I’m Sorry But I Don’t Speak That Language by Emma Coleman

Language is our bond. It defines and connects us. Its absence isolates us. Imagine traveling in a foreign country and not understanding a word of the language being spoken. How cold, how secluded, does that feel?

The United States is a living, breathing human that needs to communicate with other countries to thrive and survive. If our people don’t learn other languages, we will be separated from the world. We will not thrive and survive.

The United States is at a deficit in many academic aspects. Foreign language happens to be one of them. Learning a foreign language brings us closer to other cultures. Our nation must build cross-cultural bridges by improving our foreign language programs. Ensuring bilingual proficiency and enabling multilingual knowledge will build these bridges.

My perspective on foreign language has been built by my experiences growing up. I like to walk around my neighborhood and interact with the people around me. I like to help people and I like to connect with people that come from different backgrounds than I. What if I can’t communicate with the people around me? What then? Spanish is often spoken in my neighborhood but I don’t speak it. I am shut out of my connection with Spanish-speaking people who are close to a majority where I live. It is important for us to break that barrier and meet them halfway.

My father, a fluent Spanish speaker, says, “I take pride in being able to speak with native Spanish speakers. Had I had my way, I’d speak every language. Communication is the true passport to all cultures.”

My personal embarrassment has a lot to do with my stance on this topic. When I don’t understand the language being spoken around me, I feel I’m at a huge disadvantage. I feel inadequate when I think about the fact that I can hear fifty different languages when I’m in New York City, and yet I can only communicate in English. Recently, I was in French Canada for the women’s World Cup semifinals. I enjoyed Montreal and Quebec so much, but felt the embarrassment that came from not being able to speak in their language. It wasn’t just about not being able to speak French, though. It was a constant reminder that I didn’t know any other language besides English.

Academic studies show that learning a second language strongly reinforces reading ability, native language literacy, social studies, and math. Children learning a second language excel academically when compared to students who aren’t learning one. So why not fix this flawed system?

The severe lack of emphasis the United States has on the foreign language program starts with our approach. In the South Huntington School District, students are not required to start learning a second language until the age of 11. In sixth grade, we learn a little bit of Spanish, French, and Italian; Spumoni for the masses. It tastes sweet and has a lot of nice colors, but doesn’t satisfy the need for a hardy linguistic meal. In seventh grade, we pick the language of our choice and are required to take it for just four years. In those years, we learn a second language that isn’t proficient or effective. We are taught vocabulary and grammar out of a textbook for forty-five minutes a day.

It’s proven that the best way to learn a language is to be interactive with it and not learn it out of a textbook. In Europe, kids start learning a second language from the ages of four to nine. In most European countries, students are required to learn more than one foreign language. Fifty-three percent of people in Europe report being able to speak another language fluently. Only eighteen percent of Americans report this ability.

I propose a system in which we start learning Spanish at the age of five. Spanish, being the second most widely spoken language in the Unites States, is the most practical language to choose as our second national language. Young kids have the cognitive abilities to easily learn and maintain a second language. If we wait until high school, we waste our best opportunity to learn the language because language learning is an ability that fades as kids get older. Furthermore, early foreign language study gives children “unique insight” into other cultures. It builds bridges to knowledge and awareness of other cultures. Spanish would be a required course all the way through high school and recommended in college. Other foreign languages would start to be offered in middle school.

I’ve heard complaints about my proposition. “Why should we learn another language?” “Spanish speakers should learn English, not the other way around!” The obvious benefits of learning Spanish as a second language outweighs these opposing opinions. Fixing our foreign language programs is a necessity and cannot be done if we take into account every single objection.

If you cannot see, if you cannot acknowledge, that a foreign language is incredibly important to an individual’s education, then I failed to do my job. The simple truth is that the deficit we have created for ourselves can be easily fixed. Learning at least one other language moves us down the road to connecting with all cultures.