Question: Education in the US of A: how are languages learned? Hello, on the french yahoo answers, someone was saying that, in the US, kids do not have to learn any foreign language.. What is the situation? What languages are available for the kids to learn, what percentage actually learns one? Etc...

Answer: I took a miliatry language class in the Army (Russian) and one of our instructors told us, "There are more teachers in Russia, teaching English, than there are students in the US, learning Russian", not too hard to figure out, Russian isn't offered in most American High Schools. However, this is part of a larger problem.\n\nThe typical American High School (grades 9-12) offers French, German. and Spanish. Some others offer Japanese and Latin, but that's about it. Russian, Chinese, Italian, Dutch, Farsi, etc., are completely ignored.\n\nMost American High Schoolers are required to at least TAKE a foreign language course, They don't have to be proficient, but they do have to get credit, in order to graduate. By contrast, in Holland, where they speak Dutch, students are REQUIRED to learn English.\n\nAs far as how many US students go on to become language teachers, work for the government in the Diplomatic Corps, or as an interpeter for the U.N., I dont have exact figures but I would guesstimate maybe .25% (one quarter of one percent)
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