Why do Americans have to learn foreign language in school?

Americans should want to learn a foreign language in school. It broadens the mind. Exposes you to other cultures. And shatters the idea that we are the only and most important country.

Because unfortunately thats the country we live in now. The term, “when in rome, do as the romans do” has changed to, “when in rome, make the romans do what we do”. But i agree with Naked_Homer though that Americans should WANT to learn another language but I don’t think they should be forced to. I remember I had to take a foreign language to get my requirements to graduate high school which I don’t think is right.

@Naked_Homer I’m not against learning a different language, I am learning German right now. I was just wondering why it was a requirement.

Because plans might change, and even though you might not plan to leave the country when you’re young, you might very much want to do so later, when you’d regret not having learned it.

Of course, for me the benefit is more apparent, living in the Netherlands, but one might realize later in life, when the world seems smaller, that he’d really like to go abroad.

@Naked_Homer When students are taking AP courses and ACCEL classes at local Colleges, there is no time for learning a new language. Also, we are the most important country. We invented waffles!

@sweetteaindahouse I think it is a requirement because in the current workforce knowing how to speak with potential clients is very important. Anything schools can do to prepare you for the jobs you might enter is a plus.

Because foreigners don’t have to speak English well to become a citizen.

Because not everyone you will ever interact with will be a citizen or an English speaker.

Because what you are planning now may not be what happens in your future, and it is a lot easier to learn it now.

Because learning a foreign language helps you understand English better.

Because international communication is the only path toward peace and understanding, and you never know when it might become important for you.

@MebiByte My parents and the majority of other adults I know took a foreign language class in high school and college, yet none of them remember it.

I think Americans should be required to learn a foreign language starting in Kindergarten.

@sweetteaindahouse True. Learning a language requires using it to remember it.

But, as Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory said, “Once I get done learning Finnish, I’m not going to learn it again.”

It helps promote the sense that there is a world outside our borders. Besides, as others have said, you may not be planning to leave the country now, but you never know what you’ll decide in the future. Personally, I had a wonderful time when I visited Europe. (France, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, England, etc.)

@everyone that said something about going to another country in the future: I am learning German because I am going to Germany this year.

Have fun!

I’m in the UK and we had to learn a couple of languages when I was at secondary school (high school. I learnt German and French and taught myself Italian. The school used to do a lot of exchanges with other countries in Europe and so it was always very useful and, although I am not fluent in any of the languages I learnt (other than English and the jury is still out on my fluency in that!!!) I am really glad I did. I can speak a little bit of various languages and found it particularly useful when I stayed with a family in German who spoke very little English.

Saying, why bother learning another language when you don’t intend on leaving the country, is kind of like saying, why bother learning history when it is over and done with.

It’s sort of a tragedy that America is so big and we only have 2 neighboring countries. Imagine living in France. You’ve got the UK just a chunnel away, Spain the the south, and Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland to the east. Being so close to so many other languages is what other people in other countries are used to. The fact that there are so many other languages out there and knowing more languages makes you more comprehensible to more people is a reality in countries like France. Just because we live in the US, it doesn’t mean that other languages and places exist.

I think the question is, why don’t we learn foreign languages in more depth and more intensely in American schools? My Spanish classes were a joke compared to foreign language classes in other countries. (That’s not saying ALL language classes in the US are generally bad, just most.) We should be learning our second languages at an earlier age and learning them more.

@sweetteaindahouse – I am sorry, your question reads to me as if you were against it. My mistake. I didn’t mean to imply that.

@MebiByte – There was for me, my brother, my little brother, best friend, girlfriend and her older sister.

If I’ve learned anything it is that one can never speak to many languages.

@sweetteaindahouse For me having classes in German and French is just a few years away, yet I remember very little.

However, if I ever have to pick it up again, it’ll be easier. I noticed this when I was on a holiday in France for a mere two weeks – it was brushed up quick enough to be able to make myself understandable in basic communication. Now imagine I’d ever were to live in Wallonia – it’d certainly be much easier for me to get settled there than it’d have been had I not learned French (to a certain extent) in high school.

Do you enjoy being stupider than the rest of the world? Most of the rest of the world can speak (at least) two languages. Are you really content being less intelligent in that area? I’m not.

Oh, and also, I’m going to conquer the world and make Dutch the only allowed language, so you better get used to learning languages. (Learning languages will also make learning similar languages easier, e.g. when you learned German you’ll easily pick up other Germanic languages like Dutch. You’ve been warned.)

Learning a different language, even a “dead” language, like Latin or Homeric Greek, is a way to discipline the mind for learning even more complex concepts.

As for “never gonna need it”, you don’t know that, when you’re in High School. You don’t know what you’re going to need. Honestly, an average person probably won’t use even 10% of what he learns in High School. History, Science, Math, Literature, Foreign Language, Computer programming, Music, Art. Etc. You don’t know, at age 14 or age 18, which of those you’re going to need in your career or your adult life. Sure, you might think you do. But you’re a kid, and therefore almost entirely wrong about what you think your future holds.

It broadens your mind. I’m glad that I had to learn French in school, because I later met and married a French-speaking lady. You never know what good can come from some kinds of learning!

The linguistic relativity principle (also known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) is the idea that the varying cultural concepts and categories inherent in different languages affect the cognitive classification of the experienced world in such a way that speakers of different languages think and behave differently because of it.

No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity

In order to compete with other world citizens, educated Americans (and other native speakers of English) should learn at least one foreign language. And it does shatter the idea that the US is the only and most important country in every respect.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land C’est bonne! :-)

And it might make you as smart as @mattbrowne who speaks at least two languages with remarkable fluency.

I agree with @MrItty. At minimum, Americans should learn Spanish and French based on our bordering countries.

And I agree, the earlier the better. My daughter started learning Spanish in pre-school. My MIL teaches her Italian also. They’re little sponges – fill ‘em up.

Or, like @JohnDCitizen there, you could become bitter and choose to go down with the ship. Be careful, that dinosaur in the mirror might just be you.

@Dr_Dredd Merci beaucoups! :^)

As @cprevite said. children absorb languages like sponges. I was able to absorb French and German at an early age, but had the devil’s own time learning Urdu and Arabic as an adult.

I don’t think it’s just America that requires a language while in school. Language is extremely important, and I personally wish they had started us sooner (in my school district, we started in 6th grade, I think children should learn Spanish or French…something basic, starting at 3rd grade when they are more apt to learn a language)

Learning another language can help you in English, especially the Latin root languages and Germanic languages. Also, as people mentioned above, it gives yu a better understanding of the world around you. In America Spanish is spoken a lot, ,espeically in certain parts of the country, so having an understanding of Spanish in particular can be very useful.

How do you know you will never leave the country Especially if you are young? I you know another language, you are more willing to “attempt” other languages. I am pretty fluent in Spanish, but when I travel to Germany or Japan, I don’t mind grabbing a Berlitz book and giving it a try. People who have never been exposed to other languages tend to be shy about speaking other languages.

And, my husband makes better money than some others in his professions, because he is bilingual and has worked for international organizations. He has at times been in charge of countries that are not Spanish speaking, but just that he is bilingual and bicultural he is understanding and sympathetic of cultural issues, and understand that things can get lost in translation even if the other person is seemingly fluent in the language being used.

Also, if you live in a part of the country that is very white, apple pie, no other languages are spoken around you, know that our country is now 40% minorities, and the number will only grow.

So if there’s a really good foreign movie and you don’t have any translation subtitles/captions, you don’t need to act like a moron and yell out “OMG I CAN’T UNDERSTAND”
Also, you can’t really trust subtitles

If you never plan on leaving the country, I feel sorry for you.

Frankly, the U.S. does an abysmal job at teaching foreign languages. Most people I’ve met from other countries speak more than one language, while most people I know in the U.S. even having studied a foreign language don’t actually know much of it. Language is very strongly tied to culture so sharing a language can deepen your understanding of a culture.

Consider that the decisions our government are currently making aren’t in the best interest of its people. We are becoming less and less competitive in the global market. As this happens, it will become more and more necessary to learn other languages. If the trend continues, learning Mandarin might not be a choice.

I am planning on leaving the country a few months from now, and I am learning to speak German. It isn’t that I don’t think we should learn a language. The question is why it is required.

@sweetteaindahouse My question would be why isn’t it required to study a second language beginning in Kindergarten all the way through graduation. It is so useful to speak another language. I am appalled that the school district I am in does not offer language until high school. I have no idea if it is required here? I don’t think it was required in my high school when I went to school (but I am old, 42, it probably is now).

@JLeslie It wasn’t required when I went to HS either (graduated in ‘97). Spanish and French were at least offered starting in 7th grade. I think Italian and German were offered from 10th grade on.

I should ask my 14-year old half sister if there’s a requirement there now….

She says that the graduation requirement now is two years of the same language. Good for them. At least it’s progress.

@MrItty It was offered in Jr high where I lived also (7th grade), I took Spanish in Jr high and high school, but I am pretty sure it was just an elective, like any other elective.

@JLeslie It has always been offered at my high school for all the time I know. This year they have started to implement it into middle school for a few students to test it out. When I was in elementary school, I was in a special class called Challenge, it was for the “gifted” students. We learned some simple Spanish, such as greetings, colors, sizes, and days of the week.

@JLeslie right, for me too. No requirement. I took Spanish from 7th through 11th. There weren’t enough interested students to continue to Spanish 5 in 12th grade.

AFAIC, Americans should begin learning a foreign language much earlier than high/middle school. That way they can actually become fluent in it.

If you speak three languages, you’re trilingual; if you speak two languages, you’re bilingual; If you speak one language, you’re American.

My High School required two years of a foreign language. I went through a couple of school districts growing up, in one there was a summer school offered that was basically elective classes or what not that were offered so kids had something to do in the summer instead of just as makeup. I took spanish in that between second and third grade. Then moved to another school district and there was no foreign language option at all. Three years later they decided to add a period of Spanish for sixth graders, which was really annoying because I already knew everything they were teaching. It kind of turned me off Spanish. It was also pretty useless since there was no more foreign language again until 10th grade. Now I’ve forgotten just about all that Spanish. Kind of sad, really.

@MrItty I didn’t take it straight through. I took a year in jr high, and then I think a year in high school. Not sure how far you could take it. I’m thinking Spanish 4? There is also a Spanish immersion elementary in Maryland, where all classes are in Spanish, except for English class. I’m not sure if they have a Jr. High also?

I think it is better to teach it in elementary, get verbally fluent fast. Then you can maintain it easily, and it is not like you have to study it, you just know it.

Back in the day there were parts of Miami that taught half the classes in English, and half in Spanish. The woman I know who grew up with this said she learned Geography in Spanish, so cities and country names around the world are in Spanish for her in her mind. She is American, with American English Speaking parents.

I’m learning Japanese now in college. My interest began when I was about eight and my parents signed me up for children’s classes, just to they could dump me someplace every Saturday and do their own thing (I suspect).

Obviously I’m probably not going to make much use of the language if I just stay in the states my whole life. But I’ve always wanted to travel to Japan so it serves personal as well as practical purposes. More importantly, the language was like a gateway to all of Japanese culture, and I’m still finding new ways to immerse myself in it. Before Japanese I did Spanish in high school (like so many other people) and I was fortunate enough to go to Spain, where the benefit of speaking even just a little became obvious.

It’s an extremely valuable skill, that’s all. In a world that’s already become pretty much internationally connected (and now with the Internet and all that jazz), there’s just as much reason to learn a new language as there is to learn arithmetic. Almost as much a reason as there is to learn your own language. Maybe that’s an exaggeration.

So, yeah: what everyone else said.

And for the record there is plenty of time to study languages in high school, even with AP classes (my AP classes included Spanish, anyway). Other than middle school or something, HS is actually when you’ll likely have the most time in your life.

@absalom Japan is wonderful. Don’t give up your goal to go there.

@JLeslie: Thanks! It seems so far away and indeterminate though. がんばるね。

I’m kind of amazed that it IS required. Maybe it’s a holdover
from when America was a baby and hadn’t yet made English the lingua franca of the material world.

And a greater pity to think that I don’t even know Chinese despite being 100% Chinese (although a second/third generation. I never know which to use. My parents and I were born in the States, but my grandparents weren’t.)
I’m working on that though. Next year I’m planning on taking a Chinese class.
Interesting side note, My cousins are all taking Chinese in their schools (one each in elementary, middle, and high school).

The whole point of education is to educate. The foreign language requirement is one more tool/advantage the well educated mind has to contribute to society.

Because it’s a good idea – an obvious one, at that.

Look what I stumbled upon.

@Vincentt Thanks for the link. I believe I remember reading that in bi-lingual people their brains work differently. Good article.

@Vincentt Very interesting article, thanks for posting it.