A bad joke to get us started: If you speak three languages, you’re tri-lingual. Speaking two languages makes you bilingual. But if you only speak one language, then you’re an American.

While I never thought of foreign language learning as a controversial topic, it became one while listening to a podcast on the topic of American’s becoming bilingual on KUOW’s “The Conversation” last night.

Here are some interesting news tidbits that I dug up:

• “Nearly 2/3 of Americans wish they’d taken more foreign language.” Scripps Howard News Service
• “Enrollment for Chinese classes has soared from 5,000 primary and secondary students in 2000 to more than 50,000 today.” Christian Science Monitor.
• A different article by CS Monitor also discusses how after 9/11, Arabic became the new “must have” language and Americans began to take note of the important role that language can play in globalization. Students began flocking to Arabic classes in droves. (One teacher even compared them to the “Sputnik students” of the 60’s, noting the similar surge in students wanting to learn Russian after the infamous satellite launch in 1957.) See similar feedback from our conversation with Seattle Arabic teacher Bill Farhat.
• However, many Americans are more than a little daunted by the 4-5 years it takes to learn Arabic. In fact, it takes almost three times longer to learn basic Arabic than it does to learn French. One plucky foreign affairs writer shares his personal struggle with learning to love such a difficult language in his Slate article “I’m Trying to Learn Arabic.”
• “Being fluent in two languages may help keep the brain sharper for longer.” Multiple studies on health and aging have shown that dancing, reading and playing musical instruments later in life can help ward off dementia. A study reported on by the BBC notes a similar benefit from learning a foreign language. (As an interesting side note, a different BBC article also notes that it make take more brain power to speak Chinese than English.)

(Big brains from language learning? Maybe so!)

Some groups such as U.S. English and English First are spear-heading legislation that, among other things, would virtually ban all use of languages other than English by federal, state and local governments. While this may seem to be a fringe movement, some opinion polls show as many as 85% believe English should become the official language of the United States. Other arguments I’ve heard against foreign language learning are:

• School-aged students need to focus on other “core” areas like math/reading/science
• English is the “world’s language” anyway so why learn anything else?
• It’s hard for students to gain fluency without complete immersion
• My future job won’t need it.

A few organizations that represent the other side of the coin are the ACLU, the Linguistic Society of America, the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Education Association and the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. In addition, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages recently noted a slew of positive correlations between bilingualism and intelligence, memory skills, problem solving abilities and attention controls (and goodness knows we all need better attention spans) just to name a few. The recent upsurge in bilingual education for infants and toddlers is indeed another indication that individuals (parents in particular) see a long term benefit in foreign language learning.

So, to come back around to our original question: Is bilingualism necessary for Americans? Ok… so maybe it’s not necessary, as in vital-for-life-to-exist necessary.

But it is becoming bilingual a great thing? It is important? Is it an unbeatable opportunity for personal growth, academic improvement, increased job opportunities, greater global and cultural perspective and a more thorough understanding of our complex and ever-changing world (not to mention ease while traveling abroad)? Those of us at TeachStreet are answering that question with a resounding “You bet!”