One reason that immigrants (legal and illegal) fail to assimilate into American culture is simply they can’t speak or understand English. But then again, why should they learn? Even our voting pamphlets are written in several languages. On the phone, we hear “press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish….etc.”

I get advertisements in the mail touting cell phones and they’re written entirely in some sort of Asian language. Could be Japanese, Korean, Chinese….I have no clue. But then again, this is the United States of America, so I shouldn’t have to learn some other country’s language as long as I’m living in this country.

During my years in the Marine Corps, I visited many foreign countries and tried to learn enough of the language to get by. I learned how to order a cup o’ coffee in a café, learned how to ask a pretty girl for a date…and like I say…just enough to get by; In Italy, France, Greece, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Iceland, I could ask a vendor “how much” in the native language.

No, I wasn’t fluent in any of the languages, but I learned enough to show that I cared, and had an interest in learning. But, we don’t see that “care’ and “interest” in many of the immigrants of today. But why should they care when we have signs in stores written in Spanish, telephone answerers who’re willing to answer in any language the person wants. There’s no incentive to learn English.

If we’re going to make it so convenient for immigrants (legal and illegal) NOT TO LEARN ENGLISH, where’s the incentive? We should take a page out of the LPGA (Women’s golf) new rules. The LPGA will require all players to speak English starting in 2009. Players who’ve been members for two years face suspension if they can’t pass an oral evaluation of English skills. Now THAT’S what I call incentive.