Should foreign languages be taught at the primary level?

Yes. End communication.

Absolutely.

I’m of the opinion that every secondary-level schoolchild should have to live abroad for a year.

The costs are staggering, but they could be defrayed by having reciprocal arrangements with host countries.

Oui, je consens.

If foreign languages were taught to children at a young age, I wouldn’t have had to look up how to say the word “agree” in French. (I still don’t know if I have it right)

Absolutamente!

If you learn Mandarin, you’re learning how to talk to more than 1 billion more people. Spanish, about 500 million. Arabic, about 300 million.
Learning a foreign language opens some gargantuan doors in terms of speaking to other people.

We are, like it or not, increasingly becoming a global society. To function, we need people to be able to speak with those who are outside of our borders and outside of our primary language.

I absolutely am in favor of language instruction beginning at younger ages. I was given the privilege to take Spanish in 8th grade (My middle school was the only one in the area to do that, and there were a select few students who were allowed to take it). I think by the start of middle school, a foreign language should be one of the major classes, right alongside maths and sciences.

@PhiNotPi: Idiomatically, “d’accord” works better.

I taught French to third and fourth graders for several years. They were like sponges, fearless, unembarrassed and eager to try everything. We worked on all the new sounds; they made grimaces, squeaks, nasal noises: we played Simon Dit; Canard, canard, oie, oie; Bingo, Buzz, had puppet shows, cooked, ate and generally made a joyful noise.

We all had a wonderful time.

More than 2,000,000,000 people have learned English in order to be able to talk to others. Shouldn’t we reciprocate?

All primary age students in China (ages 5–12) are REQUIRED to learn English on top of their own language. In most of Western Europe, kids speak two or three languages just for the sake of it. Within 15 years, Latinos will be the majority in this country in every major city. It behooves us to consider not getting left behind.

yes. In China not only is it like what @Shegrin is saying, but parents will pay nutto-money to get their kids extra English lessons—from age 3. With all the China worry going on right now…maybe not a bad idea.

In most of Western Europe, foreign languagesd are not learned just for the sake of it – it is a requirement of the compulsory education curricula.

Yup. I started learning French when I was 4.

I was placed in a French class in 3rd grade. I continued it until 8th grade. I know almost no french. I think it may depend on the child, because I’m not unintelligent, and I payed attention in class, I just forgot it all. In 9th to 10th I took Spanish and I remember most of it, so take from it what you will.

@Shegrin “Within 15 years, Latinos will be the majority in this country in every major city.” Citation?

We started in Grade 4, we learned French but the classes were boring,

Ok, so it’s twice as many years, but still sooner than we think.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/washington/14census.html?_r=1

In a more playful manner aiming for good pronunciation and a feel for the language. More serious study begins around age 10 in my opinion.