In America, it seems that many people are plagued by a great bane. The thought that can be found dancing in the back of people's minds is that, because they speak English fluently, there is no reason to learn a second language. Of course not everyone believes such a thing, though it can be seen more often than not. This can easily be considered a problem in a world where an estimated four-fifths of the planet does not speak English as a first, second, or even third language.
Now, obviously the ?Average Joe? can't be caught up learning the world's most spoken language (Mandarin Chinese), but what he can do is look closer to home before abstaining from the linguistic playground.
Spanish is the second-most spoken language in America, spanning across 34 million households and more than 40 million Hispanics, making the U.S the fifth-largest Spanish-speaking community in the world behind Mexico, Colombia, Spain, and Argentina.
I myself am an American citizen who was born in Mexico, spending nearly half of my life immersed in the culture and language through the most developmental years of my life. Naturally, I am a fluent Spanish speaker (as well as English, clearly), and I can attest to not only the vastness of the language in this country, even in the Northeast where I reside, but also the importance of embracing its art.
In a State like Florida, according to the 2006 American Community Survey from the United States Census Bureau, over 3 million people speak Spanish as the main language in their household. That is nearly 20% of the state's population. In New Mexico, this percentage is more than doubled. In fact, in each of the fifty states, this percentage is never seen as less than 1% and growing.
Spanish, with its widening grasp on American culture, is blending its beauty and fluency in to our country naturally. It is the single most taught foreign language in secondary schools and those of higher education across the nation.
With all of this considered, is it still rational to think that a monolingual life is a productive life? As bilingual college student alumni and as a future teacher wherever in the world I land, I cannot express enough the importance of bilingualism, or perhaps, multilingualism. It is for that reason that I offer you the option of Rocket Spanish, French, Italian as a quick, easy, and most importantly, effective cure to your Foreign-speaking ailments.
Please visit my website: www.mavensnest.com for more information and comments.