Why Others Speak More Foreign Languages

TW: This Economist blogger makes a old lament- English speakers in general do not learn foreign languages. But I agree with the blogger's ultimate critique. Americans (and other English speakers) can be terribly parochial but lack of foreign language skills is not a core source of the parochialism.

English speakers due to the ubiquity of English can easily get by without learning other languages hence learning them becomes an extravagance rather than a valuable career enhancer. This dynamic may seem arrogant but it is real. It does not, however, mean those English speakers who forgo learning other languages are not missing out. It does not mean English only speakers are not missing out some career ops but it does mean on average they are missing out on few than non-English speakers.

From Economist:
"...the grim statistic about language learning in...Britain, where more than half of all schoolchildren in upper secondary education (51.4%) learn no foreign languages at all.

...Europe is becoming bilingual, except for Britons, who are becoming monolingual.

There is a logic behind this turning away from languages. I wrote a column in February about language, which made the point that as more and more Europeans speak good English, the benefits to a Briton of learning European languages are reduced and the costs increase. The benefits are reduced because a smaller and smaller group of people can be reached only by speaking their language. The costs rise because Britons have to learn to speak foreign languages really well, to avoid inflicting halting French, say, on a room full of fluent English-speakers.

...But Britain's unique (in the EU) refusal to study other people's languages still worries me. Learning a foreign language teaches you humility, empathy and respect for others. In Europe, it teaches you the ancient links that unite our squabbling continent...

My language teachers at school were amongst my favourites. The teacher who influenced me more than any other in my school career taught me Spanish. He told us about his student days in Franco's Spain (he recalled the little vests painted on pictures of boxers in the newspapers, to avoid the shocking sight of nipples), taught us about the civil war...the role of the Catholic church, the Moorish occupation and the savagery of honour killings (in the 17th century). You don't get that in business studies GCSE. He died far too young: here's to you Gerry Ashton, and to learning languages."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2009/09/the_disaster_of_monolingual_br.cfm