--- Jim Devine <jdevine03 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Most people brought up in Europe learn several
> languages, while those
> in the US learn usually only English (and a
> smattering of another)
> when young. The problem is that if you don't learn
> them while young,
> it's really really hard to learn new ones. (The
> exception would be
> those linguistic geniuses, such as Chris perhaps.)
> So the linguistic
> disadvantage of the US educational system -- which
> is an advantage in
> some "nativist" eyes -- ends up being pretty hard to
> deal with.
Euro-folks also tend to have less than 1000+ miles to travel to a place where their native language isn't dominant.
It's funny how in discussions of US monoglotism you sometimes hear the phrase, "and Spanish doesn't count."
I've done all my foreign language learning after the age when it's easy, but I love it and people (incl. Euros) say I have gift for it. But it's still laborious, and it's not hard to imagine other efforts taking priority. Even in cosmopolitan American cities the rewards for going beyond Spanish are hardly manifest.
Andy
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