KEY POINTS:
What's the difference between Manuka honey with UMF and the one without? I asked a souvenir shop salesperson. I thought it was an easy enough question.
Instead, I found the woman struggling with her answer in English. Having earlier heard her speak with another customer in Chinese, I repeated the question again in Mandarin.
But instead of an easy answer, what I had to face next was a telling off by the salesperson for not using Mandarin despite knowing it. The woman, who said she was from Beijing, equated it to my lack of pride in being Chinese.
Mandarin is the most beautiful language in the world, she declared, and is set to overtake English to become the new international language.
"Everyone is learning Mandarin today because they want to do business with China, and everyone who knows Mandarin must be proud to use it," she claimed.
There may be some truth to her claim that more people are learning Mandarin, but is it not the same the other way around? China's obsession with hosting the Olympics has also given rise to a burst of enthusiasm for learning English back in the country she came from.
I said English is the lingua franca here, and because there were more than just Chinese speaking people, she would be missing out on a great deal if she didn't speak the language.
To my suggestion that she pick up the language, she replied: "No need. My customers are mainly Chinese, even the tourists, and they all speak Mandarin."
I never got an answer to my honey question, but I did walk away from that shop wondering whether this reluctance to learn a common language was New Zealand's weakest link when it comes to integration.
Although English is supposed to be the lingua franca here, immigration is slowly changing that.
Encouraged by New Zealand's more liberal immigration policies, more and more foreign communities have taken root and established themselves here.
Unlike the old days, it is no longer the case of finding the odd Chinese, Korean or Mongolian in the sea of Pakeha and Maori faces, but one of having entire communities, some large enough to sustain themselves with no need to have anything to do with mainstream society.
With newspapers in ethnic scripts, ethnic television and radio stations, their own ethnic restaurants, grocery shops and places of worship, why would they even need to learn the national language of their adopted country?
A few months back, a Korean restaurant owner told me he would never put an advertisement in an English paper, sticking only to the Korean papers because he preferred not to have English-speaking customers.
"We like Korean customers," he said. "My staff don't speak English and they hide when Kiwi customers walk in."
Ethnic communities have every right to be different - to speak their language and preserve their culture - but that should not come at the expense of alienating themselves from mainstream society.
New Zealand may still be new in the immigration game, but the situation in Europe must have opened a few eyes to see the disastrous consequences when immigrant communities alienate themselves from their adopted land and stick together through generations.
I don't want to even imagine a time when the New Zealand society is made up of Korean, Chinese and Indian quarters.
After publishing a letter of a Chinese reader's view on the supremacy of the Chinese language in iBall, we've received quite a number of emails from readers arguing that English is the lingo supremo and why immigrants to New Zealand must learn the language.
Although I still believe that English will continue to be the de facto international language, I don't think the future is about one language reigning supreme.
In New Zealand, it should not be just a case of forcing immigrants to learn English but also in encouraging the locals to pick up other languages.
The inability to speak a common language can instantly erect a wall between two people, while the ability to communicate can help one get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
More should follow the likes of Jordan Staines, of Murrays Bay Intermediate School, who was featured in last Wednesday's issue of the Aucklander.
The well-travelled 13-year-old is currently learning Japanese and plans to study Spanish next year with the full support of his mother who says learning foreign languages opens up a new world.
His school is one of the few planning to make learning a foreign language compulsory. Bravo Murrays Bay Intermediate, and in these diverse times, may others follow your lead.
Without resources and funding, I know it won't be easy for schools. But if it is something that will help advance social integration would it not be something worth pursuing?
