Formal and informal texts - immigration

This week in English class we had to write two English texts, one formal and one informal. The topic had to be important for the society, and I chose to write about immigration to Norway. It is easier to see the difference between the texts when the topic is the same and therefore I took the same in both texts.

The immigrants in Norway constitute 13.1 % of the population and they come from 219 different countries. The place in Norway with the most immigrants is Oslo with 28.4 %. Majority of the immigrants in Norway are originally from Poland, Sweden, Pakistan, Germany, Iraq, Denmark and Somalia.

Already in the year 800, slaves came to Norway and at 1800^th century Russians, Swedes and German people settled in Norway. People escape from their own country to Norway because of war, hunger, poor living conditions, unemployment and persecution because of religion and political opinion. Because of all the immigration Norway has become a multicultural country with all the 5 world-religions.

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I think the immigration is good for Norway, and it’s great with different cultures. Lack of knowledge may be the reason some people are against the immigrants, and you can stop racism and prejudice by getting to know several cultures. I don’t think the immigrants can come here and do as they want to, but they have to adapt our society. They should also work and be useful for the country in my opinion.

Some people may have seen for example a Muslim do something bad, but that don’t mean that every Muslim is like him/her. They’re as different as we Norwegians are. Just because Anders Behring Breivik did something terribly bad and has some special opinions about things, doesn’t mean that all of the Norwegians are like him. I think that’s much the same thing as to mean something about all the Muslims. There are always exceptions and I’m not saying every immigrant is behaving as they should, but I’m sure we can’t find any nation with only good residents.

I chose the topic because I think the immigrants does a lot of good things and it’s good with a multicultural society. It’s also important because by having a multicultural society people get to know several cultures and it can stop racism and prejudice. As well, I think immigration is an interesting topic.

One difference between formal and informal is that in formal you don't use contractions and abbreviations like "they're" instead of "they are". Another difference is that you write in third person style when you're writing a formal text, and as well you don't say your opinions about things. Informal texts are more simple, with contractions and abbreviations and you can reflect and tell about your opinions. An example from my informal text is "I think the immigration is good for Norway, and it’s great with different cultures." That's a sentence you couldn't have written in a formal text. 

Sources: 

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innvandrere_i_Norge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Norway

http://www.ssb.no/innvandring/