Language Learning

"It's important to me to work in my own language now and then. I love English, but you can never learn to master a foreign language if you're not brought up with it."

Max von Sydow

The American education system makes foreign language learning a requirement for all students. The lessons begin in elementary school and continue well into high school. The memorization of grammar rules and vocabulary lists is aided with the use of flashcards. Quizzes are given and tests are taken with no actual learning occurring. The teaching methods for languages are varied with, generally, little success.
Most kids who take a language class in high school have minimal to no interest in adding bilingual to their repertoire, they take the classes for graduation requirements or college applications. Student have no interest because of the low success rate that stems from poor teaching of the material. However the problem is not with the teachers themselves, it is with the way it is taught. Most bilingual people I have met, grew up being taught two or more languages. The immersion in multiple languages from a young age help connect words to their meanings rendering vocabulary lists useless. The intricacies of pronunciation and grammar are learned through constant communication with people who already have fluency.
Schools in America have the right idea, starting the teaching young, but they lack the immersion and interaction that is needed to learn a language. As the world becomes more interconnected, language knowledge will become increasingly important. Schools in Europe use immersive and interactive teaching techniques with great success, success that I hope will be mirrored by other countries, including ours, in the future.