Americans should learn a second language?

By Gabriel Braun
Originally Published April 20, 2007

I was alarmed to hear former House speaker Newt Gingrich's, harsh comments, calling for the abolishment of bi-lingual education and referring to Spanish language as "the language of living in a ghetto". I would agree that if you live in America you should make an effort to learn to read and speak the language. Not knowing English limits your opportunity and access to the American dream. However, I will argue that now is the time for America and individual Americans put more focus on learning other languages. The world is shrinking. We are now living in a global economy. Other economies are growing faster than ours. American jobs are being outsourced to other countries. These signs should start to make us think about what the future holds for an America or Americans that only speak English.

English has to some extent become the language of global commerce. People in other countries feel it is critical to their futures to learn English. This has always been the case, but even more important now that American companies are willing to outsource jobs to other countries. So, now you don't even need a passport to have an American job. In India, English is taught as a second language to help better the economic conditions. A few days ago I got call from an 800 number. I ask the representative where she was she was calling from. She said India. Her English was not the best and you could tell she was reading a script, but she did have a job that probably belonged to an American just months earlier. Her effort to learn another language created an opportunity for her.

Americans have never had a strong interest in learning other languages. We are infamously known as rude tourist around the world. In my two visits to Europe I found out first hand what it feels like not knowing the language. This was especially true in Paris. Parisians are even more proud of their language than Americans. They are not known to be as helpful as the Dutch or the Spanish. This rumor proved to be true from my experience. But, how could any American blame them? Most Americans would be offended if a Hispanic walked up to them speaking only in Spanish. We would probably say to ourselves, "Where do they think they are, In Mexico?" So, it would not be unreasonable for Parisians or any other native to feel the same way.

Language	Approx. number of speakers
1. Chinese (Mandarin)	1,075,000,000
2. English	514,000,000
3. Hindustani1	496,000,000
4. Spanish	425,000,000
5. Russian	275,000,000

I believe Americans at a minimum should learn basic conversational languages of any places they travel to outside of the U.S. This would help improve our image around the world and make our travels more enjoyable. The more serious need for Americans to learn other language is so we are not left out of the global economy.

So what languages should we learn? There are currently about 6,912 spoken languages around the world. I think we should start at the top of the list. The top languages spoken other than English are Chinese, Hindustani, Spanish and Russian. These languages also represent regions of the world with the fast growing economies. Statistics of foreign language studies in the U.S do not support this strategy. It seems we prefer to learn languages based on where we would like most to travel.

Language	Fall 2002 enrollments	% change from 1998
1. Spanish	746,267	13.7%
2. French	201,979	1.5
3. German	91,100	2.3
4. Italian	63,899	29.6
5. American Sign Language	60,781	432.22

I believe our government should put serious recourses behind for Americans to learning additional languages, preferably one of the most spoken languages. Our education system would have to make some serious changes in order for this to happen, though this effort should not be focused strictly on primary education. Technology resources should play a large role in this initiative, whether through free access online language courses or even public access television stations with dedicated language education programming.

Learning additional languages will prepare us to compete with the rest of the world. I believe that Americans that speaks more than one language will have more opportunities to work in foreign countries or work for foreign companies with U.S. offices. Americans schools feel that putting focus on foreign languages will take focus and resources away from more vital subjects. But research suggests that learning additional languages increases math and verbal SAT scores.

National security would be another benefit of having Americans learn other languages. Many agencies of the U.S. Federal government are desperately seeking people who speak a second language.

Learning another language would also go a long way in breaking down cultural barriers. It is impossible to acquire a language with picking up on the cultural aspects of the language. This would really be helpful to U.S military in dealing with situation like Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is in our National and personal interest to put more of an effort in leaning additional languages. I personally plan to start learning another language. Hopefully, the rest of the country will follow my lead. Maybe even Newt Gingrich.

Update: Obama suggest our children learn another language

Presidential candidate Barack Obama caught plenty of flack for his recent pro-multilingual America comments. Video...

Many Americans, under the cover of nationalism (covert racism) were angry about Obama's comments. The negative responses were of course, ignited by Fox News and flamed by Right Wing bloggers. My opinion was clearly articulated by another video viewer's response to all the negative criticisms of the Obama speech.

Glenn commented:
"Really ignorant comments have been posted. That is why the economy is tanking, and we are falling further behind the world. The Chinese speak enough English to sell us everything and the Indians and Asians speak enough English to accept your outsourced job. And you're worried about your ancestors.
You had better get with the program. This is the 21st century and this is a global society - it isn't Mayberry anymore. We have gone from a producer nation to a consumer nation, and we can barely consume because our national debt is so high that our dollar is worth a dime. You need to get off the couch and learn to speak Spanish, Chinese, French or something. I've been to 12 countries and damn near everyone can speak English, French and other languages.
Stop watching FOX. It is there mission to keep you stupid and by the look of the thread, they are succeeding."