Language of Choice, Making the Right Moves To Communicate
with the Masses
Presented by Beth Butler/Creator of the
BOCA BETH
Program
Have you ever pondered
over which language you should put your mind to learning? Or perhaps
which new language you should advise your middle school child to
register for next school year? Sitting next to a family of four (mother,
father, high school son and middle school son) and mercilessly
eavesdropping, I was flabbergasted by the conversation taking place
about which foreign language to study and the various reasons why. All
were in agreement that the boys needed to complete two years of foreign
language study prior to the end of high school; the disagreement that
ensued was about which foreign language to take and why.
I’m not much of a stats geek; however I do study the trends as I like to
keep informed in the educational genre of our society as a mom and as an
educator. According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the 2007 Statistical
Abstract there are more than 265 million people age five and over in our
country, and 216 million of them speak English in their home. The family
involved in this nearby conversation clearly never read the rest of the
report, tends not to listen to the languages being spoken around them in
their community or simply does not care which language would be found
most useful and practical as the boys travel through our United States
of America.
According to this stats abstract the Spanish language was a huge second
place finisher with more than 30 million people speaking Spanish
followed way behind by Chinese with 2.3 million. Now, granted, the high
school son was very vocal expressing how he did not like his last
semester of Spanish and was changing next school year to German or maybe
French.
I almost slipped a beverage napkin onto their table with the link to the
site stating German was way low in the population count of this abstract
stating 1 million people in the U.S. speak German in their home lagging
just behind French who touts 1.3 million people speaking French in the
home.
Our decisions to study one language or another need to revolve around
three strong considerations:
-
The potential future
use of the target language in your future. Perhaps this boy sitting
next to me planned to marry a girl of German descent or travel to
Germany to work in some export business tied to the U.S. Do you have
future plans of working with a specific company who deals
specifically with particular countries?
-
Current resources
available within your geographic and monetary means. Is there a
language course available in the target language? Do you have the
motivation to study and learn this new language? Is the course
affordable or is the program you are looking to purchase
approachable?
-
History or connection
with the target language. Perhaps you have an ethnic tie to this new
language. Did you grow up hearing this target language at a
relative’s home? Do your parents guide you gently in your decision
based on their understanding of the current global needs?
We all see the need to
expand our horizons beyond speaking just English. Now we need to give
strong and thoughtful consideration to just what that new language of
learning should be.
About the Author:
Beth Butler is the creator of the BOCA BETH Language Learning Series for
young children. Find out how fun and easy it can be to raise a bilingual
child. Sample the BOCA BETH bilingual music and movies for free at
http://www.bocabeth.com
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