Do you think it should be compulsory for kids in the UK and US to learn a second lang

I used to think it was compulsory in the UK until the age of 16, purely because my school made you do at least one language at GCSE (I did three).
I think it's beneficial to learn a secondary language. I rather be able to speak to people in their native language instead of making them speak English because 'English is the only language you'll need to know'. I was really embarrassed when I was in Amsterdam and a sales assistant literally switch languages in a matter of seconds to accommodate me.


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Yes, in other european countries, knowledge of a different language is really encouraged. Which makes me wonder WTF is wrong with our collective attitude as a nation toward learning languages.

Yes, in other european countries, knowledge of a different language is really encouraged. Which makes me wonder WTF is wrong with our collective attitude as a nation toward learning languages.

The vast majority of people don't 'need' to know how organic mechanisms or Gauss's law work. Just because you don't use it directly does not mean that things should not be taught. There are many secondary skills that people can pick up from learning a language as a by-product.

The lessons taught are very watered down and ineffective. During yr7-10 they teach you the same basic stuff over and over again, that no-one is capable of saying anything other than the basic greetings and what food they like. I pretty much had to teach myself outside the classroom in order to be able to speak Spanish.

With the state of our education system today, and people failing their own native language at GCSE, shouldn't we be making sure people can communicate properly in English before we make it compulsory for them to learn another language?

Also, which language would people learn? Unlike with non-English speaking countries, there is no "obvious" choice.

Yes. Either Spanish, French or German. But R.E should be watered down and English given more hours. R.E is unnecessary in year 7 onwards.

Organic mechanisms or Gauss's law don't take long to teach. They're part of much bigger subjects, that on a whole, are used a lot. A second language is also a large subject, which to be taught to a usable level (which is past a* gcse), it takes a lot of time. So much time to be spent on something so specific.
Sure, there might be a couple of extra skills learnt, but it's not enough to justify spending so much time on learning another language.

If langauges were to be compulsory, people should at least have a wide choice in what language they want to learn. My school forced me and a bunch of other people to take italian for gcse, despite having zero interest in the language. Learning a langauge you have no interest is completely pointless.

I was lucky enough to learn 2 further languages at school. I was futher lucky to be great at linguistics and learning 4 more.

Kids in countries like Denmark and the Nederlands are taught English at a young age. Almost 95% of people in the Nederlands speak English.

Should all kids going through school in the UK and US have to learn a second language? Maybe Spanish?