Submitted by ASoloTrip90000 t3_117pots in dataisbeautiful
CrimsoniteX t1_j9dicc1 wrote
I just don’t see the point. (A) you already speak the most popular language in the world, better to learn to speak it well rather than learn a secondary language you will immediately lose due to lack of use. And (B) how do you even go about picking which secondary language to study? You could argue Spanish or French due to shared borders… but is a kid from Connecticut really more likely to go to Mexico than say, Italy? You could do it by popularity but that would be Mandarin followed by Hindi… unless you are going into international business - probably not going to serve you too well. Whats left other than learning for the novelty of it?
Edit: for clarity I am not saying there is no value in learning a second language, just that any given student would find more value deferring that learning until college where they can pick a language that better aligns with their field of study.
woowooman t1_j9ekeig wrote
I chose classical languages (Latin, Greek) for that reason. The practical applications of a random foreign language weren’t immensely clear, but the utility of classical languages was pretty huge in the sciences and as a backbone for future language learning.
seafoodboiler t1_j9dnn9t wrote
You're not considering the number of Spanish language speakers in the US, which is huge, about 41 million.
er15ss t1_j9enziz wrote
English is the 3rd most spoken language in the world.
The US didn't have an official language until recently - the 2000s.
There will be more Spanish speakers in the US than English by 2050.
It's easier to learn a language the younger you are. Age of acquisition was recently lowered to 10 after more studies were conducted. Learning a language after that age, especially as an adult, you will never develop true fluency.
ErieSpirit t1_j9et37p wrote
>The US didn't have an official language until recently - the 2000s.
As far as I know the US still does not have an official language.
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