If you’ve ever sat in a coffee shop in Paris, you would hear the most beautiful sounds to the human ear: languages. There are approximately seven billion individuals living on the planet and according to Ethnologue, there are “7,099 languages spoken today (Simons, 2017).” The beauty of languages is that it unites us all under a common ground, the idea that we have the ability to take time to learn a language in order to build friendships and relationships is what allows creativity to flow. Now, as one of the most dominant countries in the world in terms of power and leadership, the United States of America prides itself on being “monolingual.” We roll our eyes and raise a finger to anyone who dares to be different. We have demonstrations and rallies about sending, “those people” back to their country because let’s face it, America hates anything that isn’t certifiably American. However, in terms of the language aspect, the vast majority of blame should be bestowed upon our crumbling public school systems and lack of appreciation for something that involves more than just kicking a ball. Learning a foreign language at a much later age, diminishes the amount of opportunities that Americans and the country have as a whole and can ultimately, bridge the gap between ourselves with other individuals. 

First and foremost, learning a foreign language at a later age diminishes the amount of career possibilities that this country has. Why is it that a child in Europe can virtually come out of the womb speaking five different languages but Americans are not taught how to say “hola” until we are teenagers? Not only are Americans concerned but parents in America are starting to understand the values that could be instilled in their children if they teach them to learn a language right now. Journalist Michael Alison wrote an article for The Washington Post in 2014 about her concern as a parent for her child to start learning a language as soon as he could talk. She knows that by the time her son reaches elementary school, the instruction will fall to the wayside. Another problem she states in her article is the issue of where children can find access to receive language instruction at an age younger than five:

The majority of foreign language programs in the United States don’t start [language instruction] until middle school or even high school. As my son approaches preschool and elementary school, I don’t want him to lose his second language in that years-long vacuum. (Alison, 2014)

As a journalist and a parent, Alison already has knowledge of the decrease in foreign language instruction in public schools. Instead, Alison along with thousands of other parents, are enrolling their children in language-immersion programs. The purpose of language immersion programs are so children have the opportunity to take normal classes with the added bonus of learning those classes in their foreign language of choice. Alison’s son is learning Spanish and spends half the day learning in English and the other half of the day learning in Spanish. In addition to learning in a different language, the classrooms are divided based on children who are fluent and children who are starting to learn the language. With this method, the children can learn from each other and benefit in a way that they wouldn’t have received at a normal public school. From the perspective of a reader, the article is about a parent who is concerned for the wellbeing of her child and what she can do to prevent him falling behind in his language-development. In terms of the country, it is unnerving that parents have to go out of their way to find programs and different schools that will actually start to teach a language in preschool and not at the age of 15. As of 2014, language schools have been thriving because of the overabundance of parents and students who have found their love of language learning and have seen how their life could be impacted by taking the time to become bilingual. Every year, millions of students are attending college only to find that their days of cramming for a language exam will continue for the next four years. The Daily Trojan, The University of Southern California’s newspaper, released an opinion article back in 2014 about the benefits of learning a foreign language and why foreign language should have been taught much earlier than it is today. The article inserts several facts and opinions from different researchers and writers: 

The United States isn’t the only country in the world, believe it or not (and English isn’t even our official language). To anyone who has ever taken a class in politics, sociology or business, it is inherently obvious that the United States must be able to function with the countries around us in order to survive. And to ensure that survival, we must be able to speak the languages of the countries with which we interact. (Cahoon, 2014)

The added sarcasm shows the ignorance that the United States seems to have in terms of other countries and learning languages. What the students at The Daily Trojan were trying to argue is that there is an increase in demand from corporate offices and jobs in general, that are looking for individuals who are bilingual. It’s no longer just about who maintained a 4.0 throughout college or who can repair a car in 10 minutes but can you speak fluent Russian, Italian or Mandarin while doing it. If college students are starting to question the implications behind learning a language, shouldn’t the rest of the world question it as well? Although questions are being asked, no answers have been given. According to The Daily Trojan, “…the number of public schools that offer foreign language instruction has decreased 24% in 1997 to 15% in 2008 (Cahoon, 2014).” In middle schools, the statistic goes up drastically with the amount of language instruction decreasing from 75 to 58%. Public high schools in the United States are the only institutions that still reinforce foreign language instruction, on the downside, by the time students actually reach high school, all of the information that they learned ten years ago has obviously vanished. Then teachers waste another four years trying to reteach the information when it should have been learned and practiced since the age of two. Many articles have also blamed the lack of foreign language education on the No Child Left Behind Act. According to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the No Child Left Behind Act, “requires students to be tested in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school. All students are expected to meet or exceed state standards in reading and math by 2014.” The whole premise of the No Child Left Behind Act was to give international and bilingual students the chance to learn how to read and write in English in order to meet the standards for the rest of the country. The problem with this act is that after it was initiated, hundreds of programs that were placed to teach a foreign language were cut and replaced with all English instruction in both reading and writing. In addition to this act, the country has once again proven its systematic racism towards anyone or anything that doesn’t represent the English language. Why couldn’t bilingual children learn English just like everyone else starting with their ABC’s in kindergarten and work their way upwards? These are questions that will constantly keep our country behind in the world if we don’t find ways to adapt to each other’s diverse languages and accept that yes, these individuals have an advantage over us. However, the need to suppress those languages shouldn’t determine their worth in this country.  

The typical European student is required to learn at least one foreign language by the time that they are nine with the hopes that they will pick up another language when they are older and can juggle three languages at a time. According to the Pew Research Center: 

Studying a second foreign language for at least one year is compulsory in more than 20 European countries. In most European countries, students begin studying their first foreign language as a compulsory school subject between the ages of six and nine.

(Devlin, 2015) 

The only countries in Europe that do not have a mandatory language requirement are Ireland and Scotland but they are still obligated to offer foreign language classes to their students. In Europe and across the entire world, English is the number one learned language in the world. Which leads into the next argument: Why study another language if everyone is trying to understand what the United States already knows? According to the Internet TESL Journal Archive:

English is commonly used as a medium for the communication of information and news. English is a major language of international business, diplomacy, and science and the professions. It is the language that an Iranian businessman and a Japanese businessman are likely to use to communicate (Kitao, 1996).

Although English is a widespread phenomenon and encouraged to be used abroad, English cannot be the only language celebrated. There are so many beautiful languages that have fallen to the wayside because of English. As humans, we need to find a balance between English and Romance as well as non-romantic languages. According to a Ted Talk by John McWhorter on Four Reasons to Learn a New Language, he preaches about the influence of English and that in the next century or so, “…almost all of the languages spoken, there are about 6,000, will no longer be spoken, there will be only a few hundred left (McWhorter, 2016).” We should not let one basic language break down years of culture, art and history that flow from other languages simply because a large portion of the world now finds English as the convenient option.

With a Ph.D. in Philology, which is the study of languages, you would think that author Delfin Carbonell would be rooting for all the linguists and polyglots out there, struggling to have some say in the world through various tongues. On the contrary, Carbonell thinks that learning a language is a waste of time. Back in February of 2017, Carbonell wrote an article about “finally coming to his senses” and in one blog post, trashed his entire lifes’ work on the study of languages and language development. His argument was on the side that most of the world seems to speak only one language and are happy with that being the case. He also went on to bring up some obvious cases as to which language is the best to study. Since this article was written back in 2017, during President Obama’s reign over our country, Carbonell draws attention to Barack being a monolingual political figure along with many of his peers. Carbonell states: 

Take President Obama, for instance again, and consider whether it would be to his advantage to invest the time and effort to learn, say, Spanish, -a language widely spoken in the US- when he is not going to run again for office. it would be foolish, of course. And when he meets foreign dignitaries he does not need to speak their lingo because they have a smattering of English and, besides, they have nothing much to say. (Carbonell, 2017)

Although these arguments can be compelling, someone as educated as Carbonell still doesn’t seem to get the bigger picture here. Learning a language doesn’t come with a translator, how do you think the translator learned to speak sixteen different languages? They actually took the time to master the language so that when faced in front of foreign leaders, they could outshine their peers. Being able to speak something other than English will change ones’ life. 

Looking through various research studies, blogs and forums about travel and learning languages in order to “please the locals” a variety of mixed reactions came about from mostly American people or those who speak English about their experiences with testing out their language skills. For some, having the opportunity to travel to a foreign country is rare and having the courage to speak to someone who has no knowledge of your language is enough to make one run in the opposite direction. However, as a personal testimony to this idea, the locals of the country you are visiting appreciate the time and effort that you put into trying to connect with them on a personal level. For example, I have been speaking French for many years and I had the chance to test my skills this past March by residing with a French family that spoke absolutely no English. In the beginning, I was nervous that the family wouldn’t understand what I was saying and I was scared to wake up in the morning because I knew it would be non-stop French when I walked into the living room. For two weeks straight I received many confused stares, moments of “Répétez, s’il vous plait?” and a lot of correction on my outdated phrases I learned from a 1990’s textbook, but, I also received a lot of laughs, hugs and praises of encouragement for braving Europe by myself and wanting to speak an exquisite language such as French. Within those two weeks, I was an equal to the rest of the French speaking community and that is something that can never be replaced or bought by using an online translator. After sifting through the web, there wasn’t a lot of research that I could find on the benefits of learning a language in order to connect to other cultures but there is no amount of statistical data and analysis that compares to the feeling of trying to secure permanent bonds in our metamorphic world. 

It’s 2017 and we need to start understanding that learning a language isn’t just for “those people” or for getting that million-dollar job or even to have our brains bigger than Jimmy Neutron. What learning a language is about is forming connections and understanding that we are all the same deep down. We all have the same bones and the same blood that pumps throughout our bodies and in order to start believing this truth, we can start by appreciating the dialect that flows from the lips of foreign people. America can claim it’s one of the greatest countries all it wants and yes, English may slowly take over as the prominent language but until we all start speaking a unison tongue, appreciating the variety of ones’ we have now will make all the difference in our work and personal environment. 
