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Mind your language..

Rabiya Parekh | 15:39 UK time, Monday, 11 June 2007

Hi everyone -- Peter Dobbie in the Have Your Say office with news of today's show.

So, James Gandolfini made the role of Tony Soprano his own -- oh yes he did, no one else could have played the Big Guy with the on-tap schrink. More on that in a moment.

First, our main topic today: how far should immigrants be pushed to integrate, and is it a given that they would benefit from being made to do more -- on their own, in the language of the country where they're trying to settle ?

The reason we ask is that the amount of official material being translated should be cut, to encourage immigrants to learn English, here in the UK. A government minister says that, yes, there are situations - such as in a hospital - where translation is necessary.

But the Minister (Ruth Kelly is her name) believes translation had been "used too frequently and without thought". Or put another way, Ms Kelly thinks learning -- and using -- the English language is "key" to helping migrants to integrate.

So, unless you have to learn a language, do you actually just do nothing ? And by doing nothing, do you stay locked in a cultural bubble, and not integrate ?

What do you think ?

Onto The Sopranos -- a show that's been described as the richest achievement in the history of TV, likened both to a Shakespearean drama and a Greek tragedy - the tale of Tony Soprano and the Mafia crime family he controls.

If you're reading this is the US you very possibly know already how the series ended -- so don't give the game away. But the question: The Sopranos -- how good was it, really ?

The award-winning series, which has run for eight years, centred on the life of a dysfunctional mob family in New Jersey. Did you feel their pain ? Did you feel the roller-coaster, going from high (and violent) drama to moments of humour in a few seconds ? And now that it's over - what will you replace it with ?

Contact us as usual to have your say on today's debates.

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