America is a country of immigrants, a topic heavily discussed in recent events. Every individual that comes to the U.S. contributes to society, bringing their culture and traditions along with them. But with an influx of new people comes some that don’t speak English proficiently. This has triggered a lot of arrogance among people, saying that if you come to our country, you must speak English. When encountering people in my daily life that struggle to communicate, the relief is visible when I reply in Spanish. In dozens of countries all over the world, people learn English to communicate with businesses in the United States.
So why do Americans continue to hold this arrogance? It could be explained from our history, as European immigrants from Germany and Ireland made sure their children knew English. Instead of passing on the language from their native country, English became the priority. Back then, if you wanted a good job, the key to success was English. And to this day, it remains that way.
English is the world’s current lingua franca, meaning that it is the main language for global communication. Chances are if you’re an American tourist that goes overseas, there will be residents that speak the same language as you. Because even when Americans travel, some expect the people there to know enough English to help them out. It seems a bit pathetic that most Americans can only effectively communicate in one language, though. Over three-quarters of the American population believe that immigrants must speak English, only 19% believing that being bilingual is an essential skill.
The main problem here is that most English-speaking countries don’t introduce world language classes until later on in brain development. Out of most of the bilingual people in the United States, most of them speak the language at home, not learning it in the classroom. Brain development slows down as a person ages, making it harder for one to learn something new. But many children that learn a second language have demonstrated higher standardized test scores, can quickly switch between tasks, and have higher levels of creativity. It’s never too late to learn a foreign language and reap the benefits, but it is much easier to do so at a younger age.
Most American bilinguals speak Spanish, which does not come as surprising. Especially since the area in which bilingual people are clustered follows patterns of where immigrants tend to cluster as well. California, Texas, and New York have more bilingual speakers than states like Wyoming and Montana, for example.
In the U.S., the number of bilingual speakers is on the rise. And whether some may like it or not, it raises the demand for more bilinguals in professional positions. Whether it be translators working in a hospital or at an insurance company, the benefits aren’t nonexistent. At some point, Americans will have to push their arrogance aside and accept the fact that English isn’t the only language present in our country. The need for more individuals to learn another language is increasing, which is not a bad thing in the slightest. Research has proved that nothing negative comes from being more than just monolingual.
