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To all the stupid racists commenting: have you ever actually lived abroad? I worked in Italy, worked lived breathed and slept the language for one whole year, in a poor rural area not as some rich person hanging out with other foreigners at work, and when i was mugged i last all ability to speak for several hours (shock) and all ability to speak Italian for a week after. The stupid thing was, everyone assumed, despite having lived with me for a year, that i'd lost the ability to understand as well as speak. But that's shock. Your native language just is more hardwired, dunno why. And i had to re-learn english when i came back, it took me 3 months. But i still lost my italian for longer in shock and fear. Further, even english people don't understand law-english, i don't at all. You need it very clearly explained in ways you can understand. Finally, as the racists seem to have forgotten the italian woman who had her baby adopted here while on a two-week training course, and the Canadian Czech who died after being impounded by immigration while changing planes, you don't actually need to be living here to be the subject of adoption or legal proceedings here. I had to change planes in America on my way to China. An airport employee refused to let me through on the grounds 'if you come here, you should learn the language' - i understood her Spanish because of my Italian, but could not respond. Finally a black man relieved her shift and let me through just in time to catch my flight, saying 'she always does that'. A very silly attitude. And did you know that, for deaf immigrants, acquiring British Sign Language is not considered learning to speak the language? That deaf people repeatedly go without interpreters in law courts? That where i live, Wales, there's a huge problem - i'm facing a term in jail, and as there's no women's jail here, i'll be stuck speaking stupid english no Welsh for a year or two. Racists, really wind me up, sorry others.