chapotraphouse

Counterpoint: Like 80% of bilinguals in Latin America (myself included) have American culture brainrot as a result of being able to go on anglo internet.

Synthesis: Mandatory bilingual policy, the English language is officially forbidden.

Agreed.

Wait, nevermind I thought that said bisexual.

i think you should HAVE to learn sign language.

I feel like this would just end with kids in poor school districts not being able to become citizens

Actually you might be able to get white support for that lmfao

I wish, I feel so inadequate being an American who only knows one language comparing myself to...Almost every other country in the world lol. If I ever have a kid I would insist that they start school taking language immersion classes if it were available

I think a large part of why people in the anglo sphere only speak one language is that the school system doesn't do a great job of teaching it

I remember my french teacher would call us ignorant bigots for not speaking french - it's like you literally only taught us the word for pen

saying people must be bilingual is like saying people must be literate. Everyone agrees it would be a good thing to be bilingual but not everyone is educated in speaking multiple languages. I also think there is an element of classism in looking down on the monolingual as unless they come from a bilingual household the only bilingual people I've known had recieved private education for it

I personally would love to speak a second language but it wasn't something I was given the opportunity for as a child and learning one as an adult is hard work

has this but the two languages are extremely cursed. In practice most areas treat the French language requirements as a joke.

I agree, the fact that Spanish isn't mandatory from pre-school in the states is a fucking crime. Bilingualism is only a good thing, and there is so much cultural experience you miss out on by not speaking Spanish while living the Americas.

Maybe it's not learned great by everyone, but only by learning a bit will people start to learn how many more opportunities there are when you know two languages, and the drive to know more and more will come.

Data here is a few years old, but in most places in the EU, more people can speak at least one additional language than not.

https://jakubmarian.com/average-number-of-languages-spoken-by-the-eu-population/

I'd wager a big part of it is due to the legacy of colonialism, where in the Anglosphere there are so many people in every direction that speak the same language that there isn't the same incentive to learn another. Whereas, for most of human history, people have needed to learn additional languages, and often stay accustomed to learning new ones.

A conjecture you could make is that for any country where over 90% of people speak the primary language, then the more populous the country, the less likely people are to be bilingual. This explains Japan, and perhaps also Russia and large parts of Latin America.

I'll be shocked if burgerland isn't the only country in the global north where people only speak one language.

I think everyone should learn esperanto or some made up languange as a second language so that you can communicate with anyone in the world no matter what country they come from.

Spanish and Mandarin only.

We can make exceptions given the proper forms, but absolutely no English under any circumstances.

somehow klanada passes this bar with their mandatory french requirements...

Ok but if we're using the US system to teach languages then no one is actually going to learn a language. People take "four years of Spanish" in high school and even claim that they "know Spanish' yet they probably couldn't even understand simple conversations or watch some super slow kid's show like Dora the Explorer. I mean think about it, they engage with the language like at most 5 hours a week during class and maybe 5 hours more for homework (which I highly doubt). That's nothing in the grand scheme of things when learning another lanuguage. You need hundreds, if not thousands of hours engaging with the language to become fluent.

mandatory klingon as a second language

I know a smattering of Spanish and German and both languages have come in clutch at random moments. Seriously, you'd never expect in the middle of a rush for a German tourist group to just shuffle up to your counter.

Spanish was a mandatory class for two years in my USA highschool back in the 90's.

At best, for a little while, I could barely read it. Never was able to speak it.

Would have been cooler (and probably more effective) to have it be K-12. My spouse is kinda trying to learn Potawatomi in her spare time and this prompts us to occassionally wonder, "Just how did we learn to speak english, anyways?"

You are lucky to have more than 50% of the population fluent in just ONE language, good luck trying to mandate two.

This is already a policy in most of the world isn't it? Are you in an anglo country?

I support this as long as neither language is English

they try to teach te reo maori in new zealand primary schools but its half assed as fuck and it basically doesn't actually teach the language to the point where most people suggest the issue is trying to teach a 'dead' language rather than the fact that it's not given the resources it needs. at least schoolkids maybe learn some catchy songs? idk, that's just my observation from my daughter's education, i didn't experience it myself.

i vote toki pona being mandatory

They don't?

In South Africa it's mandatory to take an additional language in school. You have a home language and first additional language.