It may be harder but if people put in the effort and don't take shortcuts, it's not. The first generation of my family who came here came in their 30's and were international students. They had to take the TOEFL test which is pretty hard since it has a pronunciation part too (or at least it did in the 1960s)

I guess the response would be "well your relative was a PhD Student, he was smarter than average". Well, yeah, he was a freak who got a full ride but then my own father is not the brightest person and also learned English among with 2 other languages.

"But he was still a college student"

Ok, another sibling came here 10 years after I did in his 20's(who ironically is a USC), and when it comes to book smarts, he is dumb as a doornail (It think he was dropped as a child), has a habit of farting often, and overall has never read a book in his life speaks very fluent English and also knows another language in addition to his native tongue. His motivation was he didn't want to be treated as yet another dumb immigrant in the eyes of the natives and he wanted to move up.

I could go on, but you get the picture about people who learned the language. On the other hand, I work with two Mexican fellows who have been here longer than I have - one got in on the first amnesty in 1986...the other one I'm not sure but I guess it's the same thing. One has broken English but can get by, but the other one talks at a 3 year old level in English. Saddest part is that he is very good at what he does and if he learned English, he could make 40% more than what he does now but he can't deal with customers directly.

Now I know what you're thinking...these dudes had to come here and break their backs to work and make it. I really respect that; however, at work, all they do is listen to spanish speaking radio - I'm not talking NPR Latino or something sophisticated either - mostly the morning shows where the hosts making honking sounds and the sexy girl talking and such.

I've also made the effort to bring them brochures from evening ESL classes for adults that the community colleges offer which are often even free or at most $50...nothing.

So yes, it will take some effort and some people will not master the language or have an accent, but I really believe that if you want to be a part of this country, this is the absolute least you can do. Unlike other things in life, this is 100% in your control. I'm even ok with learning US history (at least until the civil war) and a basic knowledge of government.