イギリスが英語が母語の移民にも英語テストを実施

今秋からすべてイギリスに移民を希望する人は母語が英語であろうと英語テストが課されることになった。若いニュージーランド英語話者はcheerとchair, beerとbear, earとairの区別がつかないらしい。

However, it quoted Margaret Maclagan, a senior lecturer in communication disorders at Canterbury University, Christchurch, as saying that New Zealand English was further from the mother tongue than comparable dialects - meaning Australian. "Young New Zealanders fail to distinguish between cheer and chair, beer and bear, ear and air," said Dr Maclagan.
The paper warned applicants they would have to forget Kiwi colloquialisms such as "dairy" for a corner shop and "long drop" for an outside lavatory if they wished to stand any chance of success.

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/24/wlang24.xml