linguistically non-neutral piece of pop music. (Oh, the outrage!) 

Seriously, who are these people? 

As said, linguistically hyper sensitive. And it’s not gonna change any time soon. Maybe when the mosaic frame shatters to pieces?