Why Learn a Foreign Language?
"Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages."
– Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist for The Miami Herald (1983 to 2005)
Many people in the US still believe that learning a foreign language is a waste of time. After all, doesn′t everyone else around the world learn English?
I am afraid that is not the case.
Not only that. Even if you expect others to speak English when you travel, or when they visit the US, you are still at a disadvantage. Why? Because by being monolingual (that is, by speaking only one language) you are always dependent on the English language skills of others, and on their ability -- and sometimes willingness -- to translate correctly for you.
Learning a foreign language is beneficial to your brain. It stimulates your memory centers (remember that schools in the US today have almost eliminated memorization exercises), it promotes your ability to multitask, it keeps you healthier, and it improves your attention.
Students who take four years or more of a foreign language tend to obtain better results in school than their monolingual classmates. Also, polyglots (people who speak several languages) can expect a salary 20% higher than employees who only speak one language.
Another important point is that the children of bilingual couples tend to memorize much better and to be more intelligent, adaptable, and resourceful.
In other countries, the importance of learning a foreign language has been understood for centuries. According to a survey conducted by Kaplan International Colleges, 97% of people who speak other languages declare that this makes their international travels and their ability to culturally adapt to their new surroundings much easier.
Globalization has thrown us all together, whether to go on vacation or to open new facilities overseas. But still, as Americans, we are lacking in multilingualism, and this is detrimental to our economy and our reputation abroad.
Today in Michigan, the automotive industry is hiring hundreds of engineers from other countries, who can successfully occupy leadership positions here in the state. How is this possible? Because they are bilingual, and even trilingual in some cases. There are executives from India who speak two or three of their own country languages, plus English, and are in the process of learning Spanish. Also, thousands of Latin Americans, and dozens of Europeans and Asians arrive in the US with an excellent command of the English language.
Can't we do the same?
By Monica Stevens, former political writer for the Examiner.com