Shouldnt Our Kids be learning French or German instead of Spanish?

Question

I dont know about you but Im very angry at the amount of Spanish being forced on our kids(England) The dreadful Dora type programs being an example. Spanish is NOT a world language like French (Spanish is only widely spoken in south and central America and Spain in Europe) whereas German is by far the most spoken language in Europe. Why is this language being pushed more than the others ? it makes no sense and really pees me off.

To whom it may concern try getting by in Africa Asia or Oceania with Spanish ha !! FAT CHANCE.

Answer 1

I feel for you. I live in Los Angeles, California, and anymore when we have voice mail prompts on the telephone, we have to "press '1' for English!" All my Spanish speaking friends tell me, "You have to learn Spanish! You have to learn Spanish!" I finally told them all, "Why? So that I can get my house cleaned?"

I learned French in school. When I was growing up in the eastern US 20 years ago, learning French was part of your "finishing." J'ai une preference pour la langue Francaise!

Answer 2

The easiest language to learn is Esperanto, and knowing it would help you learn other languages quicker You may have the wrong idea about what it takes to be a translator though. What you need for that is: - the ability to express yourself very well in your NATIVE language, because that's what you'd be translating TO - the ability to understand the language(s) you are translating FROM very well - have studied some field in both the languages, so you can do translations that ordinary home-and-garden bilinguals could not do. Without such a "specialisation" pay is quite poor. Beside that, you should know that most translators get paid per word, and many of them don't have a longterm work-contract. If your native language is anything but English, Spanish, French or German may be viable options. If your native language is English, you'd probably better look at something more exotic, like any of the "critical languages" Unfortunately, it's all about supply and demand, so there's very few guarantees. One of those guarantees is that there already are a lot of people in the US who speak Spanish at home, and a lot who have learned Spanish or French in school there.

Answer 3

Read this question with great interest, and have been surprised by some of the answers, particularly those people advocating Spanish as a world language. A widely spoken language certainly, but mainly in South and central America. There is no way a traveller would get by with only Spanish in, eg., Tunisia,Latvia, Finland, Russia, Nepal, Japan, Philippines etc. etc., whereas a knowledge of English most certainly would.
The greatest problem the U.K. has, regarding teaching a second language, is 'what IS the second language'? All other countries in Europe, and many other countries, teach English as a second language, so what does the U.K. teach?????
I think I may be too far down the replies to get a rating, but felt I had to put my 'bit' in. :-))

Answer 4

I,m very sorry but i don,t know where you get your information from. Spanish is definately more widely spoken AND more useful than German or French.I am British and i speak fluent Spanish, and think it is a wonderful , rich language and is quite easy to learn, because it is pronounced as is written.There is almost as many Spanish speakers in the world as there is English speakers. I bet all these British people who are moving to Spain wished they had been taught Spanish at school .They School is doing what they think best for the kids and that is teaching them a world language. Speaking English and Spanish you can comunicate with 75 % of the worlds population. Why do you want them to learn French ? for a booze cruise in the future, because unless they live in France that,s all it will be useful for.You seem to have a very closed mind and should do a bit of research.

Answer 5

omg how can u say that??? spanish is spoken by like millions of pepl from central and southern america 2 spain. and thats a lot of people!!! and its a great lanuguage....i study it an A level and i love it 2 bits!!! much better than french or german....or english i think!!! hahahhaha and i do italian and speak greek, which are not major world languages, as u put it, but i still think it benefits the person lerning it. and it can offer better jobs, whatever the language and especially 2 people with uncommon languages.
and u shud be grateful that kids are able to learn a foreign language as many english people dont bother (no offence 2 those who do, but u know wot i mean) so be glad that they can speak another language as it opens many doors =D

and NEVER insult Dora!!! legendary!!! hahaha even if im 16 =P

Answer 6

I think this question is insulting. You said Spanish is only spoken in Spain, south and central america, I think that's enough for being necessary and a world language. German is less spoken if you're talking about population. I think your question came from a closed mind. I would love to learn a lot of languages, I don't care if they are less or more spoken. A good parent wants the best for his/her kids. Learning a new language is always good and positive.
Sorry for my English.

Answer 7

I believe it is the same way that we have in Latin America.. In Latin America all people HAVE TO learn English, we don't have options....

I have been studying about the influence of Spanish around the world, and I found that the world is looking for other way for seeing the culture. Nowadays, a lot of people want to learn Spanish, it is not an isolated language.

In a near future many things will need Spanish. Don't be angry, I think you must be the learning Spanish like a new opportunity for your children, it is not bad...

It is just a NEW opportunity......

Answer 8

I think they should be getting more of a choice in which languages they want to study. In my area, the only language offered in the high school is Spanish. It does bother me that some of the others have been pushed aside to make room for this one. Despite what some other people have said, Spanish isn't that easy to learn. It has its share of intricacies and pronouncing words and getting the accent right isn't as easy as it sounds. A lot of native Spanish speaking people have very noticeable accents when they speak English. Why wouldn't it be the same for native English speaking people when they speak Spanish? Both languages have different speech patterns.

Answer 9

According to these websites Spanish is the fourth most used language after Mandarin, English and Hindi, French is tenth.

You are not going to get by with German or French in the Americas, Asia or Oceania and English is the most widely spoken language in Europe.

Answer 10

I think you are spoiling for a fight a bit here but I will express my opinion anyway. I think you'll find Spanish is most widely used over German or French, like it or not. If you want to get cross about your children learning a language that is actually useful, then make sure they speak their mother tongue correctly, as so many do not, and have them educated in Mandarin, as this is the next big language emerging in the business world. As others have said, if you don't like the fact that children's tv is pushing one language, turn it off! Experts say they shouldn't be watching more than 30minutes of it a day anyway!

I also have to say your tone is very inflammatory and could be seen as extremely offensive to the millions of Spanish speakers out there.

Answer 11

I'm in Scotland.

My eldest(14) has been studying German for 3 years and french for 2 years and has now been told that this can not continue at her new school she has to study Spanish & Italian.

My two youngest (8 &9) - Are having to study - Sign Language(every child in school need to learn this as there is 7 deaf children in the school) and they have polish for 2 lessons a week (as there are 20 children in school)

Their school is pretty small only 114 pupils. They love being able to say a few words in their friends own language- no matter what that language is.

They will start spanish lessons next year through the School and they are also been given a 6 month course on Arabic history incorporating some Arabic language.

I was taught basic Sign language/ German/French/Spanish and Arabic at School. I can honestly say that I have used Arabic and German maybe once or twice but I have used conversational spanish and french and sign language quite often.

My children like to watch Dora for light entertainment purposes. They like to repeat the spanish words which are fun and easy. I wish more language programmes were made though for slightly older children. Teach them when they are younger and i think it is so much easier for them to learn.

I feel any language that my children learn has got to be beneficial for them in life in this ever expanding multi cultural society we live in. We as parents have even returned to college for evening classes in Spanish & Italian so that we may help our children in their lessons.