One Nation's "English-only services" - ignorant and mean-spirited
by Helen Said, Melbourne Australia My grandmother (Yaya) moved to Australia when I was a teenager. Upon arriving at Tullamarine Airport, Yaya proudly announced to me and my sister that she read three English newspapers every day. Yaya was born in Libya and learned to speak seven languages. She was the granddaughter of the local Greek Orthodox Priest. She grew up as a Greek speaker in Constantinople (Istanbul) and attended the local American Ladies College, where she learned English. She married a Greek-Maltese British Subject. My grandfather (Papou) found work with the occupying British Army shortly after the First World War, and accepted a transfer to Egypt upon marrying Yaya. Yaya and Papou raised their family in Egypt where my grandfather continued to serve the British NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute) for the next 45 years. In widowhood, living in Australia, Yaya developed dementia and lost her ability to speak all of her languages except her native Greek...