If money weren’t an issue, when would you like to see foreign language teaching started in your local schools? What language(s) would you want to see offered.
Flodjunior is in first grade. His class will start learning English next year. Of course, he already speaks English, and I mentioned to a friend that I wish he could learn Japanese or Russian or something interesting like that instead. She laughed but gave me that look people do when they think you’re a bit screwy but they like you anyway. What the heck, it’s all hypothetical…
(We’re seriously considering having Pappa teach him a bit of Spanish, just for fun.)
If there really is a critical period for language acquisition (and I believe there is; just look at my college French grades!), then the earlier, the better. Elementary school, if you ask me…
However, the language classes should be optional, or at the very least, the kid should get to choose which language he wants to study.
The OP reminds me of the old joke:
What do you call someone who speaks three languages?
Trilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
Bilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks only one language?
American.
I heard on The Discovery Channel that prime time for teaching children foreign languages is pre-school and kindergarten!
Most American schoolchildren would do well to learn Spanish, and kids in west coast cities such as Los Angeles or San Francisco would probably do well to learn Japanese or Mandarin Chinese as well.
Some schools are starting to teach foreign languages in elementary schools and I wish more would. When children are in kindergarten they can just learn some simple vocabulary and then learn grammar in later grades.
Well in mon ecole, when you’re in sixth grade you start taking a language: French, Spanish, or Latin. I took French. Then when you get into high school, you have the option of choosing a second language as well. (I took Latin.) So now i’m on my 6th year of French, and third year of Latin. I’d wanna learn something like Chinese or Japanese, maybe…or Russian, or German. Or something random and unusual. Just so I can say “Swahili? Why, I just so happen to have studied that!”
It has been shown that prior to learning how to talk, babies make every single type of sound necessary to speak any language in the world. For example, the French “R” or the glottal click in African.
In the process of learing their native language a child is taught to discard any of the unused sounds in their particular tongue. Any child of mine will be exposed to every smattering of language I know from the instant they start verbalizing. Right down to my restaurant Chinese and bastard Italian. No time is too soon for a child to learn another language. I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in a bilingual family.
That said, I’d like you all to know that this is my 996th post and I have invaded this thread to let Flodnak know that I need her help inviting all of the European dopers over to my party thread.
In my school, you take your first year of foreign language in 8th grade (your last year in the middle school). The choices are French, Spanish and German. I chose French because I live near enough to Canada that we get some Quebecois (can’t do the squiggle on the c or the accent on the e, pretend they’re there, ok?) around, plus my great-grandmother was French-Canadian and used to yell at us kids in French when we spent time with her.
Three years of language are required for a Regents diploma, which is considered better than a regular diploma. You don’t technically have to take all three years in one language, but you SHOULD, because you have to eventually pass the state Regents exam in your language, which is easiest after you’ve taken three years.
You can take as many language classes as you want – Latin is also offered in high school – but most kids just get the minimum requirement out of the way and forget about it. I skipped a year of French last year, so I’m now in my 4th year, and would have been taking Spanish I as well (because I’m moving to the Gulf Coast in August), but there wasn’t room in my schedule.
I wish I’d been taught languages earlier. I pick up on things quickly, so I understand a lot of spoken French and can hold a conversation, although my American accent is for the most part horrible. However, I can’t help but think that if I’d been started in earlier in my life I could be fully bilingual by now and have a smattering of conversational ability in other languages, as well. Not to mention that if I’d been trained as a young’un I’d be able to pronounce the French “R” that I can’t even TRY for now.
In that spirit, I speak to my foster siblings (3 and 4) in French sometimes. They understand a few simple commands, although they don’t speak French and they realize it’s not English. “Arrettez!”, “Allez-y!” and “Me donnez-ca!” are some of the things they know. (I think the “stop” and “go away” are just because of the tone of voice – the Angry Tone means “stop what you’re doing” no matter what the words mean – but “Give me that!” is more complicated and gives me hope that they actually know what’s going on…)
I don’t have kids, but I would certainly want them to learn Spanish, or something practical like that, as early as possible. I grew up overseas, before age 10 I learned (quickly, as children will) Turkish, Greek, & French. I’m sorry to say I remember very little of them, though due to high school French I can stumble along. As long as the French person isn’t laughing too hysterically, that is.
I wanted to learn Rom, the Gypsy language. My HS best friend & I memorized the Rom alphabet so we could pass notes in class withoout fear of recrimination.
All my extended family are perfectly bilingual and i can tell you from first hand experience. Kids can learn two languages just a they can learn one. For them it is just a game and requires no effort. Some of my cousins will have one parent speak one language and the other parent the other language.
If you wait until age 10 or 12 and just have the child take lessons you have waited too long and the effort will not be enough to master the language.
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Well, I wish that I had been instructed in Spanish from a young age. It really burns me that I could have been - I began elementary school in San Francisco, where there are (were?) several public schools that offered bilingual education. My own campus actually had two seperate schools, mine, the regular English school and Japanese bilingual. Most of the students were of Japanese descent, unsurprisingly, but a number of kids were there because their parents thought it would be good for them to learn Japanese. Anyway, close family friends (who happen to be English) sent their kids to a Spanish-English bilingual school. After six years of doing half of their studies in Spanish, not to mention making friends with many native Spanish-speakers, they are all completely bilingual. My mom has expressed regret that she didn’t send me to the same school.
I find this kind of education ideal. Should I ever have children, I would definitely want them to begin learning Spanish as soon as possible. Spanish for a number of reasons: it’s a language I am passably familiar with, that is spoken by most of my family, and is a major interntational language, not to mention the second language of the U.S.
We’ve decided to send TinyTot to a German kindergarten, so that he can learn German. So far, it’s working great. The only problem thus far is that I’ve taken to telling him what to do in German, and now I get this weird feeling like I’m trying to train a German Shepherd instead of raising a child.
IMHO, all elementary (and earlier) education should be “language immersion” type schools…I’m guessing Spanish, French, Japanese and possibly German would be the most popular.
If I could pick the languages offered, aside from the typical French, Spanish, German, Latin, I would also love to see American Sign Language, Gaelic, Rom, and Zairian(sp?) offered. Some schools in my area, teach ASL and Hebrew, but I would love to know some of these more exotic languages offered, since half the kids are sick of learning spanish anyway.
It should started being taught in elementary school, but where I am, they teach spanish all throughout elementary school, but they never take you past the basics. you do basic greetings, day of the week, colors, etc. for about 5 years, with never really getting any coversational items.
