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[quote=Anonymous][quote=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.  [/quote]

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.
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