Have you ever traveled to a foreign country before? Could you understand what the people around you were saying? Did the people around you know English just in case you had problems understanding what they would say when they spoke to you in their dominate language?
Recently I traveled outside of the United States, and I did not understand the language that was being spoken around me. Fortunately the country that I was visiting dominantly knew English as their second language. When another person I was with asked how almost every person we talked to knew English they replied by telling us they have to learn the language of English in school as they grow up.
When people travel to the United States they usually know English, so they do not have a big problem with the language barrier, but if they did not know English what would happen? No one would be able to get what they are asking for because most people from the United States would not be able to help them. Why in the United States do we almost expect others to know English? It does not seem fair to the people that travel to the United States. Or even when people from the United States travel to another country in that we do not even try to learn another language when traveling, we automatically expect others to know English.
I feel that the United States should make it a law for every school to start teaching children a foreign language right when they enter school up until they leave school. When people come and visit the United States we should welcome them and try to accommodate to them, just as they do for Americans in other countries, most of the time. Americans would probably have to vote on one dominate language that should be taught in every school, and if the school is big enough it could teach other languages as well. The parents would have to pick what language they would want their child to learn when they enter school, if they are able to have more than one language at their school.
When talking to peers of mine they said that the dominate language that would probably be taught they said Spanish. If Spanish was taught you would be able to travel to Spain and Mexico for example and have no problems getting around. Even other languages such as Portuguese and Italian would come easier to understand if Americans were taught Spanish.
Yes, a foreign language is taught in high school IF the students choose to learn the language. If students were able to learn a language their whole schooling career it would stick to them longer and they would be able to learn the language easier, instead of cramming everything they need to learn about the language in four years of high school. Most students that take a foreign language in high school forget the material they learned within a few years.
So should America make it a law to learn a foreign language just like we learn math and science…