ABSTRACT
There have always been those who have moved from one country to another to study or work for a while. The expansion of the European Union (EU) has led to ever-increasing numbers of Europeans who move from one country to another within Europe. In addition, many people have come to the countries of Western Europe as refugees from conflicts in other parts of the world or in what was once Yugoslavia. In Japan, Korea and Taiwan, as well as parts of the Middle East, Africa and South America, there are many foreign workers, often married to local people. The USA, Canada and Australia have, by their very nature, large immigrant populations. People are living abroad all over the world for innumerable reasons. The reasons behind a move from one country to another have a lot
to do with how the move will turn out. If a family goes to live in another country because one or both of the parents have got a job there, the situation is quite different from when a single person moves from one country to another to settle down with a native of the new country. Both these situations are radically different from that faced by refugee families who flee from a war zone to take refuge in a peaceful country. All of these immigrants have some things in common. They are all faced with learning the language and becoming familiar with the culture of their new country, but they probably have very contrasting expectations of how well they will succeed at these tasks and how long they are likely to stay in the new country. They are, therefore, not equally motivated to throw themselves into their new situations.
