Many parents would like their children to master a second language, but few kids in this country do. Only 9 percent of adults in the U.S. are fluent in more than one language. In Europe that figure is closer to 50 percent. “The United States is a long way from being the multilingual society that so many of our economic competitors are,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at a meeting on foreign-language education last December.

Part of the problem is that American students are often not exposed to a second language until high school, and even then foreign-language training is rarely compulsory. Numerous studies have shown that children are more likely to learn a second language if they begin early, but in 2008 only a quarter of elementary schools in the U.S. offered some form of foreign-language instruction, according to the Department of Education.

This article was originally published with the title The Bilingual Advantage.

1 Comments

1. 1. mesmoiron 02:49 PM 7/23/11

   From experience it's true. Hours of German TV channels from 3 year up, gave an headstart. But the bottom line is to submerge yourself. To expose to another language without translation. A child is good at picking up patterns unconsciously. For adults this can work; but than they should look for friends that only speak one foreign laguage. Satelite or more slowly spoken programs could increase understanding; because the show situations and patterns more often. This is much more difficult today because of the hyper way of talking. Life is in fast forward, however mastering a language takes time.

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