Learning Foreign Languages

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Students all over the world are generally required to learn a second language. In some cases students are even required to spend another shorter period of their education learning a third language, and in some cases even a forth language course may be offered. This happens in most countries in Europe, for example in Portugal where students are required to take 12 years of English alongside with their native language (in this case Portuguese), and an additional 3 to 6 years of training in French may also be required in their education in order to graduate from high school. But this is something that the United States Department of Education seems to have been neglecting. Besides English being considered the official native language in the US, a very big number of people not just in the United States but world wide understand, speak and write English enough to survive in an English speaking country at a high school graduate level. One could not say the same about majority of high school graduates in America where a significant number people in this country do not even speak proper English let alone a second language as basic as Spanish. One in every five Americans speaks a language that is not English at home according to the Census Bureau in 2007 (Longley). These are numbers that rose 69% in 10 years. These numbers are nothing less than alarming with such diversity in this country. We should all have a much tighter and cohesive education in English and at least one other language. Even though cultural diversity should be celebrated and promoted, a sense of unity and mutual understanding must also be a part of education not just in America but all over the world.
Before proceeding to explain how important it is to learn a second lan...

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Marmolejo, Francisco. "Deficiency in Foreign Language Competency: What Is Wrong with the U.S. Educational System?" WorldWise. N.p., 09 Nov. 2010. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.

"New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers." Scholarships, Fellowships and Loans. 23rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 842. Education. Web. 4 Nov. 2013. .

Shaver, Annis N. "Foreign Language Instruction." Encyclopedia of the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education. Ed. Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2009. 351-53. Education. Web. 4 Nov. 2013. .

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