Coming from Europe, I am used to hearing a lot of different languages around me. I live in the Netherlands near the German border. A lot of people go on vacation to countries like Spain, Italy and France. I suppose it is therefore, also not very strange that many Europeans speak more languages than just the one.
Because English is such a globalized language, most people learn this one as their secondary languages. So did I. Apart from English, I was also taught both German and French in high school.
Usually, the basic touristy sentences are “How do I get to …”, or, another favorite, “could you say that slower” are the only ones that stick. Especially when you’re in high school, you often feel like you have more important stuff to do than revising grammar rules of a language that you don’t really care about anyway.
It is a shame though. Once you get out of high school, you realize you could actually put those different languages to use. However, I would have liked it if there was a more diverse selection offered at my high school instead of just German and French. Don’t get me wrong, they are nice languages. For myself however, I think I would much rather like to learn to speak fluent Italian, as I have family living there who don’t speak Dutch.
I was pretty curious how Americans think about this topic, since English is a language that already gets you pretty far nowadays.
I found that a lot of American students I spoke to would like to speak Spanish. This isn’t that surprising. Mikayla Brewer agreed with this general opinion. “I do know a bit of Spanish, but I don’t speak it fluently,” Brewer said. “I would like to, though. I feel like learning Spanish is a smart move in America since a big part of the people in America speak it.”
“Actually,” Brewer admits, “I would love to just know every language. I know it’s not possible but … wouldn’t it be great if we could just communicate with everyone? Through like a universal language?”
Megan Lawson, a junior, doesn’t want to learn a new language just because a lot of other people around her speak it. Instead, she likes it to be a challenge. “I want to learn something like Turkish or Russian. Something that just sounds intimidating or is really difficult to learn,” Lawson said.
There is something to say for both of these viewpoints. I say, don’t be afraid to go out there and try something new. Learn a different language, visit a strange country; it will only add on to your experience.
