Should students...?

[woody92]

I think that students should be made to learn at least one foreign language because with learning another language (most) students gain intrest in the culture behind that language. I think cultures are important to the world because if we all had the same culture it would be boring.
I speak english and spanish.

What do you think on students be made to learn at least one foreign language? If you speak any other languages what ones do you speak?

[laurita_21]

I think it is really usefull for kids to get to learn other languages. My latin tutor told me that learning another language can also help you get into college (or something like that?)..so im learning 2 other languages right now.
I speak fluent english and spanish. Im learning latin and french :D

[woody92]

I speak fluent english and spainsh too but i cant spell that well in english i am much better in spainsh lol (I am English but I live in spain hence why i speak both english and spanish lol)

[JackOfClubs]

I do think that students should learn at least one extra language. It is very useful in the business world, no matter the job. It also opens you up to new cultures, and allows you to be more accepting of others.

[Perseus]

To graduate highschool where I live, you need to have two years of a foreign language. not fluent, but it is enough to get you by. Most colleges look for two to three years in a foreign langauge.
I'm in French III at my highschool because I really like the French way of life and their langauge. I plan on taking German one point in my highschool life, as well.
Spanish, I don't care for.

[Sage]

I think learning a second language is a valuable skill but you shouldn't be required to do so. It's like a cooking class- Yes, cooking is a valuable skill that'll help you in life (perhaps even moreso than a language!) but you cannot expect it to be required.

[ShatteredWings]

My highschool, two years of a language used to be mandatory unless you went to the vocational school (no electives if you do)

Now it's not. I think it should be though

[INFERNO]

I agree with everyone in that it's a valuable asset to have. I think that highschools should offer at least two foreign languages and the student takes one of the two. This is both to increase one's chances of looking good on the transcript but also to expand one's cultural knowledge and appreciation so they aren't as boxed into their cultural language.

[Antares]

Yes!
We are a global society. We need to be able to interact with other people on the planet because chances are you will come across someone that doesn't speak the same language as you

[cherry_boi]

i agree....

this is the case in canada---we have to take french up until gr 9. then it is optional to continue....they offered german and spanish at my school too, i think they shud include chinese, japanese, and Italian in there aswell

[Sage]

Just because something is a good skill doesn't mean everyone should be forced to get it. Whether you like it or not, there will be people, who, though successful, may really have no use for a second language in their life.

[ShatteredWings]

i agree....

this is the case in canada---we have to take french up until gr 9.
French is an official language of Canada....

Don't french-speaking canadians have to learn english fluently? If yes, then why don't you have to learn french fluently?

[woody92]

i agree....

this is the case in canada---we have to take french up until gr 9. then it is optional to continue....they offered german and spanish at my school too, i think they shud include chinese, japanese, and Italian in there aswell

I think chinese and Japanese are a bit too complicated and I dont think you could find many teachers who could teach it (unless from China or Japan). But your right it should be offered

[Sage]

I think chinese and Japanese are a bit too complicated

You've no idea how complex English is if it isn't your first language. Example:

Patio and ratio. Pattio and rayshio. Explain the two are pronounced differently to someone with no knowledge of English.

[woody92]

Just because something is a good skill doesn't mean everyone should be forced to get it. Whether you like it or not, there will be people, who, though successful, may really have no use for a second language in their life.

In my ominion EVERYONE has a use for another language.

You've no idea how complex English is if it isn't your first language. Example:

Patio and ratio. Pattio and rayshio. Explain the two are pronounced differently to someone with no knowledge of English.

I know exactly how it feels to learn another language. I spak spanish and english so I know any language is difficult. But with Chinese and Japanese you have to learn symbols etc, and 1 symbol can have about 10 or 20 different meanings, but the letter "A" only has 1 meaning and thats "A" lol.
I came to spain 5 years ago and I had to learn the language FAST! And now I am better in Spanish than my own language. lol

[Sage]

In my ominion EVERYONE has a use for another language.

The problem with making a statement that applies to all human behavior is that it is almost never true. Thanks for playing though.

I know exactly how it feels to learn another language. I spak spanish and english so I know any language is difficult.

No, you don't. Spanish has a lot of very similar words to English, it's mostly a difference in grammar and some different words. This is since English and Spanish both have roots in Latin from the time of the Roman Empire. English greatly derives from a mix of both Latin and Germanic/Norse languages.

[MoveAlong]

I am learning Spanish. I want to learn another, such as French, German, Italian, and/or American Sign Language.

I think everyone should learn another language. You understand language more, you can converse with more people, you understand more about diversity with the culture lessons, it's better for jobs, and it can help you learn new ways of learning.

Now the downside are not enough time to learn it, you may forget it, you may not use it, if everybody knows another language then learning a new language doesn't make what you talk about as discreet, a person who is bilingual in a bilingual world doesn't stand out as much and has to overachieve even more in order to stand out, and some other reasons that I don't want to take the time to come up with.

[Perseus]

I know exactly how it feels to learn another language. I spak spanish and english so I know any language is difficult. But with Chinese and Japanese you have to learn symbols etc, and 1 symbol can have about 10 or 20 different meanings, but the letter "A" only has 1 meaning and thats "A" lol.
I came to spain 5 years ago and I had to learn the language FAST! And now I am better in Spanish than my own language. lol

You can write Chinese and Japanese and other Asian langauges in the English alphabet. And in all hoensty, it doesn't seem that hard to learn Japanese and Chinese because they annuciate their words.
Learning symbols, yes, it would be very difficult. But it gives you something to work for.

[ShatteredWings]

I know exactly how it feels to learn another language.
No, you don't.
You're kidding me right?

You're gonna have the nerve to tell someone what they've done and how they feel?....

Spanish has a lot of very similar words to English, it's mostly a difference in grammar and some different words. This is since English and Spanish both have roots in Latin from the time of the Roman Empire. English greatly derives from a mix of both Latin and Germanic/Norse languages.

Romance languages and Germanic languages have few words with the same root that mean the same thing, and even fewer cognates (words that mean the same in both). For the reasons you just stated.

Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French...i think there's one more) are based off Latin

Germanic languages (German, English, Finish...I'm not going to knock my brain to think of a few others) have some latin roots, but are based of the old Norse languages. There are words that are similar, but not close enough to be easily learned/understood.

You're thinking switching between English and German, or French and Spanish. Spanish to English isn't going to be as easy as you're trying to imply

You can write Chinese and Japanese and other Asian langauges in the English alphabet.
With Chinese it's pointless to. Each vowel sound has five(?) different tone inflections, and each one has an accent mark to denote it when writing in our Latin alphabet...

[karl]

You forgot Catalan as a Romance language, and also Romanian

[ShatteredWings]

Thank you :D

[woody92]

List of Germanic languages HERE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_language#Contemporary)
List of Romance languages HERE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages)
Languages of Europe HERE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indo-European_languages)

Basicly what I am trying to say is ALL languages are a benifit to everyone no matter what language it is the know/learn IT all helps in the work place, in the counrty its self, on the phone to someone from that counry.... It all helps

[INFERNO]

No, you don't.

Your assertion would have some merit if Woody was making a claim that he learnt a language unrelated to others. Unfortunately for you, he wasn't. He said he knows what it is like you learn another language and you come along and say he doesn't have that experience. That is an extremely arrogant statement to say. If you told me that you had a hard time learning, say math, and I said "no you didn't", do I have any evidence or argument whatsoever? Absolutely not. To think I would is to be asinine and putting myself on a high horse, so let's cut through this horseshit and get off the high horse.

I think chinese and Japanese are a bit too complicated and I dont think you could find many teachers who could teach it (unless from China or Japan). But your right it should be offered

Some highschools may not offer it but many colleges and universities do. Hence, many educational institutions do teach it, perhaps not a certain group of these institutions but other institutions do.

You can write Chinese and Japanese and other Asian langauges in the English alphabet

"Studies carried out in China have shown that full literacy requires a knowledge of between three and four thousand characters... A dictionary produced in the eleventh century contained more than fifty-three thousand characters." CLICKY CLICK HERE #1 (http://www.asiasociety.org/education-learning/world-languages/chinese-language-initiatives/chinese-writing)

So how can your assertion be feasible? The English alphabet has 26 characters and you want to somehow have 3,000 to 4,000 characters somehow written in only 26 characters? Explain how that wouldn't turn the Chinese language into garble.

In the Japanese alphabet, the Hiragana has 48 characters and the katakana and kana have their own numbers. CLICKY CLICK HERE #2 (http://www.linguanaut.com/japanese_alphabet.htm). So once again, you wish to combine minimum of 48 symbols into 26?

As you can see, it would turn the languages into garble.

[Perseus]

"Studies carried out in China have shown that full literacy requires a knowledge of between three and four thousand characters... A dictionary produced in the eleventh century contained more than fifty-three thousand characters." CLICKY CLICK HERE #1 (http://www.asiasociety.org/education-learning/world-languages/chinese-language-initiatives/chinese-writing)

So how can your assertion be feasible? The English alphabet has 26 characters and you want to somehow have 3,000 to 4,000 characters somehow written in only 26 characters? Explain how that wouldn't turn the Chinese language into garble.

In the Japanese alphabet, the Hiragana has 48 characters and the katakana and kana have their own numbers. CLICKY CLICK HERE #2 (http://www.linguanaut.com/japanese_alphabet.htm). So once again, you wish to combine minimum of 48 symbols into 26?

As you can see, it would turn the languages into garble.

No, you write out the sounds, is what I'm saying. When I was in seventh grade, we were learning about China in my social studies class, and my language arts teacher, who lived in China for a couple of years, said that is one way you can write out Chinese. I forgot what it is called, though.

[scuba steve]

the way it has been worded "made to learn" is why i chose no. i don't think any student should be made to take a subject that is generally unimportant compared to the likes of Maths, Science and English in the more advanced levels; but i think it would be wise for schools to encourage them to take the course along with a more advanced method of teaching it for the general numbers of Comprehensive schools. I think this is because i was "tought" French for my first 3 years at secondary school and it was HELL the teachers where all ligitimate arseholes (and i'm not just saying this on a student - teacher way of speaking, the staff aren't too fond of them either) they weren't very good teachers overall using very bland teaching methods worse than the average maths teacher and where always bloody shouting.... it seems that the sterotype of foreign language teachers in Britain are all twats

[Rebecca L Vaughn]

Yes because in most places you need one or two credits to graduate high school, and at most colleges it take 3 credits.

[quartermaster]

I believe we should get our own educational system(s) in order, at least in regards to the United States, before we begin to "force" students to learn another language. I believe knowing another language, certainly widely used language, is very useful in today's society. However, I believe that we should get our own "house in order," as it were, before we begin to stress foreign language. Public schools need to raise reading, writing and math levels, above all, before foreign language should even be a thought in the school system, in my honest opinion.

I believe that by stressing foreign language, while our own public school standards are so low, we are merely squandering resources that could otherwise be used to raise our standards. Our public school systems need to be overhauled and I contend that the first stage of that overhaul should be focused on raising the standards of our school systems in regards to core subject areas; when that first "wave" of reform is done, I believe secondary phases should be brought in that focus on foreign language and the arts, respectively.

Edit: I should emphasize that I am against forcing students to learn a foreign language even after such a "reformation" of the public school systems, as I spoke of above; I believe the option should be there (insofar as the core areas are adequately dealt with), but no student should have to learn to speak another language.

[2D]

In all honestly if someone doesn't want to learn something you can't force it on them. I think everyone should learn another language but it's their choice. I had my choice, I took two years of spanish and I dubbed that class my nap class. I learned nothing and passed with b's both years. I would love to learn another language but I can't currently. I have to be immersed and forced to learn it, in 3 weeks in China I learned more Chinese than I learned Spanish over the course of a semester.

So, to answer the original question. No. I do not think students should be forced to learn another language, simply because if they don't want to they won't. I think they should be given every opportunity though.

[quartermaster]

delete

[mrmcdonaldduck]

I dont think that student should be forced to take a langauge all the way to graduation, maybe until year 10 then drop it or take it if you want.