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[Philosopher]

Please forgive my weighing in on the subject, but I am a first generation immigrant who came here when I was 5 years old along with my 3 year old sister, and our parents.

A foreign language is a double edged sword. It can be used to introduce your American neighbors to the finer contributions of your former culture to Humanity, and it can be used to make them feel uncomfortable by locking them out of a conversation in your native tongue.

The best way to discern when you are using one blade or the other is to imagine yourself a guest in another person's house. What would you do? Would it be polite to engage only one of their family's members just because they speak your language and it feels good to you to do so? What about the other ones, left standing there with nothing to say? That is rude. It should not be done. Mind your manners.

On the other hand, if you've been invited to a Scottish man's house, and he is introducing you to haggis, it is perfectly proper to tell him of a cajun dish called "paunce", which is very similar, and from there it makes for an interesting conversation between two persons, one of scottish, and another of french extraction, as to the many ties between the scots and the french, particularly during the Reformation and times thereafter. This is a good thing.

It is altogether a different thing for the french person to stand up, announce to the people in the house that this is a shameful scottish ripoff, and proceed to question the scotsman's ownership and stewardship of the house and proceed to rearrange the furniture.

An immigrant such as myself, is here by the grace and generosity of the culture that admits him. He is a guest who is being admitted into the family. The family has a right to its own culture. By accepting foreigners into the family, it does not abridge that right. It is saying to the immigrant, come, be one of us, learn our language and our ways, be family. And by all means, bring us the best of where you came from, treat us to your food, your celebrations, your dance and music, your art, and your literature. But NEVER insult or degrade our culture and nation. Never express ingratitude to your hosts. They have paid you their highest compliment, and you are honor bound to respect that.

Does that mean that you cannot criticize American culture? Of course not. But what it does mean is that you do not stand outside of it lobbing stones at it. No, you criticize it (and praise it) like a family member would. Not for what benefits your former country, or your former culture, but strictly from the point of view of what benefits your new country, America, the country you swore to place above all others when you took the oath. Doing anything else betrays that oath.

That oath binds your children as well. I teach my children to learn and love this culture transmitted through its language and I also encourage them to learn about the one I came from. But I make no bones about what I would think if any of them were so much as to lift a hand against this country. They would be betraying me just as much as they'd be betraying America.

No immigrant ethnic group has a right to demand this country spend its blood and treasure in the interest of it's former nationality. Not Israel, Cuba, Ireland, China, Mexico, Japan, whatever. Once you take the oath, that allegiance is over. Permanently. There may be times where those interests coincide, but the minute they don't, consistent with respecting established treaties, we should stop.

All that said, it is a wonderful thing to speak more than one language. It increases your intelligence and general culture. It allows you to be a friendly American face to another part of the world and its tourists to our own. It allows your children and your children's children to speak the language they'll need to contribute to the society that has given them a home.

Finally, from a practical standpoint, efficiency demands that one language be shared among all immigrants to this country. It would bring us to our knees as a nation if in the misnomer of diversity, we were to have to print everything in many languages. This is just common sense.

When an immigrant comes to live here he must learn the language. By all means, speak what you want to whoever you want, but show some basic manners. To be a part of the American family you must learn its customs and that can only be done in English. Any speaker of two or more languages will tell you that even in the closest of translations, there are many shadings and subtexts of words that don't translate properly. English is a must. Professionally and socially. You hamstring yourself and your progeny otherwise.

Yes, free classes should be given for this. It is in all our best interests. Personally, I believe those free classes should be given in public schools in the evening by previous immigrants from that same group. Think of it as a public service akin to military service. A small price to pay for the boon of American citizenship. Set up a vetting board for each language composed of English-fluent former teachers in that groups language, to pick the volunteers. Standardize the textbook and the course days so anyone can step in and teach any class. Stagger the classes so if any student misses a few classes, they can just pick up where they left off in another school. Standardize a minimum competency test to be taken at the end of 2 years. If the person fails, they have 6 months to retake it. If they fail again, they are sent back to their former country (unless fear of death is an issue) until they can pass it by showing up at an immigration office at the border and taking it again.

I'm sorry. If you can't be bothered to learn the language, you are showing severe disrespect to your hosts and the offer being made to you. There are others dying to get here who can. Go home and rethink what it means to apply for citizenship in another country.

And that, like the man said, is telling it the way I see it. And remember, I'm an immigrant myself, from a non-English speaking culture. One I'm very proud of culturally, but not politically.