Learning languages connects us with the rest of the world and should be made more important in the schooling system. In an underfunded system however, it is put on the back burner. But we need to start quick and start young.
America is a bit secluded from the rest of the world in that learning another language isn’t as important because the presence of such languages may be limited. But America is also the melting pot and what better way to immerse into the different cultures surrounding us than to learn about their language.
While our children are young we need to help them develop this skill. More than just teaching them their native tongue another language should be taught. Not only does learning a second language at such a young age increase your likeness to speak it fluently but also makes learning a third language even easier.
It is easier said than done because budgets are tight and foreign language isn’t made a top priority, but we can work toward doing better. America has had the critique of being in a bubble, everyone else sees us and knows our culture more than we know theirs.
First we need to reevaluate how we measure learning new languages and maybe put it on the same turf as main core classes. Language is a chance to open our understandings and become more knowledgeable about our world.
Classes should start in pre-school. Start young and work with the children helping them understand the importance of knowing another language. Some schools already have this, private institutions or charter schools, but we need to make it more widespread.
As of right now, many language classes are administered online and as a previous student, I cannot recall any of the French I “learned” in high school and have since relearned it properly, in the classroom with a real teacher. Languages are hard to learn alone and need to be closely facilitated, something difficult in the cyber-sphere.
We need to embrace being the melting pot and encourage the teaching of other languages and cultures as it promotes equality. This will be hard because a lot of us right now only have English under our belt and when teaching our children we will want to incorporate another language. But you cannot leach the job on to teachers, you also must help build your child’s understanding of another language while also building your own. It will not be easy, but it is 100 percent worth it.
Language is music, different genres, Germanic or Italo-Dalmatian, with different beats and chords, all unique in some way like separate keys to the universe.
