Languages and America
UPDATED
At the time of the original post the audio to the story was not yet available. You can know here a great discussion on this topic, by following the link at the end of this post.
I heard a great program today that I think Many others may find interesting. Most of us who grew up in America, remember that learning other languages was never a high priority. The question is, should it have been? and should it be? Consider the following:
If you are an Arabic speaker in America these days, Uncle Sam wants you badly. The Army and Marines are paying ten thousand dollar signing bonuses for fluent Arabic speakers. The CIA is paying up to thirty-five thousand, just to join. And still, the United States finds itself nearly deaf and dumb in many critical languages week, President Bush announced a new crash program to train Americans -- from kindergarten on up -- in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Urdu, Russian, and Central Asian languages. Some say it's too little too late. But it's a high-profile push away from French, German, Italian and the "uno, dos, tres" lessons that dominate today.
You can find out more at:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2006/01/20060110_b_main.asp
1 Comments:
That wouldn't be so bad; on a voluntary basis. I doubt that any other language will ever be "really" taught in out schools except spanish in the very near future. Learning a new language is a good thing and "expands your horizons", but when you are living in a country that is supposed to an english-speaking country. And you live in a city where you could walk into a place of business and then have to FIND someone that speaks english, then we have a problem in this country. I say LEARN ENGLISH FIRST, fluently. Then is you want to learn a new language....go for it!
Texas, New Mexico, and Southern California may physically belong to the U.S.A., but Mexico is like a wolf in the night slowly taking it all back by way of population infiltration. BE VIGILANT!!
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