I will say that I can speak three languages if someone asks. Well, if you count the number of languages that I can curse at you in, the number dramatically increases. But to learn a new language, and say that you are proficient, you need to know more than how to insult someone's mother. Here in the United States the intensity and degree of foreign language training that is received varies. Usually the standard Spanish and French are offered in high school. Latin is thrown in from time to time but the goal of learning this "dead" language is for SAT prep.
Two years of language training is the minimum; in those two years gaggles of students listlessly sit through their instructor trying to teach verb conjugations. Oftentimes, language training and requirements are not explained for their significance. Students question, why should I learn Spanish? My friend who is Mexican-American said that at a meet and greet one girl told her that she was learning Spanish so she could talk to her maid. Something tells me ADD highschoolers are not going to be motivated to learn Spanish so they can talk to the hired help (and that's assuming they have any). Oftentimes the excuse comes up that English is spoken everywhere so why learn someone else's language. It is true that English's use has grown enormously, but it is a poor excuse to refusing to learn another language.
Maybe foreign language adoption is simply based off of relevance. Take Switzerland as an example. Its surroundings have dictated the languages (French, German, and Italian) that are spoken within the country. The country's regions dictate which language is dominant, but citizens know multiple languages depending on the interactions they have with the varying regions. Then there's the U.K. whose population has the lowest foreign language ability in the European Union. This quote could have been taken before the recent 12 country expansion, but it's interesting to note nonetheless.
The U.S. aligns more closely with the British side of the spectrum, but there are foreign languages that are pushed more heavily than others depending on the context. During the Cold War students signed up to learn Russian. Today the context has shifted to the Middle East. After recognizing the drastic shortage in Arabic speakers, the government provided incentive to those who spoke Arabic along with other critical languages like Farsi and Urdu. For the business minded folk with dollar signs on their eyes, Mandarin is the place that they want to be.
While schools may be too strapped for resources to add new programs, a greater diversity of languages could provide reason for students to skip the trip to McDonalds and come to class. Children learn languages more easily. Maybe languages should be offered at a younger age in U.S. public schools. Or more variety of language could spark student's interest interest. Whatever they do, schools need to reinforce foreign language training as something of significance, rather than a requirement.
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While I agree that Americans tend to have a self-centered approach when it comes to the question of learning different languages, isn't it true that in most countries foreign language classes are a requirement past the normal two years that US high schools advocate? I don't believe that children in foreign countries are necessarily more motivated or see more "significance" in learning multiple languages; they are forced to. And as adults living in countries like Switzerland they are undoubtedly appreciative of that training, but not while they are actually having to learn it in school. I think the remedy has to be a requirement for children enrolled in US schools to take multiple languages, whether or not they are mature enough to recognize the significance. And I also agree that these classes should be taken before a child gets too old (i.e. before they're high school juniors).
I don’t know if you are aware of the language immersion program which is available throughout the country. This program offers a second language as an integrated subject, which is taught form kinder garden all the way to high school. This is part of a federal grant that each district can apply for it. It’s called “Foreign language acquisition program.”
Yes. I know of immersion schools throughout the country. I have known people who have attended these schools. But let me qualify that with the fact that only French and Spanish immersions were provided. There may be other school that provide a broader range of languages, but in my experience with public school immersions, it's only french and spanish.
just to let you know there are Armenian, Korean and German. All are provided by Glendale Unified.
I feel that desire to learn another language needs to be there rather than it simply being a requirement. In America, I feel that it's fair to say that we are pretty ethnocentric and therefore lack this desire to learn other languages.
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