Internal Divisions
Even after the reunification of their host country, the Vietnamese community in Germany remains divided. Initial sympathy by southerners towards northerners was replaced by suspicion, with the former boat people's staunch anti-Communism aggravating the former guest workers. The former boat people are also far better-integrated into society, and speak German well. However, the children of the boat people retain only tenuous links to Vietnamese culture; in many cases, their parents spoke to them in German rather than Vietnamese, with the hope of speeding their integration; as a result, the parents' German improved with the constant practise, while the children's Vietnamese skills atrophied. In contrast, many of the former guest workers from East Germany speak German poorly.
Read more about this topic: Vietnamese People In Germany
Famous quotes containing the words internal and/or divisions:
“I believe that there was a great age, a great epoch when man did not make war: previous to 2000 B.C. Then the self had not really become aware of itself, it had not separated itself off, the spirit was not yet born, so there was no internal conflict, and hence no permanent external conflict.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Nothing does more to activate Christian divisions than talk about Christian unity.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)