[Prolixus]

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages states that more than 4 million of the 6 million high school students who studied a foreign language in 2000 took Spanish.

What is the benefit of U.S. students learning Spanish rather than any other language? Yes, that is a rhetorical question. How can we have multiculturalism if 2/3 of children who are studying a second language are studying one language? Yes, that is another rhetorical question with a hint of irony.

I'm sure we're paying big bucks for this language instruction. I'd rather see my money go towards teaching languages such as:

• Mandarin Chinese for which there are potential economic and national security benefits.
• Latin - if we're going to teach our children a Latin language then let us teach them Latin - the language of educated persons for thousands of years.
• Any Native American language - if our educators want to have multiculturalism shouldn't they be teaching languages that are being displaced by colonialist languages such as Spanish?
• Arabic for its potential benefit to national security.

[WaveThatFlag]

If I understood Spanish, I would watch a lot of Telemundo. The women on those shows are dynamite.

[KC_Conspirator]

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So, if we are conducting business in the USA and Spanish speaking people want to do business here, then they should learn English like everybody else.

Sure, learning another language can benefit you, but frankly, this article is as if it was written by a college freshmen who has no idea about the way things work.

[End Times Sentinel]

Wouldn't it be more useful to waste our money on teaching spanish speakers English?

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[netmilsmom]

My daughter is learning both Spanish and Latin in a charter school in Michigan. Those children that learn Latin have a basis for decoding most medical and biological terms. I agree with you that this is important.

[cdefreese]

I live here in North Atlanta in a little place I have dubbed 'Little Havana'. It is sad...very sad. It is to the point where all the announcements over the speakers in department stores is all spanish and all the drive thrus place their best english speakers to take orders and their english is broken at best.

It is sad that the left is so concentrated on being diverse and multi-cultural, that they want everyone to learn Spanish then to make those who speak spanish to learn english.

Kinda reminds me of when I lived in Nashville, I had some state paperwork sent to me. The instructions were written in at least 15 different languages.

[nutmeg]

FYI

[RayChuang88]

Actually, there are a couple of things I like about Spanish:

1. The languange is a fairly phonetic language, which means what you write down on paper is close to what you pronounce in the language. This is definitely NOT true of French.

2. Much of Spanish grammar is not impossible to understand to English speakers, thanks to that Norman invasion in 1066 that infused English with a strong Romance (French/Spanish/Italian) language influence.

Now, if we can just convince those illegal Mexican immigrants to actually LEARN Spanish to at least 10th grade level; a lot of those illegals can't even READ a Spanish-language newspaper or periodical!

[BlackTriangle]

Multiculturalism is a Canadian word that originated when it was realized that the word biculturalism excluded Native Americans, etc.

[DoctorMichael]

Two most necessary phrases to be learned in Spanish:

1) Una mas cerveza, por favor.

2) Donde esta el banyo.

[DoctorMichael]

For M.D.'s, of course, its................
Empuje, mama.

[Xenalyte]

After three years of high-school and two of college Spanish, I am considered fluent therein.

However, I find I can't understand the guys at my local car wash (or, honestly, wherever Spanish speakers congregate in Houston). I don't think they're speaking the Spanish I was taught.

[jiggyboy]

By Bert Limbec

Hello, amigos! ¡El soy quando agunto! ¡Ella balloona balunga espanyo!

Did that sound Spanish to you? I bet that means something. And guess what? I've never had one lesson! It's just that I have a natural gift for Spanish. I was able to pick it up all by myself, "outside the system," if you will.

When I was a kid, I thought a foreign language would take a long time to learn. That's what society tells you, probably because of the anti-foreign attitude in America. They're trying to discourage people from going foreign, I guess.

Go to any bookstore. They have books for learning how to speak Spanish, books made up entirely of Spanish words, dictionaries for figuring out what something means in Spanish. Can you believe people need books to learn Spanish? It sure came easy to me!

In high school, Spanish was taught by Mr. Gomez, and you could spend years learning every single word. Forget that! I'm sure I've got the gist of it. I don't need any classes or books, because I can speak Spanish without all that. I mean, ¡Balunga el baguayo con blinko! Don't tell me that didn't sound Spanish! And it sure didn't take three years of high school to learn. Forget that—I've got a life!

I could see Chinese taking a long time to learn. I mean, look at it! But Spanish is pretty normal by comparison, with all those American letters and stuff. I've heard people speaking Spanish, and they're not doing anything I can't do. They're just talking! Ever watch Sesame Street? They have little kids speaking Spanish on there! Are we supposed to believe these little kids graduated from high school already? Even Alejandro, this guy I work with at the Cinnabon at the mall, speaks Spanish, and he's dumb as a stump! He's barely got English down, let alone a foreign language! I rest my case. ¡Alabunto quénto galoodi!

Also, I live near Taco Bell. In case you don't live here in Monroe, Taco Bell is this really good Spanish restaurant they have next to Video Hut. It's so good, in fact, they opened another one at the mall. They only sell Spanish food there, so every time you go in and give your order, you're speaking Spanish! And since nobody goes to Taco Bell more than I do, that's another reason I can speak Spanish so well! ¡Ellaquanto burritõs! ¡Grandé baloobos! ¡El hoolio!

But another reason I can speak Spanish is that I've been watching tons of Univision lately. Just yesterday, there was this soap opera on, called Ellabungo Juanita or something like that, and I was completely following it! This girl and guy were in bed together, and this other guy came in and was all mad. Just from listening, I could tell that the girl in bed was cheating on the guy who'd just walked in. There were no subtitles, I just figured it out! You folks reading this might have needed Spanish lessons to understand what was going on, but I'm on the fast track, Charlie!

Spanish girls are really hot, which is another important use for Spanish. The girl in the apartment across the hall from me has dark hair and a dark complexion. I bet she's probably Spanish. One of these days, when I get a tuxedo and grow a little black mustache, I'm going to go over there with some flowers. Then, when she opens the door, oh, boy, that's when I'll turn on the Spanish! "¡Allabunto allaquento, senorita!" As for what will happen next, well, I'll just leave that to your imagination. The girls all think Ricky Martin is so sexy, but that's just because he speaks Spanish. When Ricky gets a load of me, he's going to go running back to Spain!

So, until next time, my fellow Spanishers, "¡Ellaquanto paganyo balagoonda!"