Reply to Why are Americans so against speaking multiple languages?

Forum Index » Political Discussion

Reply to "Why are Americans so against speaking multiple languages?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

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

Insecurity is a huge part of it. With some limited exceptions (e.g. ES language immersion) we don’t start language instruction until MS. That’s too late for most unless you are really dedicated to learn.  We lived in a European country where kids were learning English starting at kindergarten.  As a result, most teens/young adults could speak English pretty well, and often another language too.

I think some in the US feel threatened now because Spanish fluency is desired for a lot of jobs, but again we don’t prioritize teaching native English speakers.  So there is this perception that Spanish-speaking immigrants are “stealing” the jobs.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics