mad8 writes:

in this thread we were discussing the US last time I checked ...

And comparing it to other countries.

The ability to learn a language isn't indicative of a person's
industriousness or intelligence.

The ability to learn languages is closely correlated with general
intelligence. The success one obtains in attempting to do so is mostly linked
to motivation.

My father for example has a phd in laser optics (which IS indicative
of at least hard work) and is very well employed here. It took him
about 10 years to become (more or less) fluent in english, and he
still has quite a bit of an accent (everyone understands him, but
he sounds distinctly foreign).

He probably has very little motivation to learn English. Motivation is more
important than aptitude in learning a language, even though intelligence is a
key factor in determining aptitude.

You wouldn't deny a deaf person assistance taking the citizenship
test, so why would you deny a non-native-speaker?

As long as the deaf person speaks American sign language.

Deaf people don't speak English because they can't. Non-deaf people don't
speak English because they don't wish to. Big difference.

Learning english isn't an instant process (even for babies). pretty
much all who are able to, eventually learn english. Those who don't,
usually don't get much further than the construction business.
also, none of them are elligible for any government assistance until
they become citizens. Therefore, they have to make something of
themselves in the 5-10 years it takes to naturalize in the US.

Good.

on that note, go download a INS simulator and play it. It's much
easier than actually going through the immigration process.

I'm already have my citizenship.

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