Thread: LPGA English-only Mandate is a disaster-in-the-making

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/26409650/

LPGA's message is loud and unfair
Mandate for foreign golfer's to learn English is a PR disaster in the making

Don Ryan / AP
Angela Park — born in Brazil of South Korean heritage and raised in the United States — said the LPGA's learn-English policy is fair and good for the tour and its international players.
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OPINION
By Michael Ventre
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 1:15 p.m. PT, Tues., Aug. 26, 2008


Michael Ventre


When it comes to the topic of public relations, there are few as sympathetic to the practitioners of that craft as I am. When your job is to shape opinion in the hopes of selling a brand, the terrain can be perilous and terribly unfair. A publicist can do 19 things right, but if he or she botches the 20th, Katy bar the door, because some irate journalist surely will fail to recognize that 19 out of 20 is a darned good batting average.

That’s why I understand on some remote level why the LPGA has decided to perform the Draconian gesture of forcing all of its members to learn English. Public relations are important in any business, but especially one that has a dearth of personable stars. Although Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer are splendid golfers, each is not Tiger Woods. So the LPGA likely believes that by forcing its members to learn English, it will enable players from other lands to better connect with sponsors and media.

This is an example of why public relations is such an inexact science, because this move seems destined to backfire.

I’ve been around many athletes over the years who came from other countries and held down jobs here. Trust me, mastering English so they could mingle with season-ticket holders, sponsors and media has never been their first priority. And yet, many managed to communicate — whether through broken English, or speaking through interpreters, or obscene gestures — and the sports somehow survived. If learning English had been made mandatory, I’m certain they would have done the minimum to comply and then cursed us in their native tongues when the cameras and microphones were gone.

This is a sticky topic, because it comes under the heading of what is absolutely necessary and what isn’t. For instance, if you’re teaching English to children, it’s probably a good idea if you had a handle on the language yourself. If you are a tour guide at Universal Studios in Orlando and all you speak is Farsi, you may have a short career.

But a golfer on the LPGA Tour? That’s shaky ground.

The LPGA seems to be overreacting to a sluggish economy, which is hitting just about everybody hard. Again, I understand public relations. The Tour is particularly worried that a growing number of South Koreans who can’t communicate in English may scare away sponsors or be unable to schmooze them properly during pre- and post-tournament events.

I agree that anyone who comes to the U.S. to work ideally should learn English. It’s a fine language, and knowing it has come in handy for me at the supermarket, the DMV and my local pizzeria, to name but a few. I simply disagree that a penalty should be assessed for anyone who doesn’t get on board.

Reportedly the new rule will apply to those golfers who have been on tour for two years. They will have to pass an English oral evaluation. If they don’t, their Tour memberships could be suspended.

There is an entire illegal immigrant argument in this nation that I’d rather not get into here, but it’s also impossible to ignore. When Americans start targeting foreigners who either can’t or won’t speak English, it creates a perception of bigotry, whether fair or unfair. When Korean players are told they’d better learn English or they can’t play in our reindeer games, such an action leaves a jingoistic odor.

I’d love to see all players on the LPGA Tour speaking English as well as Dame Judi Dench. I just would rather the LPGA strongly encourage its members to learn the language with incentives rather than threaten punishment.

It seems many of the Korean players who responded to the news about the policy didn’t seem to object too strenuously, but then again, what would you expect them to say? They don’t want to rock the boat.

According to a June 23 story in the Sports Business Journal that measured the recent growth in TV revenue for the tour, more than half of the LPGA’s international money comes from Asia. The English-only mandate might have the effect of creating resentment in a vital segment of the tour’s own fan base. By demanding that Asians speak English, it might cause Asians to wave goodbye.

And the two-year stipulation is also strange. Two years is generally enough time to learn some phrases, some grammar and to grasp bits of conversational English, but for a young player from another nation — there are 121 international golfers from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour — it’s not long enough. A professional golfer spends most of her day working on her game in some capacity. What if she genuinely tries to learn English in her spare time, but the LPGA powers-that-be fail her on the oral exam? Is it fair to prevent her from making a living with a suspension?

I’m not in favor of fines either, but at least that’s a more tolerable alternative. If a player obviously doesn’t care and hasn’t learned a modicum of English over a two-year period, then slap her with a small fine to nudge her along. Telling her that she’s suspended from the Tour isn’t exactly like saying, “We don’t like your kind around here,â€

I disagree, I think it's a brilliant idea! Most of the golfers seem to agree also. How else are these women expected to bond when on a tour of the USA, without a common language? How many professional athletes DON'T learn English once they know they will come in contact with the English speaking public?

If they want to play, they need to abide by the rules. It's their choice.

Requiring LPGA tour players to speak English is a small price to pay for the privilege of playing on the LPGA tour, which affords many of these players a very lucrative and pampered life.

When Americans start targeting foreigners who either can’t or won’t speak English, it creates a perception of bigotry,

If a foreigner comes to this country to work and refuses to speak English, It's the foreigner who is perceived as the "bigot" Mr. Ventre. Not America...

Goodness, what anti-American English blather this fellow is putting forth, and NBC is okay with that? What ever happened to the American way, or has that been replaced by political correctness and no one bothered to let me and most of the LEGAL, ENGLISH-SPEAKING population know?