SE HABLA INGLES?

For the past several weeks the Lakeland Ledger has been publishing an occasional series of articles focusing on the immigration issue and it's affect on the local area. Today, the subject is the high number of immigrants --- legal and not --- who don't bother learning the primary language of their adopted country.

In Polk County alone, an estimated 68,500 people of people five years and older--- over 14 percent of the county's total population --- don't speak English at home as of 2004, according to the United States Census Bureau. That's up from the 2000 census, when the number was approximately 11 percent. The vast majority, about 54,000 of them, used Spanish as their first language. People interviewed by the Ledger for the report cited time restraints, long working hours, and the ability to speak their native language at home and work as reasons for not taking the inititaive to learn English.

Also, nearly seven percent of the Polk school district's students --- more than 6,000 --- are enrolled in it's English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programme, with 73 different languages represented. Beginning this fall, five schools will pilot a dual language programme, where half the curriculum will be taught in English, the other half in Spanish.

I guess my conservative side is coming out here, but IMHO anyone wishing to live and/or work here should make the effort to learn English. A good knowledge of a country's primary language is vital in many cases to do business and to become a full member of the community. That is why many countries around the world make it a requirment.

For many people, it also helps that becoming fluent in two languages can mean advancement --- or, at least, the ability to enter more diverse fields of work --- with many companies, giving some immigrants an additional opportunity not otherwise available.

I agree with Senator Bill Nelson's decision to support a national language amendment in the immigration reform bill which passed last Thursday (Senator Mel Martinez was not present for the vote due to his son's wedding). It should not be considered racist, as some are calling it, but a means of bringing those immigrants more into the mainstream of America. And it does not mean that an individual cannot continue to use their native language at home or in social settings with friends, family, or co-workers. There just needs to be a common bond between all people within our nation, and a common language is necessary toward that goal.