What % of american kids speak foreign languages?

Question

What % of american kids speak foreign languages?

Answer 1

Nearly 47 million people -- about 1-in-5 U.S. residents -- age 5 and older, reported regularly speaking a foreign language at home in 2000, according to the Census Bureau.

As for what percentage of students in the USA actually *speak* a foreign language (as opposed to take a year or two in such, which I don't think makes one a "speaker"), I would say its a tiny percentage. Sadly, unlike most other fully industrialized countries, there's no strong emphasis on students in the USA learning another language. I live in Germany, and about half of the people I meet here not only can speak and read in English, they can also speak and read in French or Spanish. When traveling to Scandinavia, I found that most people also spoke German. In the Middle East, I found all sorts of students who spoke both English, French and German fluently.  

It's particularly sad since, in learning a second language, your skills in your native language improve dramatically (actually, all of your academics improve overall).

Answer 2

Nearly all Americans take a foreign language while in High School. They are able to choose among several languages and can take up to three years worth of classes.

The issue then becomes 'use it or lose it'. Once you become an adult and don't have an opportunity to speak the language you forget it.

The US unlike Europe is not surrounded by countries that speak many languages. Canada is English with some French and then Spanish in Mexico.

So the ability to speak another language is as much a case of proximity as anything else.

Answer 3

When I was in other countries I learned enough to "get by".  In under 10 years I spoke German, Flemish, Korean and about 8 dialects of Montagnard languages.  I was never really fluent, because of the time factors, but I always spoke enough to "get by".  Now, back here I am insulted by Liberals and other Democrats for not "speaking other languages".  We have been invaded by Arabs, Russians and Mexicans and the Liberals expect "lazy Americans" to learn to speak to these people.  Well, I've STOPPED that insanity.  They are in MY country and can speak ENGLISH or just be ignored.

Answer 4

The Census is pretty close but I would say it is underestimated due to the illegal immigrants and also the newer crop of students who are taking at least one language in most public high schools from K-12 instead of just a few years in High School. The best estimate though to go by since there is nothing else out except the Census, 20% is a good number.

Answer 5

Probably less than 20%

The number is growing every year as more Americans realize the value of this. Also, the influx of children from countries that don't speak English is a secondary boost to this.

From the census bureau:

"Non-English Speakers

     In 2006, about 8 million more people spoke a foreign language at home than in 2000. Nationally, one in five (19.7 percent) over age 5 spoke a language other than English at home, compared to 17.9 percent in 2000. Among states, California (42.5 percent) had the highest percentage in this category, followed by New Mexico (36.5 percent) and Texas (33.8 percent). About one in 10 California households were linguistically isolated, which means everyone 14 or older in those households had at least some difficulty speaking English.

     Among the 20 largest metro areas, more than half of all people over 5 in Los Angeles (53.4 percent) spoke a language other than English at home. Miami ranked second in this category (48.6 percent), followed by San Francisco-Oakland and Riverside, Calif., where about four in 10 spoke a language other than English at home (not statistically different at 39.5 percent and 39 percent, respectively). (See Ranking Tables R1601 and R1603, and Subject Tables S1601 and S1602.)"

It also varies whether you mean fluency vs. "I took a class in Spanish a few years ago and never use it".....