No, honestly, I think some people (and the freakingschool system!) really don't get it. You see, I havea cousin who is American, living in California. I don't know about other states or schools but she was only made to study Spanish for two years. Afterwards she was free to drop it. Now she was living in San Diego. I wonder if you can get any closer to a Spanish speaking country without actually living there and South California is full of Spanish speaking people! But, as she one day said to me: "Why would I need to leearn any other language? English is spoken all over the world and others adjust anyway, so why should English speakers bother?" I think a lot of non-immediately.immigrant Americans think that way. Not all, but a lot. As to the English, I've no illusion that the majority is any better. I remember a few years ago there was the discussion to drop down the foreign language requirements in some schools/uni (I don't remember it well anymore) and one of the reasons the responsible!! people gave was that non-native English speakers were required to learn English anyway in their countries so why bother learning a foreign language.
I grew up bilingual and I'm very glad I did. And I'm always happy to learn speaking different languages.
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rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-15 05:17 pm (UTC)No, honestly, I think some people (and the freakingschool system!) really don't get it.
You see, I havea cousin who is American, living in California. I don't know about other states or schools but she was only made to study Spanish for two years. Afterwards she was free to drop it. Now she was living in San Diego. I wonder if you can get any closer to a Spanish speaking country without actually living there and South California is full of Spanish speaking people! But, as she one day said to me: "Why would I need to leearn any other language? English is spoken all over the world and others adjust anyway, so why should English speakers bother?"
I think a lot of non-immediately.immigrant Americans think that way. Not all, but a lot.
As to the English, I've no illusion that the majority is any better. I remember a few years ago there was the discussion to drop down the foreign language requirements in some schools/uni (I don't remember it well anymore) and one of the reasons the responsible!! people gave was that non-native English speakers were required to learn English anyway in their countries so why bother learning a foreign language.
I grew up bilingual and I'm very glad I did. And I'm always happy to learn speaking different languages.