Did you know that there are ro... free essay sample

Did you know that there are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today? However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. Only 20 percent of Americans speak a language other than English, but I think there is a solution to this. Over the past couple years, I have begun to notice that in many schools in the U.S., including mine, students dont start the process of learning a new language until middle school. It would be extremely beneficial if schools instead thought about putting more money into acquiring bilingual programs for grammar school students. To begin, the easiest way for someone to become bilingual is to start at a very young age; because their brain absorbs the sounds and rules of a new language naturally just like their native tongue. Children who learn another language before age five use the same part of the brain to acquire that second language that they use to learn their mother tongue. We will write a custom essay sample on Did you know that there are ro or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Younger learners are also uninhibited by the fear of making mistakes, which is sometimes an obstacle for older beginners (Why Learn Languages: Early Childhood Elementary). The older you get, the harder it is to learn a language because you have to study grammar rules and work around your already developed first language. Some people think that a child only has room for one language in their life, and that to learn a second one, they would find it confusing. This is not true. Learning a second language does not cause language confusion, language delay or cognitive deficit, which have been concerns in the past (Lang) and in fact some places, such as Switzerland, have students learn up to two additional languages and by the time they graduate high school many of them are even trilingual. In like manner, some of the most crucial benefits of being bilingual are that a childs focus, memory, planning and multitasking skills are better than if they are monolingual. Monolinguals conversing only with the English-fluent, or via machines, lose the important human touch and cant learn or work as effectively as those chatting easily with native speakers, reading local papers, interpreting the subtleties (Berdan). Children can also ignore distractions easier because the part of their brain called the executive function is stronger in bilinguals, and this of course would benefit their academic performance in the classroom. Language also matters for appreciating cultures, connecting and building relationships around the world (Berdan).A second language can also help when traveling, especially a common one such as Spanish or French. When traveling, understanding common languages makes travel easier, fun, and educational. Vacations to foreign countries would be more enjoyable, and it would open peoples minds to the different cultures of the world. Furthermore, bilingualism at a young age also leads to many advantages in the long run, such as getting into a good college and having more career options. Knowing another language exponentially broadens the range of potential career paths you can follow—in everything from the tech sector, law enforcement, business, engineering, health care, national security, finance, sports and beyond (Why Learn Languages: College University). A second or third language can boost your chances of getting into a more academically advanced institution. Foreign language SAT tests are a great way of standing out during the college admission process. Its important to show them what youre capable of, and it can give you a head start by allowing you to complete the basic language requirement before other students. As the world is becoming more globalized, knowing a foreign language in business is also valuable. For example, someone who speaks Spanish has the advantage of communicating with peo ple from 21 different countries worldwide. So knowing how to speak their language removes the initial strangers barrier, and apprehension they might have of you. So knowing how to speak their language, makes you appear like one of their own(Rashid). When applying for a new job, companies will certainly take this into consideration. If schools would teach languages from kindergarten through high school, more students would have the chance to go on to college, and have successful careers. Although this may be true, learning a second language has its disadvantages. For one, education in a second language may be inconsistent. Some school districts stop their bilingual education in high school. Some school districts dont offer a bilingual education as an option. Because of this inconsistency, some students may lose some of their second language abilities simply because they arent using it every day. For a bilingual education to be effective, it must continue on throughout the career of the students who choose to participate in it. The reason behind this inconsistency is that there is a severe lack of qualified teachers who are able to handle the subject. Quality bilingual education requires a firm, patient, expert teacher who has the time on their hands to take care of all the issues that arise (OccupyTheory). Another big disadvantage of learning a second language is bilingual education being costly. Schools all across the country are struggling to keep their foreign language programs funded as is. Running a dominant language program is far cheaper than attempting to educate a minority language student. Often, if a student does not have a strong understanding of the language they are being taught, all of the money spent on establishing the program is a complete waste (OccupyTheory). It costs much more to educate minority-language students in bilingual classes than it does run dominant-language-only programs. In conclusion, people need to realize how much of an impact a foreign language has upon someone, and how life-changing it can be. What I am hoping is that we can increase from 20 percent the number of bilingual Americans by contributing more money to foreign language programs for younger children all across the U.S. Think about how much more interesting peoples lives could be if they grew up bilingual. Over the years, our world has established advanced technology that makes it easy to learn about cultures and the tongues they speak. Students need to start taking advantage of this. The 6,500 beautiful languages we have in our world are a gift, and they are here for us to use.