When I wander around the city I am living in (Brisbane, Australia), I am able to hear someone engaging in conversations, whose topic has little to do with what is going on locally, in a language familiar to me, find shops that sell products that have been imported from Asia (and intended for consumption there as well), with quite a high frequency. Sometimes it feels like I am not in Australia, but rather in (one of) China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.
Thanks to immigration and the influx of students, people who have the same ethnicity as myself form a sizeable segment of the population in many large cities in the Western world. To cater to the needs of the people of one ethnicity (and perhaps to provide employment), shops and services geared towards an ethnic group have sprung up in many places. These places often stock a large number of goods and products that are found in where the person originally came from. This way people can use products that they are familiar with. It may also be that those who came from outside the country find the mainstream products not to their liking (or not suitable to them).
While providing services that are familiar to newcomer can help ease the shock that often occurs to those who move to a new environment, it may hinder them from integrating with the rest of the community.
I live in a neighbourhood where the mother tongue of a large segment of the population is a language other than English, so it is quite natural to find most conversations are in those languages. However, when I travel to the city centre, it is quite easy to overhear conversations in languages other than English as well. Sometimes it seems to me that many people only communicate and congregate with those who share their ethnicity (while I try to the avoid this, there are times when I am guilty of this myself). While people of the same ethnic origin no longer confine themselves to "Little (insert country of origin)", it seems that many visible minorities still prefer to be in the company of those who have similar origins. The downside of this is that it may deprive one the opportunity to learn about the activities the local enjoy and the lingo used by the locals. (One colleague of mine said that some of the phrases uttered by the locals are difficult to understand at first, but one can figure out their meaning rather quickly if one pays attention to them.)
While the Internet has brought a wealth of information and entertainment from different parts of the world within a click of a mouse, it seems that many from outside the country are gravitated towards web sites that provide information and entertainment back home. This may result in people knowing more about the events that occur back home than in the place they currently reside. "I am only in the country temporarily and will return home soon" and "these issues at home are important to myself and those I hold dear" may be used as justifications by those who follow events at home more closely. While one should not stop confine one's knowledge of current events to where one is current residing, one should not pay minimal attention to what is going on locally either. (I may be a little hypocritical here, since I tend to follow news in Canada and Hong Kong more closely to the current events in Australia, and the availability of the Internet means that I can't use my lack of access to a TV set as an excuse.)
I probably can bring up more examples, but then a thought hit me — instead of just sitting in front of a keyboard and typing that I do not understand the local lingo and practices, perhaps I should go out and explore the place that I currently call home to see what the place is like.
(Note: The above are based on what I have observed in North America and Australia. So keep in mind that my sample population may not be fully representative of those who came from outside the country.)