Are we too lazy to learn a second language?

I have a presentation coming up on the topic of languages. The question I'm asking is 'Are we too lazy to learn languages?'.

I'm not sure about you, but I've found that a lot of people my age (20) are not familiar with, or don't speak other languages. Not even to the point of being fluent, but even basic words and phrases seem to be alien to them. However, I know several older people around my parents' ages who know other languages fluently.

I was wondering if other people could give me some ideas on this topic? Are we too lazy to learn languages? Do you think there should be more of a push in primary schools to teach children other languages? Or do you think this is unnecessary considering a lot of people from other countries speak English anyway?

Thanks!

I have a presentation coming up on the topic of languages. The question I'm asking is 'Are we too lazy to learn languages?'.

I'm not sure about you, but I've found that a lot of people my age (20) are not familiar with, or don't speak other languages. Not even to the point of being fluent, but even basic words and phrases seem to be alien to them. However, I know several older people around my parents' ages who know other languages fluently.

I was wondering if other people could give me some ideas on this topic? Are we too lazy to learn languages? Do you think there should be more of a push in primary schools to teach children other languages? Or do you think this is unnecessary considering a lot of people from other countries speak English anyway?

Thanks!

I think it's probably too simple to say people are simply "lazy" (although I'm sure that would certainly apply to some people!) - from what I've experienced there are a number of reasons why learning a language doesn't appeal to people very much.

The teaching of foreign languages in this country is awful. Just shocking. The curriculum isn't interesting or fun. Kids aren't taught how to have a normal conversation in the language, they're made to learn by heart vocabulary to be used in debates for climate change, pollution, etc. Learning phrases and sentences off by heart just isn't useful - students need to be able to speak spontaneously and naturally instead of reeling off what they've copied down from the teacher. Grammar that is deemed to be too complex or hard to explain is just skipped over, or over-simplified to the point of complete inaccuracy (e.g. in French, most teachers will explain that les = the, des = some. Which is just not correct).

From an early age, learning a language is seen as boring, hours of poring over grammar books and trying to untangle complex structures and twist your tongue over strange words. This is what needs to change - the way it is taught at the moment, it's not surprising people don't want to learn a new language!


Also there's this thing you've mentioned in your post - English is the dominant language, so people think that means we don't have to know any other languages. They therefore think learning another language is pointless - why bother if everyone speaks English, right? In reality, people who can speak more than one language are proven to be the most sought after by employers - it's a really useful skill, so it shouldn't be dismissed so easily.

I've been lucky, I was able to learn French through living in France, and because of that I understand the language well, and I've gone on to study Spanish, Portuguese, hopefully one day Italian too. But I have no doubt that if I had just studied French in English school, I would have hated it and not taken it any further than GCSE.

tl;dr. The main reason is that the teaching of foreign languages is pretty awful in this country.

I think it is a case of necessity rather than laziness. English is the dominant world language and that is unlikely to change any time soon, it's certainly a good idea to try and learn a new language however on the practical side of things unless you want to go and work in another country or are planning to go into a field where being multilingual is either essential or highly recommended you may have no need to learn another language. I honestly think that English as a language is not taught in enough depth at schools and as a result we are increasingly seeing a population with very limited language skills. There are over 171,000 English words in current use around the world, the average person has a vocabulary of between 5000-6000. Not only does that mean certain useful words and phrases are beginning to die out but as a people we are not communicating to the full extent that our language allows.

Just my two cents, but i would put more in depth teaching of the English language ahead of learning foreign languages especially for young children.

I think it is a case of necessity rather than laziness. English is the dominant world language and that is unlikely to change any time soon, it's certainly a good idea to try and learn a new language however on the practical side of things unless you want to go and work in another country or are planning to go into a field where being multilingual is either essential or highly recommended you may have no need to learn another language. I honestly think that English as a language is not taught in enough depth at schools and as a result we are increasingly seeing a population with very limited language skills. There are over 171,000 English words in current use around the world, the average person has a vocabulary of between 5000-6000. Not only does that mean certain useful words and phrases are beginning to die out but as a people we are not communicating to the full extent that our language allows.

Surely as there are so many ESL learners, we should focus on doing the opposite of what you suggest: teach people how to communicate effectively with a smaller vocabulary and simpler grammar. Using uncommon vocabulary or idiomatic phrases will make communicate harder with the majority of English speakers (who are non-native), not easier.