When Barack Obama pointed out recently that Americans should – in their own interest – teach their children Spanish or some other second language, many were quick to pounce.
But, not surprisingly, people in South America wholeheartedly agree with him.
Andres Oppenheimmer writes for El Periodico of Guatemala:
“The percentage of people in the United States who master a foreign-language is pathetic compared to other wealthy countries. … Obama is right, although it would’ve been nice if he himself spoke Spanish or some other language. … a recent survey taken in 27 countries of the European Union revealed that 56 percent of Europeans speak at least one language apart from their native tongue, which is an increase of 53 percent over five years ago.”
By Andrés Oppenheimmer
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka
July 18, 2008
Guatemala – El Periodic – Original Article (Spanish)
Recent comments by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, that people in the United States [United Statesiens – see below] should teach Spanish or some other foreign language to their children, brought an avalanche of criticism from supporters of English as the nation’s only language and from anti-immigrant campaigns on cable television.
[Editor’s Note: Latin Americans almost never refer to people in the United States as Americans – since they consider themselves just as American as we are. Instead, they use a different word, which is estadounidenses – which roughly translates to United Statesiens].
But Obama is right. Whether it’s Spanish or any other foreign language, Americans are far behind the rest of the industrialized world when it comes to mastering foreign languages.
In a speech in Georgia on July 8, Obama, answering a question about bilingualism, said: “We live in a global world. And I don’t understand people who go around worrying about ‘We need to have English only’. They want to pass a law that would say ‘We want English only’. Now I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But it is important to understand this: instead of worrying whether immigrants can learn English – they will learn it – you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how your child can become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language.”
Added Obama: “It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here … They all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And when we go to Europe, all we can say is ‘merci beaucoup’. Right?”
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