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What angers me is that my son's school sends notices home that are sometimes printed ONLY in spanish! The rest of the time, one side is printed in English, the other in Spanish.
There are plenty of ESL classes here in the AZ public school system........How about spending some of that money for SSL courses for the US citizens here?
That is a great idea. Our kids need to be learning Spanish and/or Mandarin Chinese if they want to be competitive when they grow up.
If this were 1890, I'd agree with you. The British Empire laid down the foundation for the prevalence of the English language across the globe. However, it was the US' post-WWII economic dominance which solidified English as the language of international business.
They're both true. Three of the G-7 are English speaking nations (US, UK, Canada). Although India is a nation of many languages, English is the unifying tongue there and they have a lot of people and lots of economic potential.
No doubt that the UK and the USA have both dominated pop culture and communications for the last century and continue to do so. Elvis or the Beatles, Jude Law or Sean Penn, that inspires people to learn English.
That is a great idea. Our kids need to be learning Spanish and/or Mandarin Chinese if they want to be competitive when they grow up.
YES YES YES....finally some people making sense around here.
My kids will be learning English, Español and Mandarin Chinese. I know 2/3 and I am working on my Mandarin.
25% of the worlds population speaks Mandarin Chinese.
The days of Americans only learning 1 language are numbered.
English,and German for my kids, well two already know them. No Chinese for us, I have never even heard anyone outside china and the movies and china town speak it. Well my oldest is also learning Japanese, in case he moves there after graduation for work, he already knows German for his work as well.
I admire those of you who intend to have your kids learn a second language. However, too many times in my life I have head people who are going to "learn Chinese".
Now, this is not impossible. But it would take a superhuman effort to achieve even a modicum of success. A friend of mine who is no dummie (knew Spanish and German) studied it here and then went there to take immersion courses and live and work for years. YEARS! At the end of the day, he had a modest understanding of it. He could order food, flirt and shoot the bull on a basic level.
With the exception of Spanish, you have to go to the source to really learn any language. I wish all of you luck, but know what the goal entails.
The days of Americans only learning 1 language are numbered.
I wish I could agree with you. As someone who works in higher education, let me assure you that the resistance to foreign language learning remains vigorous.
I wish I could agree with you. As someone who works in higher education, let me assure you that the resistance to foreign language learning remains vigorous.
I admire those of you who intend to have your kids learn a second language. However, too many times in my life I have head people who are going to "learn Chinese".
Now, this is not impossible. But it would take a superhuman effort to achieve even a modicum of success. A friend of mine who is no dummie (knew Spanish and German) studied it here and then went there to take immersion courses and live and work for years. YEARS! At the end of the day, he had a modest understanding of it. He could order food, flirt and shoot the bull on a basic level.
With the exception of Spanish, you have to go to the source to really learn any language. I wish all of you luck, but know what the goal entails.
There are many mandarin immersion programs here in the Bay Area, mainly due to the amount of Chinese. Los Gatos school system is the best .
I admire those of you who intend to have your kids learn a second language. However, too many times in my life I have head people who are going to "learn Chinese".
Now, this is not impossible. But it would take a superhuman effort to achieve even a modicum of success. A friend of mine who is no dummie (knew Spanish and German) studied it here and then went there to take immersion courses and live and work for years. YEARS! At the end of the day, he had a modest understanding of it. He could order food, flirt and shoot the bull on a basic level.
With the exception of Spanish, you have to go to the source to really learn any language. I wish all of you luck, but know what the goal entails.
So true, German was hard but I got it, but then again that is my grandparents native tongue so I heard it alot at home. My son knows German, and now Japanese, studies like mad, but it is a seriously hard language.
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