Dear Editor,
Last Sunday, I had a coffee at Ikea. It was mid-morning, and the cafeteria was packed with people. I’d taken a strategic seat in a corner so I could observe the whole room. I saw couples, families, individuals, seemingly from all over the world. The air rang with laughter and chatter. I could identify a few languages, but there were more I couldn’t understand.
It made me think about the language problems we’re having in Richmond, which have been causing waves of discontent.
And yet here, in this room, total harmony prevailed, notwithstanding the hodge-podge of customers’ cultural backgrounds. As I walked through the store I noticed that all signage seemed to be in English. No attempts were made to cater to any nationality in particular, to attract more customers by addressing them in their native tongue.
The Ikea store was in western Canada, and English is the language spoken here. This fact didn’t appear to cause any problems — instead, it seemed to me that it had the power to draw everyone together.
Sabine Eiche
Richmond
