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From: evan@pedsgo.UUCP (Evan Marcus)
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Americans and Foreign Languages
Message-ID: <480@pedsgo.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Nov-86 13:08:21 EST
Article-I.D.: pedsgo.480
Posted: Tue Nov 11 13:08:21 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Nov-86 21:47:51 EST
Distribution: net
Lines: 37

I have seen some complaining about how Americans are lousy when it comes to
learning foreign languages, and in fact take this shortcoming very lightly.
I am guilty of this.  However, I only take a part of the blame.  I have, in
my life, attempted to learn 2 foreign languages.  One is Hebrew. Since I am
Jewish, that is a natural part of my upbringing.  Today I can read it very
slowly and laboriously, and really only remember a handful of words.  The
other is French.  Everybody is taught French or Spanish in my old High
School.  I know a slightly larger handful of French today.  I took French
for 8 years of High School!  (From 3rd grade until 10th or 11th)

The problem, in my opinion, is the way it is taught.  We are not taught
conversational French/Hebrew, but instead we are taught for hours how to
conjugate verbs, and subjected to short, stilted conversations on tape.
There are some folks who say (here on the net) that a language can be
learned, on a basic level, in just a few weeks of intensive training.  I
took 8 years, and never felt I could speak French.  (I got As and Bs!)

Language learning is made to be a chore, rather than the fun experience it
could be.  In addition, in America it is viewed as less important to learn
a foreign language, since everybody for hundreds and hundreds of miles in
almost every direction speaks English too (or at least is expected to!).
In Europe, the countries are much smaller, and it is much easier to leave
yours.  

A greater emphasis should be put on practical use of a foreign language
rather than on conjugation and straight vocabulary.  Then, maybe, Americans
could be persuaded to learn them.

(Then again maybe not...)
-- 
NAME:   Evan L. Marcus
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