Why are Americans so against speaking multiple languages?

[Anonymous]

Most Americans never leave the United States.. And, as the pp pointed out, are sports obsessed and for some reason don't prioritize learning at all, it's not just languages.

[Anonymous]

It's a schooling failure. Elementary age kids are sponges for new languages. But unfortunately, language instruction doesn't generally begin until high school when it's much more difficult to pick up a new language. And also, unlike elsewhere in the world, there isn't a pressing need for a second language to function in America so people are lazy and complacent.

[Anonymous]

Because English is the dominant language: easy to learn, with a rich vocabulary and extremely malleable.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think anyone thinks being able to speak multiple languages is a bad thing. I would love to be able to do this but I am bad at languages.

My only issue adjacent to this is that it is annoying af to go to a store and have the person helping you have no idea what you are trying to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is probably reacting to the common (not universal l American notion that speaking not-English is offensive, especially in USA.
Thee people feel insecure and threatened by their incompetence in the other language, and desperate to retain the privilege they inherited by being born native to the language of the wealthiest culture in the world.

It’s not even “common”; just a handful of loud bigots might say something like that when drunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have traveled to many countries and have always been impressed that the citizens in these countries could speak multiple languages fluently. The US is the only place I have ever been that the people are so stupid and think being fluent in multiple languages is a bad thing.

If we had to navigate multiple languages and cultures, we would be like Europe, so many little warring tribes. Also, from what I have seen many people who are "fluent" don't tend have much of deep understanding, usually pretty happy just to say "hi how are you, where is the bathroom", and can't navigate so much as discussion of the weather. I mean there are people who have lived here for ten years that are fluent in English that can't do that.

Sorry, I couldn't help it, "fluent" is a low bar. IMO, Americans tend to value standardization more than other countries; it's part of what makes America unique. America is otherwise a large, peaceful and prosperous place.

Even other large countries that appear homogenous don't enjoy the liberty that Americans have. For example: China is a large homogenous country, but their dialects are different enough that they have a difficult time understanding each other, and they seldom if ever travel between their states, not even on a road trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a schooling failure. Elementary age kids are sponges for new languages. But unfortunately, language instruction doesn't generally begin until high school when it's much more difficult to pick up a new language. And also, unlike elsewhere in the world, there isn't a pressing need for a second language to function in America so people are lazy and complacent.

This. In my district which is supposedly one of the best in the country foreign language instruction starts in 7th grade. Plus there is no need to ever use the language so it falls away.
In Europe countries are much smaller and share land borders, thus international travel is easier and there is more opportunity to hear/use another language. Imagine if New England, the South and the Midwest all spoke different languages -- we would be far more likely to learn and speak them all.
I can sort of speak Spanish but Spanish speakers here generally use English with me since they can speak it and don't need to put up with my crappy Spanish. So I don't get to practice speaking it though I can read it fluently.
My sister lives in Japan and English education starts in third grade there. Still most people can't speak English because they never use it. My niece pretends she can barely speak English when she's at school, though it's her mother tongue! She doesn't want to embarrass her teacher by being so much better at English.
So it's an accident of geography mainly and education secondly.

[Anonymous]

I speak several languages and so do most people on my street. It's normal for many Americans. I think you are thinking about specific Americans who have been here generations, are typically poorer, unable to travel and without access to good education. I will never understand people looking down on this segment of the population. Most people would love to learn a second languages. And as someone not from the US, I guarantee you that in many areas of the world, the same poor and rural populations are also monolingual unless the area is plurilingual by nature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Why do Americans…” makes it sound like a majority of Americans think this. I don’t believe that to be the case.

+1 I think the majority would’ve loved to be raised in a bilingual environment. But we don’t have that as part of our culture. Knowing another language isn’t needed to advance in our economy or the global economy.

[Anonymous]

They aren't against, they are learning foreign languages in school, but it's not sufficient to master another language. You need some immersion program. Also many Americans are from elsewhere and grow up in households speaking their native language. They do speak another language (or 2) in addition to English but this flies under a radar because it's not "active learning" , but simply growing up bi-lingual. Many American kids go to Europe or other countries for work-studies or semesters abroad and practice whatever foreign language they are learning.

I am not sure Americans compare unfavorably here to their European counterparts. Many Europeans only speak their own language and broken English the same way our kids speak broken Spanish or French they picked up at school. Traveling to Europe we deal with people who cater to tourists and must speak English, yet, not all of them speak it well enough to converse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have traveled to many countries and have always been impressed that the citizens in these countries could speak multiple languages fluently. The US is the only place I have ever been that the people are so stupid and think being fluent in multiple languages is a bad thing.

If we had to navigate multiple languages and cultures, we would be like Europe, so many little warring tribes. Also, from what I have seen many people who are "fluent" don't tend have much of deep understanding, usually pretty happy just to say "hi how are you, where is the bathroom", and can't navigate so much as discussion of the weather. I mean there are people who have lived here for ten years that are fluent in English that can't do that.

Sorry, I couldn't help it, "fluent" is a low bar. IMO, Americans tend to value standardization more than other countries; it's part of what makes America unique. America is otherwise a large, peaceful and prosperous place.

Even other large countries that appear homogenous don't enjoy the liberty that Americans have. For example: China is a large homogenous country, but their dialects are different enough that they have a difficult time understanding each other, and they seldom if ever travel between their states, not even on a road trip.

I have to agree. It's useful to speak more than one language in certain contexts, like when you travel. But having lived in Switzerland, which has 4 official languages, it's actually not really nice to deal with multiple languages. A lot of stuff gets lost in translation. In a global economy, i feels more of a drawback. I think English fluency would help Europe economically.

[Anonymous]

Because of racism, duh.

[Anonymous]

Some Americans but certainly not all Americans. Please don’t generalize

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have traveled to many countries and have always been impressed that the citizens in these countries could speak multiple languages fluently. The US is the only place I have ever been that the people are so stupid and think being fluent in multiple languages is a bad thing.

No one in US thinks that except of you. I have been living in the US for over 25 years. Literally no one thinks that if you are fluent in another language, you are stupid. Get out of your bubble.

[Anonymous]

I love learning language and wish there was an emphasis on bilingualism in the US. But I think the issue is that in many countries people learn a second language out of necessity. Educated people in majority of countries learn their native language and English because English is the global lingua franca. Americans simply don't have the same necessity.