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[–]cuallitonalli 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

qué bárbaro. Most of the rest of the world = train kids from birth to speak multiple languages; America = make sure people only speak English. Language is power, that's why I think the American education system works to keep people from being able to understand anyone outside.

[–]jet199 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

They train kids to speak other languages in the US too. But where the dominant culture in the world is your language you don't use them outside of school so lose the info very quickly. It's not some political act, its do to with how languages are learnt and retained. Every English speaking country has the same problem, no matter the local politics. There's also a big difference in second language acquisition between countries where they have mostly dubbed films and TV or subtitles for the same reasons. Use it or lose it.

[–]cuallitonalli 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's definitely an aspect, but it's also a fact that there is less emphasis on language instruction in schools in America, specifically, than in many other countries. From what I know of the UK, the situation is similar there. And nowhere in the world that I've traveled, except perhaps France, have I encountered so much resistance to hearing foreign languages spoken. At least in the above case, I would say it's very obvious that politics was involved with said resistance.