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German and French have vast literature, and have traditionally been the languages that educated native-speakers of English ought to learn (after Latin). What's surprising is the opposite question from that of the original posting: why is Spanish so popular as a second language in the US, and French (and especially German) very much of secondary status?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SunsetMission
You might be onto something. I never quite understood why French is so popular as a second language in Canada yet Spanish is nowhere to be heard. Huh, surprising.
Because of the high influx of Spanish speaking immigrants. In most places in the US there are signs/forms etc. in both English and Spanish. Spanish speaking interpreters are needed in the schools, medical facilities, government offices, courts and law enforcement because of the number of immigrants that speak only Spanish.
I thought that there had always been a sizable French influence in the Canadian territories settled by the French and much less Spanish influence than in the US.
When I was in school studying the sciences our required language courses had to be either German or French. The reasoning was that the majority of biological literature was in German and French. I never understood why Latin was not included since taxonomy is based on Latin.
I thought that there had always been a sizable French influence in the Canadian territories settled by the French and much less Spanish influence than in the US.
If you immigrate to Quebec your children are required to go to Francophone schools. You are only allowed to go to Anglophone school if you are born in Canada.
If you come from a Spanish-speaking country you want your kids to learn English, not French, and hence you're going to land in the U.S. where there are no political barriers against your children learning proper English.
My middle school only offered French and Spanish. My high school only offered French, Spanish, Latin, and German. I think they stopped offering Japanese the year before I started my freshman year. I took Spanish for 3 years. I even took honors and pre-AP Spanish, and I'm not even close to be fluent. I knew a few German students who said the language was easy to learn. I guess that makes sense since English is a Germanic language. It's probably harder to learn if you haven't read a lot of Old and Middle English. Being able to take Arabic would have been cool. I'm going to start studying Farsi again.
It was interesting seeing the students who spoke Spanish fluently struggling in Spanish class. I guess they either learned another dialect or just learned poor grammar. It's harder to undo bad habits than it is to form new ones.
If you immigrate to Quebec your children are required to go to Francophone schools. You are only allowed to go to Anglophone school if you are born in Canada.
It's not related to where you were born as much as where you went to school. If you or the other parent went to school in English in Canada then your kid qualifies for English *public* school in Quebec.
And as noted by the stars, this only applies to public (free) schools in Quebec. If you want to go to English private school in Quebec, no such restrictions apply.
Latin is an excellent language to help prepare you for the English vocabulary on the SAT and ACT. Many of our words have latin roots and having taken 4 years of latin meant that if I did not know the definition of a word, I could often guess it from its roots. Greek can also help. That said one can also take an etymology course, but not many are offered.
There are lots of European languages that contain Latin root words. And those same words have crept into other languages as well.
Italian, Spanish, French, English, Romanian, and so on.
In my experience, the majority of students take the bare minimum of high school foreign language credits necessary for college admission, and then promptly forget all that they have learned, unless their family or friends speak the language.
This is unfortunate, since learning any foreign language exercises several of the brain's muscles. Learning new vocabulary words makes heavy use of the temporal lobe; intuitively speaking with the new language's grammar utilizes Broca's area; pronouncing new sounds is a motor cortex-intensive activity.
As posters here have said, many English words also derive from Latin or Greek terms. The Latin terms are preserved in modern Spanish, French, Italian, etc.; for example, "manual", "manumission", etc. have the same root as "mano" or "main".
ok I get Chinese is hard, but so is german. In the business world, both the latter will be more important than german or French in terms of business. Sure in the ideal world, you know every language out there.
I haven't looked at everyone's responses yet but my guess is that it's easier to get a better paying job than teacher if you know Chinese so there aren't enough teachers to teach it.
No English speaker needs to know a foreign language to do business, as English is the standard language of business. When the Germans do business with the Chinese, or the French for that matter, they all speak English.
It is a good skill, however, and the ability to converse or read literature in a foreign language makes one a more well rounded person. I believe more students in the US learn Spanish than any other language. Chinese is growing in popularity but it's a fad.
Leaning a different language is only useful for tourists traveling abroad. English is the language of commerce.
I haven't looked at everyone's responses yet but my guess is that it's easier to get a better paying job than teacher if you know Chinese so there aren't enough teachers to teach it.
I'm sorry, this is a pet peeve of mine. There is no such language as Chinese. It's like saying "I speak American." The two most popular languages spoken in China are Mandarin and Cantonese. If you're planning on doing business in China, learn Mandarin (and it is the most common "Chinese" language taught in the US), but know that most of the people in Hong Kong (where a lot of business in China happens) speak Cantonese, as well as certain large parts of China.
difficult not impossible. the tones are hard to get after childhood. this was conveyed to me by a native chinese friend, but hey what do i know, u speak fluent chinese right? and never had any problem at all with speech and comprehension and pitch?, ? and you didnt learn til you were much older??
My sister is a Mandarin linguist for the US Government, she took her first Mandarin class in college.
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