JigglySackles@lemmy.world 4 days ago
The problem in the US is that besides English, you might be exposed to some Spanish. And not much else unless you seek it out. Or have immigrant friends. Without consistent practice, and some more native speakers, any learned language just rots away.
I learned German for several years in college. It was fun. Went to a local brewhouse with my classmates and talked in simple german while we had dinner, it was a good time. Now, other than my own attempts at saving my whithered skill, and a couple bedtime songs for my kids, I don’t use it.
And even when I was better at it, using it as a tourist in germany was moderately helpful, but it wouldn’t have been nearly enough skill to pass any kind of immigration language proficiency exams.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 3 days ago
this makes no sense to me, aside from english we don’t teach languages because it’s immediately useful in daily life, we teach it because it’s good for your brain and it’s good for the entire population to have some ability to use more languages.
Like, how useful do you think spanish is in northern europe? Not very! and yet most people here learn it in school.
JigglySackles@lemmy.world 3 days ago
And I’m with you. I think learning languages and other cultures is essential to a well rounded individual. I think more languages should be taught. I was just offering up a possible explanation as to why it may not be emphasized here in the US.
A lot of the bullshit here stems from a capitalist utilitarian mindset (ignoring the “fear of melanin” bullshit). If it doesn’t observably generate profit it’s looked down on. It’s why many of the good things we had are being systemically torn down by rich fucks.