One of the things I find amazing about the Swiss is how many know 3 or more languages. I would say most Swiss know at least 2 languages. Typically German is the first language and then French or English would be the most likely second language. But then some people even know more languages, such as Italian, Spanish or the local language of the country they originally came from.
I guess it should not come as a surprise that most Swiss know more than one language, since the country has 4 official languages. The official languages are: German, French, Italian, and Romansch (the closet living language to Latin). Also, they are exposed to many more languages than Americans.
There are a lot of excuses as to why Americans do not need to know a second language. But I really think we should make more of an effort to learn another language. I think language education is a major flaw in our educational system.
I did not begin to learn about a second language until I was 12 years old. But it is something that should begin at a much earlier age. In Switzerland, children begin learning a second language at a very young age, such as 3 or 5. Our brains can absorb a language so much better at this young age. On top of that, the Swiss have a 9 year head-start on Americans on learning another language.
Sure, we are not as exposed to other languages in the US as the Swiss are. But Spanish has a huge presence in the US. And because we are a country of immigrants, pretty much any language you can think of is spoken in the US. If you live in a large city, such as New York or LA, it is not hard to hear several different languages spoken in the same day. So there are plenty of opportunities to use a language.
Maybe I am feeling this way because I struggle to learn German, particularly Swiss German, so I wish I would have learned German when I was young. But the world is becoming much more interconnected and smaller. Therefore it is time that Americans start making an effort to learn more than one language. We will become more well-rounded because of it and may even be able to get a job because of it some day.
