Tammy: A New Friend

I pulled up to the Red Persimmon Nail Salon and stepped out. I normally frequented the nail salon closer to home, but a friend of mine told me the Red Persimmon place was nice. I walked in and was whisked away to a comfortable spa chair after picking out an orangey-coral color – perfect for summer.

After the pampering began, I rested my head back. One girl worked on my toes and another soon came to work on my in-need-of-desperate-help fingernails. I glanced at the girl working on my fingers and she kindly asked, “How are you?” in broken English. I responded “Good.” She nodded and unless she asked another question, I suspected that would be the end of our conversation. Without her knowing English, and I not knowing where she was even from, the idea of a conversation seemed lost.

Moments later, the woman working on my toes asked if I wanted some sort of treatment and pointed to my heels. Apparently, I have calloused feet. I also am in need of a great deal of waxing by her account as well. “On-y five dollar,” the girl restated. I glanced at my mom and she nodded the okay. I agreed and the next minute my feet were being tickled by a purple pumice stone. The girl working on my fingers asked me if it tickled. It took me asking her to repeat herself twice before I understood. I nodded yes. In my mind I thought, if these women come to America and live here, how do they not see the necessity to learn English? I had often wondered this before. I rolled this over in my head for a few minutes and decided to find out. I decided to strike up a conversation with the girl working on my finger nails. She looked like she was similar in age to me.

“What is your name?” I asked.
“Tammy. What is yours?” she asked.

And from there I began to learn about Tammy’s life through much repetition of sentences on both parts and moving closer as if that would help me understand the broken English better. Here is what I did find out.

Tammy is 23 and lives in Anaheim. She moved here two years ago after marrying her husband in Vietnam. He lived in America for 15 years, returned to Vietnam, married Tammy and brought her back with him. Tammy had studied accounting for two years at a university in Vietnam, however, once she moved to America she had to work. She has dreams of studying more, but can’t at this point in time. At one point in our conversation, Tammy apologized for any mistakes in her English. I waved it away with stating I didn’t know any Vietnamese. I asked if her husband was fluent in English. She said yes, but explained there wasn’t much time for him to teach her any English and it was easier for them to speak their native language to one another. Tammy then said she didn’t have any friends here either. She asked if I would be her friend. I immediately smiled and said yes. I felt honored that she would want to befriend me for some reason. She asked if I could come back and we could talk more like this and that way she would learn more English as well. I happily obliged.
I don’t believe I am singled out in my thoughts of why immigrants do not learn English when they come to America. In fact, I am positive that I have heard friends ask this repeatedly. The truth is most immigrants do not have a place to learn English. There is no one to teach them or speak to them in English on a regular basis for them to learn.

I still believe it is a necessity for American citizens to know English, whether immigrant or not, however there is truth in Tammy’s story. I studied French for four years in America and never became fluent because I simply didn’t have anyone to converse with in French. I believe it is important for immigrants to seek out someone to speak with in English to learn the language, however, what is the role of the American government in this? Why are there not mandatory English classes for immigrants, or some type of course for immigrants to take? Tammy simply didn’t have anyone to teach her English or at least did not have the time since had to work to live in America's economy.

As Americans, we are also blessed with living in such a culturally diverse arena. Why don’t more of us take time to talk to people like Tammy? To help them learn English, become more accustomed with America. Why don’t we invest in immigrants in a way to invest into our country learning more about other cultures and helping them learn more about ours?