And so it's just amazing to me how in general speaking I'm speaking in general in general, Americans just seem kind of passive about learning other languages. I know that in school you have language requirements. I took a year of French and then took three years of Spanish. So I know enough Spanish to be conversational, but I'm definitely not, quote unquote, bilingual. I can't interpret for you. I can't write something in Spanish for you
Nidhin George 🔷
@geo_rhymes · 4:40
There are many external factors, but the most prominent among them is, I think, having a partner who speaks a different language or a best friend who speaks another language. And that could influence you to at least learn to talk in that language, if not learn how to read and write. So I'll talk about how it is in my part of the world
Andrea Piggue
@Andrea_Speaks · 4:58
I'm not going to be able to learn it, so I'm not going to worry about it. But, yeah, I definitely think that we should learn other people's languages. We should learn more about their cultures so that we can better understand them, have more tolerance for them, um, and not think that everything is about us. Like, I get it. People like, oh, if you're in America, you should speak English
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Maurice Lekea
@malekea · 4:17
I'm here, I speak in English, I speak French, but I'm so learning Spanish, and it helps me, and I play with that. I speak more like it by five languages. It is so much fun to communicate with people from all background, from ethnic and all that. So, yes, you are right, we should be encouraged to speak other languages. But thank you. And thank you for bringing that topic on. Happy Fourth to all of you
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 2:34
Hey, Gio Rhimes. Thank you so much for the response. I agree. English is a global language, and Americans know that wherever they go in the world, that somebody will accommodate them with English. Whether it is an English translator, whether it is a menu that is in both the native language and English, or is an employee that speaks English, they know that, and so they don't feel inclined to really learn any other languages
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 1:18
I mean, there's something wrong with learning a new language, even if it's just out curiosity and because you just always wanted to learn a different language. Of course, I took language classes when I was younger, and being a musician, if you play written music, then you see a lot of Italian language throughout there as far as musical styling and stuff. So I've had to learn different languages just through that
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 1:02
Hello, Maurice. Thank you so much for your response. And I think that's an impressive amount of languages that you speak. I love that people from other nations thrive on learning new languages and cultures. And I guess in America we're a bit spoiled, we're a bit entitled to some degree, and so we just don't find it necessary to immerse ourselves in different cultures many times
Maurice Lekea
@malekea · 3:11
So I don't think the age factor is important. It's just a matter of interest. If you are not, you don't have a personal interest in learning another language. It's fine. Myself, I'm learning Spanish now. I don't have any. It's just the joy of learning. I like the sound of Spanish, so I starting to take classes a couple of years ago. So I'm not affluent in Spanish, but I can understand most and I can respond
Luce Fonrose
@ilovelucee · 3:55
They start you off young, and you're taking different classes in that language. Granted. Yes. One of the reasons why she's also fluent is because she would practice a lot with me and with other people and watch a lot of TV in English and things like that. So, yes, that helped her a lot more than the average person, for sure
I was a lot younger than the rest of them, so my mom would basically tell me what to say, how to answer her, and I slowly would pick up on it. As I got older, I just lost a sense of the language, but I always wanted to hold on to my roots, and I wanted to learn the Spanish language
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 2:04
And so we don't feel like we have to learn anybody else's language because ultimately, it's more to everyone else's benefit to speak English than it is for us to speak their language. And so everything you said was spot on. Thank you so much
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 1:45
Hello, Andrea. Thank you so much for your response. It was so insightful. And I agree with your point. Learning a new language just to stretch your mind and to broaden your horizons and challenge yourself, as you were saying, just to challenge yourself to learn something new, to master something new and something different
So that was her answer to me, that it was very discouraged even growing up in the school system when they moved into just a regular public school system, they found that it was very difficult. They faced a lot of challenges, and I guess as a way to blanket me from such things, chose not to. And really, out of a family of nine children, there's really like, the first three or four that spoke it fluently at the time
Erica Jean
@HeyItsErica · 2:37
It's. Hey, Tanya, this is Erica. And just like you, I took three years of Spanish in high school and I took a year of Latin, I believe. But I end up leaning more towards Spanish because well, I like how it sounded. But it's very important for Americans to learn different languages, especially if we have other people on the continents, on different continents. Learning English, I think it's just more just to increase your learning, to broaden your horizons