My own mother who came to this country at the age of 72 attended English as a Second Language classes and could, after several years, carry on simple conversations, shop on her own, understand television programs and write down recipes from food programs and give a simple speech she had prepared. At that age, she was neither very fluent nor very comfortable, but she could function in English.

We often hear that we should learn Spanish. I agree. Learning other languages is useful for many endeavors. I'd love to learn Spanish to communicate with the local folks in Spain or Mexico, but I don't want to learn Spanish because it could soon become America's second official language.

The question I ask is, "Why would anyone immigrate to this country to take advantage of the myriad opportunities available and not want to learn the language to the best of their ability?" I seriously question the wisdom of states such as California that provide voter forms and other official documents in multiple languages. A crutch is a crutch. When will those naturalized Americans ever be motivated to learn English?

Just a few days ago, following the terror attacks in London, I heard a British television commentator say that the United Kingdom does not require the renouncement of previous patriotic allegiance or a pledge of allegiance to Great Britain when one becomes a British citizen. There is no official ceremony; a new citizen just receives his or her papers in the mail. He praised our American system as one that emphasizes the importance of becoming part of something: the United States of America. He, and many others since the terror attacks, said such attacks by naturalized U.S. citizens are much less likely to take place in this country because of the commitment we require of our immigrants: We expect them to assimilate.

The adage that if you "give a man a fish he will eat for a day but teach him how to fish and he will eat all his life" applies to immigrants learning the English language. While it would seem kinder and simpler to supply them with every material in their own language, we would be denying them the opportunity to fully join us in this, the greatest experiment ever attempted by humankind: the United States of America.

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Martine Smith was a candidate for the Utah State Legislature in 2004.