Should at least one foreign language be taught in US schools?

[venice_ca]

The economic value of an english speaker learning another language (except Mandarin) is pretty low.

Regarding Southern California: I don’t know if the pay is greater for individuals who speak both English and Spanish, but they would have an advantage for being hired for a number of jobs.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Regarding Southern California: I don’t know if the pay is greater for individuals who speak both English and Spanish, but they would have an advantage for being hired for a number of jobs.

Its possible. I made that notation when I quoted the study to emnofseattle. The study itself looked at the situation as a whole, which leaves room for variation depending on situational factors.

 

[venice_ca]

Its possible. I made that notation when I quoted the study to emnofseattle. The study itself looked at the situation as a whole, which leaves room for variation depending on situational factors.

Since there’s a large Spanish-speaking population here, plus tourists, businesses that deal with the public need bilingual employees. So we’re the special situation cited in the study, but the types of positions are not necessarily among the high-paying variety, so economic advantages might be weak.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Since there’s a large Spanish-speaking population here, plus tourists, businesses that deal with the public need bilingual employees. So we’re the special situation cited in the study, but the types of positions are not necessarily among the high-paying variety, so economic advantages might be weak.

There may be business development positions that pay better, but aren't in the limelight.

I routinely work with people all over the globe and they just tend to speak English, which is why I think the economic value is low according to the study. That need is largely already filled due to the sheer economic power of the english speaking world. Also, cited in the study, is that people who's native language is not english tend to get a huge economic benefit from learning it.

 

[tres borrachos]

But you could have just learned French or Spanish then it is pretty trivial to learn the other.

Why waste time on Latin?

Because most words come from the Latin.

 

[soap box]

Folks here have pointed out some valid reasons for learning another lanuguage but I didn't see the teacher reasons noted,
It's about cognitive flexibility. You grow up with the mother tongue and a different language gives you a different perspective on what you and others are saying and how the say it.
Cognitive flexibility comes from learning a second language because it makes a learner readjust, ,redefine, reconsider, see new perspectives in how we understand each other as we communicate. I bet you agree there is more involved and a greater benefit in the psychology of linguistics that contributes to a persons cognitive growth, at any age, than just getting a taxi in Tijuana or getting a B+ on your Latin test.

and plus, they used to say - two languages are better than one

 

[highroller]

Good Lord, we live in a globalized society, we should learn as many foreign languages as possible.

That might give Americans a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Our leaders can’t have that

 

[Carjosse]

Because most words come from the Latin.

But you don't need that, you could just learn French or Spanish to teach you the rules, two actually useful languages. Vocabulary is easy to learn, it is the grammar rules that take time. People do it all the time and if you learn one romance language you can easily learn the others, everyone I know who speaks multiple languages has said that. Not a single multilingual person I know learned Latin in school and some of them know 5, 6, even 7 languages.

Also non-Latin based languages are very common second languages too and Latin is not going to help much.

 

[tres borrachos]

But you don't need that, you could just learn French or Spanish to teach you the rules, two actually useful languages. Vocabulary is easy to learn, it is the grammar rules that take time. People do it all the time and if you learn one romance language you can easily learn the others, everyone I know who speaks multiple languages has said that. Not a single multilingual person I know learned Latin in school and some of them know 5, 6, even 7 languages.

Also non-Latin based languages are very common second languages too and Latin is not going to help much.

I did learn French. And German.

As someone who has a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, with the intention of going to Law School, I know what Latin did for me in helping me to understand words as I considered the root of the words. As someone who studied in Austria for a year, I was able to learn and become fluent in German quickly as I considered the words being uttered and used my knowledge of Latin to understand them. As someone who had made her living for the last 20 years with foreign clients, I used my Latin to help me understand their words and the words I need to use.

 

[Carjosse]

1) no it’s not. French and Spanish are fairly different.

2) Latin is not a waste of time because most of the vocabulary and nearly all the technical language of western languages directly roots in Latin. You can’t truly understand classical art and literature if you don’t understand some Greek and some Latin. Given your political leanings I suspect the real reason you’re arguing against Latin is purely to socially engineer a true society by orchestrating a break with tradition. No Latin and no Rome equals no western civilization

1. No they are not, they are very similar languages, it is very common knowledge knowing one makes it easy to the other romance languages.

2. No one is reading Latin writings outside of an academic or religious context, so teach it in university or seminary school. You know there is this thing called translation right?

 

[Carjosse]

I did learn French. And German.

As someone who has a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, with the intention of going to Law School, I know what Latin did for me in helping me to understand words as I considered the root of the words. As someone who studied in Austria for a year, I was able to learn and become fluent in German quickly as I considered the words being uttered and used my knowledge of Latin to understand them. As someone who had made her living for the last 20 years with foreign clients, I used my Latin to help me understand their words and the words I need to use.

You don't need to learn Latin for that, that is just how languages work, you learn the patterns and European languages tend to share patterns because they developed closely to each other. Just let students learn learn the language they want directly.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

1. No they are not, they are very similar languages, it is very common knowledge knowing one makes it easy to the other romance languages.

2. No one is reading Latin writings outside of an academic or religious context, so teach it in university or seminary school. You know there is this thing called translation right?

Yeah but if you started knowing some Latin you would learn both French and Spanish very quickly because that’s the root language. One of the reasons nobility spoke so many languages in the earlier centuries was because they were tutored in both Latin and Koine Greek as children.

2) translation doesn’t convey precise meaning of the original. You can read English translations of Latin works, but to understand them you have to know the original language. Learning Latin is fun and easy for children and should be offered in primary school. Along with Greek.

 

[tres borrachos]

You don't need to learn Latin for that, that is just how languages work, you learn the patterns and European languages tend to share patterns because they developed closely to each other. Just let students learn learn the language they want directly.

Thanks for the opinion. I studied Latin 40 years ago and it worked great for me. My 3 sons studied Latin for 4 years each in High School and it worked great for them.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Yes, but with one caveat: don’t include Latin as a “foreign language.” You want to teach the classics and include Latin in the curriculum? Great. But the fact is that after four years of Latin, I’m fully prepared in case I accidentally step into a time portal to Ancient Rome, because I can still remember how to say “you have shit for brains,” as well as one pun: “semper ubi sub ubi.”

Oh, and I learned caveat, from caveat emptor, a phrase that literally nobody needs a Latin class for.

“As man, this car I bought is a lemon.”
“Well you know what they say, dumbass: caveat emptor!”

Bam. Latin education.

If you start from Latin you can learn Romance languages very easily.

 

[antiquity]

Should at least one foreign language be taught in US schools?

Not sure if Spanish is a foreign language any more...

 

[JohnnyDollar]

Is there a school in the US that doesn't teach at least 1 foreign language?

 

[AGENT J]

uhm when i went to school and when my daughter went to school 2 years of a foreign language was required to graduate

 

[Rumpelstil]

It would be a good thing to make at least ONE foreign language compulsory for at least one year.
So that word goes round that there are actually also other languages in this world besides English.

 

[screenwriter]

Didn't somebody also also say so?

These days, you don't get more foreign than "English".

 

[screenwriter]

English is not a foreign language. We’re an Anglo country.

That should make a difference .... but ....

 

[Rumpelstil]

These days, you don't get more foreign than "English".

Maybe - but still the opinion or the feeling is there that somehow English is the only real language in this world

 

[antiquity]

Maybe - but still the opinion or the feeling is there that somehow English is the only real language in this world

I agree...
I traveled the world for 25 years to over 80 countries and I found if someone wanted to sell you something they managed to do it in English (more times than not). The majority of business people all over the world spoke English....Even the days of the Iron Curtain I found the people I dealt with there spoke marginal to good English.
Here is something that may surprise but in England it took a couple days to adjust my hearing to the British English accent.
Even in countries that were assbackward and barely managed to survive day to day in their houses built out of scraps.
I guarantee you very few of those people we dealt with spoke Russian or Chinese or even German.
Yes, even in today's woke culture English is the preferred language by most of the world. For example all air traffic controller and aircraft pilots are required to communicate in English.

 

[Rumpelstil]

The thread about Turkey made me think that the understanding of things to do with languages is a bit under-developed.

And that quite a few people had no idea what they were talking about.
And as often: Ingorance leads to arrogance.

 

[Razoo]

Should at least one foreign language be taught in US schools?

It's been among curriculums for about 80 years ............

 

[The Mark]

Should at least one foreign language be taught in US schools?

Don't they teach things like French, Spanish, and German? Or are they just electives?