Talk It Out Tuesdays will begin on Tuesday, August 5. It will be a monthly forum where folks all over can respond to a question. The first topic will deal with learning a foreign language.
“….more Americans should learn a foreign language.”
Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
August 5, 2008 at 4:21 pm |
Yes, more Americans should learn a foreign language. America has always been and will forever be a land of immigrants. English may be ubiquitous but students worldwide learn this language and a host of others. Teaching in Asia was a wake up call for me. I worked with students who spoke 3-4 languages and could switch languages in the context of conversations. Consider the data below…
“Only 9% of Americans can speak their native language plus another language fluently, as opposed to 53% of Europeans. Only 44% of high school students are studying any foreign language and less than 1% percent study a critical-need language.”
Source: Languages of the World, 2007
August 5, 2008 at 5:40 pm |
Great topic. I also think Americans need to learn another language. As previously noted, America has a significant number of immigrants; however, that is not the only reason we should learn another language. In order to be more of an inclusive and global society, as well as be productive members of such a society, it is crucial for students to be able to communicate beyond one level of speech (e.g. English). With the number of college students studying abroad steadily increasing, it is clear to see the willingness to experience a culture outside of the ‘American Way’.
August 5, 2008 at 8:16 pm |
Well, like all answers.. it depends. I think it’s great that over 50% of Europeans can speak a foreign language (usually English) in addition to their native tongue – but if you examine why this has occured it’s due to necessity. As the U.S. grew into a global economic power in the 1900s, it led to countries setting language standards to conform to the political and economic climate. Today they continue to mandate English as the primary foreign language, not Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or even Spanish. And since most industrialized countries in the world do mandate English as a second language, it allows people from all over the world to converse with a common language. I’m not saying English is the best language by any means, but it’s perhaps become a globally accepted standard. Have you ever seen a World Cup Soccer match? On the pitch (field), if both teams don’t speak the same native language, they speak to each other in English, not German or Spanish or Italian or Dutch. It would be absolutely fabulous for the sake of global goodwill if more American’s learned a foreign language, but at this point it’s not an urgent necessity – especially since everyone already speaks English and most immigrants that come to the U.S. adopt English as their second language. Sure, many countries mandate that students become fluent in more than one foreign language, though for Americans.. to decide which foreign languages to push harder into curriculum is basically a toss of the die. And with students scoring lower than ever on math and ENGLISH proficiency, we should probably worry about our students getting up to standards on the basics before having them focus on foreign languages that they may rarely use. If anything, we should become more fluent in Spanish – since 40yrs from now over 40% of the U.S. population will be Spanish-speaking.
August 5, 2008 at 10:57 pm |
If we are to ever truly create a global culture, we must expect communication and respect to permeate that culture. Learning another language is a wonderful step toward this. As Americans we tend to be so ego-centric, certain that the world revolves around us. I like to think of a time when students leave our schools fully bilingual as a minimum…it’s a long way off but a goal that I think we should strive for.
Good question!
August 6, 2008 at 2:41 am |
I do agree that more Americans students should learn (and to that extent, become fluent in) another language. However, I think not all students should be forced to learn another language. If we are to have all students learn a different language, it should be in proper context. By that I mean students should be exposed to experiences in using another language, or the usage of such language will become futile. Such programs like exchange programs will force students to not only learn a language; more importantly, they will be exposed (immersed in) a different culture.
In summary, if students are not in environments that force them to utilize another language, it will become utterly useless beyond high school. Only those individuals who desire to go overseas or to truly interact with another culture will essentially need to KNOW a foreign language. Until then, foreign language will be used primarily to add to the strength (or lack thereof) of a graduate’s transcript.
August 27, 2008 at 8:11 pm |
A good question – I agreed with an EFL teacher trainer recently who said to acquire a second language successfully, you need to learn it the same way as your first. It makes sense.
It’s immersion/exposure to a language in context which combines/tunes receptive and productive skills leading to fluency. Building and using useful lexis is easier to assimilate through active association.
However, that often remains inconvenient to the comfort zone of our real life experiences.
September 13, 2008 at 9:45 pm |
I feel we all need to know a second language. It provides us with another culture and how that culture deals with issues related to your own culture.
I must also agree with Lenny, if the person (not just a student) does not use the language frequently, then what was the purpose. If you are interested in learning other cultures, that would be something you would decide as an individual.