Benefit of being bilingual

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both American (going back generations) but I was a Spanish major in college and somehow convinced DH to raise our kids bilingual in Spanish and English. They only speak Spanish with me and English with DH. And they attend a Spanish language school which, upon graduation, will confer the equivalent of a high school diploma such that they could attend university in much of Latin American. I’ve never thought about this from a college applicant perspective (they will go to college in the states) but as my oldest is starting high school next year, I’m now curious.

Pretty much zilch. I know a LOT of bilingual kids, nearly all having at least one parent, maybe both, who are native speakers and it has made ZILCH difference in their college admissions. In fact, in the most recent group, a mix of legacies and not, had kids dinged at T10, T20 schools. All the parents are college educated, nearly all of them have post grad degrees, academic and professional. Perhaps, as another poster mentioned, if your kids were first gen then someone would care, but not when the kid is growing up in a home with highly educated parents (which still means a BA in the US).

+ 1. In how many white collar professions out there is being multilingual an advantage, especially in the US? I understand that you may go into banking and a job in Zurich may be easier to get if you knew French/German/Swiss. But thousands of grads get jobs in Zurich, learn the local languages over time and are perfectly successful.

I really don't get college's obsession with 4 years of a language that 99% of the kids are likely never going to use. Most can't even hold a basic conversation even after AP! Why not teach language speaking skills, along the lines of what you learn through duolingo or other instead of grammar and all the boring nonsense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it matters much. And it will matter even less as time goes on and things like Google Translate make it even easier to communicate with others in a different language.

Also, there are tons of bilingual/multilingual kids in this country and around the world.

Technologies like Google Translate are wonderful for enabling extremely basic, practical communication. They don’t help much, for example, with getting the host’s joke at a party with 50 people talking and loud music playing. Or with being able to form relationships with people you meet while traveling. Or with being able to socialize generally with non-English speakers.

I’m always surprised at people for whom the value of not sticking out as the monolingual foreigner is not obvious. It’s like the idea that it might be worthwhile to fit in socially in a non-English environment doesn’t even occur to them. This is not just about language - it’s about behavioral norms and being respectful. I’ve been in situations where my language skills were primitive, but I accomplished much more than other Americans just by listening, watching how people behaved, and working hard to not be rude. Google translate will never help with this stuff.

This is likely an unconscious elitist view. If you are White, doesn't matter where you go, people treat you well, try to talk to you in your language, assume you are rich, etc. If you are Brown or Black, doesn't matter how many languages you know (unless maybe if it's your home country) or how much money you have, you are a second-class tourist.

Also, you can't really be fluent in the languages of all the countries you plan on traveling to, unless of course, you will only travel to Spanish (or the language you are fluent in) speaking countries.. No way it's going to help you in France or China or Japan.

What an odd statement. It seems to reflect the colossal ignorance of the monolingual cloaked with a dash of “check your privilege” virtue signaling.

I’m white, speak 5 languages and have lived all over the world. People ABSOLUTELY bring a huge number of - largely correct - biases to interactions with me because I am a wealthy, white, foreigner. They are right to do so. But, they are also willing and able to socialize with me, invite me to their parties, ask me to babysit their kids, ask me to translate for them in their interactions with US government agencies, etc. because I speak their language. None of this happens when I travel in places where I don’t speak the language. Having to get by on English and German in Hungary, for example, sucks — precisely because I don’t have those kinds of deeper interactions. That’s the entire point I’m making.

On a different level —- being able to speak Arabic in East Jerusalem helps me interact with Palestinians there, even if they don’t like, trust or particularly want me there. Of course, I am very privileged in things like my interactions with Israeli police by virtue of being a foreigner who speaks Hebrew. Of course I’m treated differently than a Palestinian would be - it would be idiotic to deny that privilege. But speaking Arabic does let me interact with people in ways that I never could before I learned it, even when I lived full time a mile away in West Jerusalem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it matters much. And it will matter even less as time goes on and things like Google Translate make it even easier to communicate with others in a different language.

Also, there are tons of bilingual/multilingual kids in this country and around the world.

Technologies like Google Translate are wonderful for enabling extremely basic, practical communication. They don’t help much, for example, with getting the host’s joke at a party with 50 people talking and loud music playing. Or with being able to form relationships with people you meet while traveling. Or with being able to socialize generally with non-English speakers.

I’m always surprised at people for whom the value of not sticking out as the monolingual foreigner is not obvious. It’s like the idea that it might be worthwhile to fit in socially in a non-English environment doesn’t even occur to them. This is not just about language - it’s about behavioral norms and being respectful. I’ve been in situations where my language skills were primitive, but I accomplished much more than other Americans just by listening, watching how people behaved, and working hard to not be rude. Google translate will never help with this stuff.

This is likely an unconscious elitist view. If you are White, doesn't matter where you go, people treat you well, try to talk to you in your language, assume you are rich, etc. If you are Brown or Black, doesn't matter how many languages you know (unless maybe if it's your home country) or how much money you have, you are a second-class tourist.

Also, you can't really be fluent in the languages of all the countries you plan on traveling to, unless of course, you will only travel to Spanish (or the language you are fluent in) speaking countries.. No way it's going to help you in France or China or Japan.

What an odd statement. It seems to reflect the colossal ignorance of the monolingual cloaked with a dash of “check your privilege” virtue signaling.

I’m white, speak 5 languages and have lived all over the world. People ABSOLUTELY bring a huge number of - largely correct - biases to interactions with me because I am a wealthy, white, foreigner. They are right to do so. But, they are also willing and able to socialize with me, invite me to their parties, ask me to babysit their kids, ask me to translate for them in their interactions with US government agencies, etc. because I speak their language. None of this happens when I travel in places where I don’t speak the language. Having to get by on English and German in Hungary, for example, sucks — precisely because I don’t have those kinds of deeper interactions. That’s the entire point I’m making.

On a different level —- being able to speak Arabic in East Jerusalem helps me interact with Palestinians there, even if they don’t like, trust or particularly want me there. Of course, I am very privileged in things like my interactions with Israeli police by virtue of being a foreigner who speaks Hebrew. Of course I’m treated differently than a Palestinian would be - it would be idiotic to deny that privilege. But speaking Arabic does let me interact with people in ways that I never could before I learned it, even when I lived full time a mile away in West Jerusalem.

Typical response.. those "monolinguals" Do you have a job, or just travel and sit around foreign countries because you have too much money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it matters much. And it will matter even less as time goes on and things like Google Translate make it even easier to communicate with others in a different language.

Also, there are tons of bilingual/multilingual kids in this country and around the world.

Technologies like Google Translate are wonderful for enabling extremely basic, practical communication. They don’t help much, for example, with getting the host’s joke at a party with 50 people talking and loud music playing. Or with being able to form relationships with people you meet while traveling. Or with being able to socialize generally with non-English speakers.

I’m always surprised at people for whom the value of not sticking out as the monolingual foreigner is not obvious. It’s like the idea that it might be worthwhile to fit in socially in a non-English environment doesn’t even occur to them. This is not just about language - it’s about behavioral norms and being respectful. I’ve been in situations where my language skills were primitive, but I accomplished much more than other Americans just by listening, watching how people behaved, and working hard to not be rude. Google translate will never help with this stuff.

This is likely an unconscious elitist view. If you are White, doesn't matter where you go, people treat you well, try to talk to you in your language, assume you are rich, etc. If you are Brown or Black, doesn't matter how many languages you know (unless maybe if it's your home country) or how much money you have, you are a second-class tourist.

Also, you can't really be fluent in the languages of all the countries you plan on traveling to, unless of course, you will only travel to Spanish (or the language you are fluent in) speaking countries.. No way it's going to help you in France or China or Japan.

You must have remarkably little experience outside the US if you believe being white automatically makes you privileged everywhere on earth relatively to "black or brown."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it matters much. And it will matter even less as time goes on and things like Google Translate make it even easier to communicate with others in a different language.

Also, there are tons of bilingual/multilingual kids in this country and around the world.

Technologies like Google Translate are wonderful for enabling extremely basic, practical communication. They don’t help much, for example, with getting the host’s joke at a party with 50 people talking and loud music playing. Or with being able to form relationships with people you meet while traveling. Or with being able to socialize generally with non-English speakers.

I’m always surprised at people for whom the value of not sticking out as the monolingual foreigner is not obvious. It’s like the idea that it might be worthwhile to fit in socially in a non-English environment doesn’t even occur to them. This is not just about language - it’s about behavioral norms and being respectful. I’ve been in situations where my language skills were primitive, but I accomplished much more than other Americans just by listening, watching how people behaved, and working hard to not be rude. Google translate will never help with this stuff.

This is likely an unconscious elitist view. If you are White, doesn't matter where you go, people treat you well, try to talk to you in your language, assume you are rich, etc. If you are Brown or Black, doesn't matter how many languages you know (unless maybe if it's your home country) or how much money you have, you are a second-class tourist.

Also, you can't really be fluent in the languages of all the countries you plan on traveling to, unless of course, you will only travel to Spanish (or the language you are fluent in) speaking countries.. No way it's going to help you in France or China or Japan.

You must have remarkably little experience outside the US if you believe being white automatically makes you privileged everywhere on earth relatively to "black or brown."

I AM from outside the US and have traveled extensively. Growing up, I saw how foul smelling white clowns were treated relative to rich students from Africa. Read up/watch all the travelogues of black people in South Korea, Japan and China. Get out of YOUR bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both American (going back generations) but I was a Spanish major in college and somehow convinced DH to raise our kids bilingual in Spanish and English. They only speak Spanish with me and English with DH. And they attend a Spanish language school which, upon graduation, will confer the equivalent of a high school diploma such that they could attend university in much of Latin American. I’ve never thought about this from a college applicant perspective (they will go to college in the states) but as my oldest is starting high school next year, I’m now curious.

Pretty much zilch. I know a LOT of bilingual kids, nearly all having at least one parent, maybe both, who are native speakers and it has made ZILCH difference in their college admissions. In fact, in the most recent group, a mix of legacies and not, had kids dinged at T10, T20 schools. All the parents are college educated, nearly all of them have post grad degrees, academic and professional. Perhaps, as another poster mentioned, if your kids were first gen then someone would care, but not when the kid is growing up in a home with highly educated parents (which still means a BA in the US).

+ 1. In how many white collar professions out there is being multilingual an advantage, especially in the US? I understand that you may go into banking and a job in Zurich may be easier to get if you knew French/German/Swiss. But thousands of grads get jobs in Zurich, learn the local languages over time and are perfectly successful.

I really don't get college's obsession with 4 years of a language that 99% of the kids are likely never going to use. Most can't even hold a basic conversation even after AP! Why not teach language speaking skills, along the lines of what you learn through duolingo or other instead of grammar and all the boring nonsense?

Reading this forum, you learn that no top college will accept your child if they don't have 4 years of a language in high school. From reading this thread, being bilingual in a language has no impact on gaining admission to a top school.

So what is the point of taking 4 years of a language in high school as opposed to doubling up on science classes or other academic classes?