Honestly, I think it's perfectly valid. When I lived in Korea, you know what I did? I learned Korean. When I stayed in France for a long period of time, I learned as much French as I could. As a person who's an American, however, I find it somewhat obnoxious that the melting pot concept has gone too far. I mean the bottom line is I can understand if you're actively trying to make an effort and it's just difficult. That's fine, you're trying, and I can respect that. What I cannot stand are people who refuse to even try and learn English and just stick with their native tongue. As an Asian-American, someone who is multi-lingual and exposed to a multitude of international cultures, I understand the importance of retaining one's cultural history and language is an important aspect of that. But the bottom line is that we're all in America where, as much as some will disagree, English is more or less the defacto standard here. And it's important because deviating from that makes live very difficult. When talking to an immigrant who refuses to learn English, the simplest things become impossible because it's unrealistic for all of them to expect me to know every language under the sun.

It's not that difficult to retain your native culture yet adapt to your host country. I, and all other Americans, should not be forced to do so the other way around. In fact, I find it somewhat rude that people from other countries will come here to an English standard country and expect ME to speak their language. That would be like me going to Thailand and making a giant fuss every time someone says I should learn Thai.

Well, duh.

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