The Importance Of Learning A Second Language

Why High School students should learn a new language? A recent study in Brain and Language by University of Washington researches generated this somewhat surprising statistic: bilingual people are about half a second faster at executing novel instructions than

Learning these languages early will prepare them for a better future, dual language programs show students a broader world view, whatever the foreign language of the student, and lead to greater opportunities for collaborative learning. Some jobs require a second language such as: Business Executives, Stenography Banking, and Finance International Operator Translator, Publishing, Teacher (K-12), Study Abroad, Coordinator, Textbook Author/Editor, Hotel and Restaurant Staff / Management Publisher of Tourist Literature Visitor, and Convention Bureaus. I believe that American students should be required to learn a second language. Learning a second language will enable American students an opportunity to better understand other cultures and languages this will result in our generation being better world citizens and continue our role as a global leader. 96% of the world's population lives outside of the United States. Countries that border our nation speak a language other than English; by learning a second language we will more effectively communicate with our neighbors. Employees of this new era must have the skills and ability to communicate fluently in several

Imagine living a life in Spain, then one day the job gets transferred to Texas in the United States of America. Now getting accustomed to this job may be hard because of the new environment, but adapting to the culture may be even harder. Well this problem can be eliminated because bilingual education should be required in all American kindergarten through twelfth-grade school systems. Not only should students be required to take one class a year, there should also be alternative elective courses of foreign languages. There are many benefits of learning a language that is not profound to a specific person. One is that learning a new language is a great way of meeting new people and making friends. Another possible positive outcome is that new language is an excellent source for traveling and could benefit a person’s employment opportunities. The United States should provide bilingual education to students in kindergarten through twelfth-grade because learning another language is good for meeting new people, traveling and expanding employment opportunities.

Learning to speak another language other than English is a highly debated subject in regards to education. Language in itself is an essential tool to everyday living,from whimsical conversations to important business meetings. Words have the power to inspire and change the world, but not everybody can understand the same words. There are hundreds of languages spoken around the globe how do we know which to speak? We can’t be certain. Therefore, it is not advantageous for English speakers to learn another language, there are too many languages for one to be exceptionally useful, and other countries are quickly learning English.

In most other countries, children begin learning a second language very early in their schooling. Most American schools, however, do not begin foreign language instruction until middle or high school. It is clear to see the detrimental effects of this. If you ask anyone who took a foreign language class in high school, chances are that they have retained none of it, unless they continued to study it in college. This is because by the teenage years, it is much harder for the human brain to learn a second language. If more schools began teaching a second language in elementary schools, it is more likely that students will retain more language skills. As a result, more individuals will have the language skills required in this global market to succeed with international relations and

I believe that learning a second language should be mandatory. The reason for this is because the United States has become very diverse, it is not only filled up with English people. There are so many races that now live here, so I believe that learning a second language should be required, for later on when the students grow up and get their job, people from all races will be coming in contact with them. And when that happens, they will most likely know how to speak the other person's

No matter who they are or where they are from, there is one thing that connects everyone across the world. Language is a tool that connects people from around the world and every walk of life. We don’t often realize the importance of something that is such an ordinary part of life, the ability to communicate with the people around the world. Children who have learned a second language early in life hold many advantages over the children who don’t have a good comprehension of the language. These children who learn a second language are more understanding of other cultures, become better communicators, and are shown to learn more in school. We the people should not have to change ourselves to fit into the system, the system should change to better suit the needs of the people. Therefore, the education system should have second language courses for children.

Second language acquisition is a process whereby people learn an additional language on top of their native ones. Learning a second language can be functional to oneself especially when communicating with a person whom you do not have a common language with. In acquiring the second language, there will be difficulties that one might face as compared to acquiring the first language, which makes it harder to acquire. Our mother tongue is easier to learn as we would have been brought up by our parents or grandparents that speak the language. Learning a second language can be difficult as we are not brought up for that language and would not know the basis of it. Some factors that makes it hard is the age of the learner, experience, the cognitive

Language is a key part of any family, community, culture and the human race. Without language the world today would be much different. From cavemen, to the Egyptian use of hieroglyphics, to Old English, to more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world today, the advances that humans have made in language is remarkable and inspiring. The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people. High school students should be required to take at least two years of a foreign language class in order to graduate, as many recent studies support the benefits of doing so. Students who have learned a foreign language in high school have proven to have a

If we are able to speak a foreign language, it can remove the barriers between people and cultures, thus uniting people. According to CNN news, about “1,051,031 people are granted lawful permanent residence” in the year 2015 (Immigration Statistics Fast Facts). The immigrants consist of people from Mexico, China, Philippines, India, and Cuba, which means that the different ethnic groups in the United States increases the cultural heterogeneity. As the diversity continues to grow, the United states is gradually enlarging its different cultures and traditions. Therefore, people should learn a foreign language because it can generate less prejudice towards people who are different from us. Prejudice can divide a community and eventually lead to violence, harassment, and racism. When an individual has a limited understanding of other people that are different from them, they can create stereotypes of that person. This can possibly lead to intentional racism, feelings of inferiority, and being hurtful to another culture.

The vast majority of the people residing in the valley, especially in the city of Brownsville, Texas are fluent in both Spanish and English, and therefore considered bilingual. Brownsville has been considered a highly illiterate and poorly educated city, where learning a secondary language such as English, drastically changes those discriminating statistics. The argument is that learning a secondary language indeed supports literacy development from an early age, by reading aloud to children, making them participants of a learning incentive, and family literacy practices. A development in literacy significantly increases reading achievement test scores, helps students become better at grammatical judgment and word recognition, and improves their cognitive development.

Foreign languages are a must in today's world. There are many needs for a second language to be learned by everyone. The growing need to learn more languages is becoming more apparent in the public world today. In order to fix this problem, the school system needs to teach multiple foreign languages in order to grow as a nation both mentally and culturally.

Hundreds of years ago, people used to stay in their native land, get along with their compatriots, and speak in their native language. So nobody thinks that there is any reason to study a foreign language. However, things change nowadays. People have started to leave their hometown, go into the world, and make new friends all over the world. Although some still do not think learning a second language is necessary, the truth is learning foreign language is imperative.

Michael Gove, a politician and an author, once proclaimed, “Learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children” (Brainy Quote). Young children, adolescents, and adults are all being taught foreign languages around the world either by themselves or a teacher, but one certain generation should be learning the language in school. Preschools teaching foreign language increase the brains of children and he/she’s knowledge of life. Considering that, “. . . in five years the average school student gets only about 540 hours (the equivalent of only about 2 months at 8 hours a day) of exposure to the foreign language they are learning” (Nagel). Most high school students forget what they learned or are just are not interested in the language. Students are compelled to take a language in high school while still participating in extracurricular activities, sports, etc. However, children pick up languages and are additionally capable of remembering languages if taught exceedingly young. Furthermore, adolescents/adults who do not take a language would be superior if they learned a foreign language earlier in life. Learning foreign languages overall can help with the growing global economy as well. Although it may not seem important, learning foreign languages as preschoolers rather than adolescents is more advantageous for mastering a foreign language,

Take a look around in any instruction manual, what do you notice besides the instructions? The fact that it is printed in at least two different languages, sometimes even more than that. The United States is often referred to as the melting pot of many cultures. This is shown in everyday life from an instruction manual for new products to having alternate language television channels. The use of a second language is becoming a necessity of life. Second language acquisition (SLA) is the acquiring of a language that is not the native language spoken by an individual. It is often referred to as speaking a foreign language, but it is more than just speaking, it is a complete learning process (Troike, 2012). Acquiring a second language is only part of the situation; when should it be taught is the question more people are asking. A second language is necessary and should be taught in elementary school because of the nation’s need for multilingualism, the early learning of a language is easier, the creativity of diversity is enhanced, and it can have a social impact on our changing society.