S/O: How do you choose language "importance"

[Hunter's Moon]

I'm a long way off from having children, I just like planning for when I do have them.

 

I've been thinking a lot about what makes a language important to learn.

 

My area, and many areas around us have large Spanish speaking communities. I know if I had learned Spanish fluently I would have a *much* easier time getting a job, even now. I can understand bits and pieces if spoken slowly, and say a few helpful things, but no where near fluent.

 

I also think Mandarin a very important language to learn. My father wanted me to learn Mandarin in high school and know I wish I had. I see now where it could have helped me and wish I had continued (took it in 8th grade, but had bad class experiences so chose not to continue).

 

I would love to begin my children in a Saturday Chinese School while they're young and teach them Mandarin exclusively until 2nd grade or so and then begin Latin. In about 5th grade I'd like to continue Mandarin, continue Latin, and begin Spanish and then in high school let them choose a modern language they like.

 

How do you place importance on what languages should be taken first?

[Mallory]

For us, the most important language is the one that will get done.

 

That might be based on what resources we have available, or what I feel the most comfortable teaching, or what I think they might actually become fluent in.

 

For a while (while we lived in a different area) we tried Latin. At that point I thought it was the only language that I could teach and we had no local rescources for anything else (lived in nowhere Kansas ;)).

 

Now we live in an area with a large hispanic population, I feel much more confident in my own spanish (I did take it for 10 years in school :tongue_smilie:), and they have the chance to actually speak it with native speakers.

 

At this point spanish is all we are accomplishing. But I it really is becoming a part of our life (to the point where I am considering teaching some subject in spanish to the older boys next year), and quite frankly two languages are enough for us now.

 

I know others do at least latin and modern language, or even 3 or more, but that is a long way off for any of my kids. Of course my oldest is only 11 so it is possible by highschool he would be ready for another (he'd really like to learn Lakota :001_huh:).

[WistfulRidge]

Our DS and other little one are still a few years off from formal language learning but my three "musts" are Latin, Spanish (because so many people in the US do speak it) and French (DH is Canadian and would like the DC to learn it - I have no objections, I love French). I can see a huge advantage to knowing Mandarin (but we'll see how much of knack each child has for languages before we drown them, lol), and ideally I'd like them to learn that as well, but if they want a fourth (or fifth, lol) language I'll let them pick.

 

If *I* was the one that was devoting time to learn languages (which I will, at some point) the top ones on my list are Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic and a variety of middle-eastern (both modern and ancient) dialects, but I'm a scholar of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean so those languages would be most useful to me.

[Amy Jo]

It's a cross between interest/use and feasibility. For example, I was set to start with German, but couldn't find materials for young children I was comfortable with. So we went to Spanish first, and when they are older (around 5th) they can do German using adult materials with their Dad's help (he speaks it fairly well).

 

For ancient languages, I'd say Latin is our focus. There are more materials and it's easier to integrate. I'd like them to be very familiar with Greek as well, but that's going to be our elephant (as in "you can eat an elephant if you take it one bite at a time").

[Dmmetler]

We picked Spanish 1st because of materials and familiarity-it would have been between Spanish and French, and in our part of the USA, there are many more resources and more opportunities to use Spanish.

 

I'd planned on Latin for all the usual "why learn Latin" reasons, but normally wouldn't have begun it until age 8 or so, except DD wanted to start at age 5. Greek got started early for the same reason-she wanted to do it.

[mom2bee]

Removed by the Author.

[MissKNG]

I put the most importance on German because my Dad was born in Germany so it has high family heritage value to me. Spanish would be second since it would be a marketable skill later on, imo.

[In2why]

Spanish will be our primary long term language because of the reasons you listed. Our nation is changing and despite the politicians it isn't going to change. By the time our young children are adults I believe that knowing Spanish will be a requirement for many jobs, as our nation will become more bilingual.

I also believe the research on Latin for creating logical thinking, and helping with other subjects, but it is my least 'required' subject. We get to it when we can, but it is the first thing to go if we run out of time, money, or energy.

[mommymilkies]

Well, where we've ever lived (a lot of places!) Spanish has not been helpful/necessary. I know a lot of people in the US speak it, but we know more Canadians that speak French, I have French friends, a good part of my family speaks French, and one of my dd's is an aspiring French chef. So French takes precedence with us. After that, I find Latin is important. I know that with background in either of these, learning Spanish (or Italian, etc.) is considerably easier so it gives them a boost even if they want to learn it someday. My children are obsessed with Greece, so they're learning Modern Greek, and I like German, so my oldest and myself are learning together.

 

So really, importance is very subjective.

[Giraffe]

Well, for us, it's relative - literally. My in-laws are Turkish so DD has to be able to speak Turkish and English. After that, I want her to learn French. I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to learn Mandarin or Japanese - she's obsessed with all things Asian.

[kchara]

For us, Latin is first, for all the reasons usually listed, then ancient Greek and Hebrew, to help with their study of the Scripture. After that, DH wants them to learn a modern language, probably Spanish, but possibly French, or any modern language they feel a particular calling for. I would also like to teach them Irish Gaelic, as that is our heritage, but it's not the highest priority for sure.

[JessieC]

That's a good question. I would like to teach my children Spanish for these reasons: I know a little from high school, so it's not entirely new to me; it is not terribly difficult/unfamiliar to English speakers; there is a decent chance my kids could use these skills while living in some places in the U.S.; and there are many countries we would like to travel to that speak Spanish. DH and I got married in Costa Rica and would love to take the kids back there someday.

 

I probably know even more German than Spanish (took in high school and college), so I guess the first reason I gave above is not the main one. For some reason it's hard to imagine my little ones walking around speaking German, lol.

[In2why]

That's a good question. I would like to teach my children Spanish for these reasons: I know a little from high school, so it's not entirely new to me; it is not terribly difficult/unfamiliar to English speakers; there is a decent chance my kids could use these skills while living in some places in the U.S.; and there are many countries we would like to travel to that speak Spanish. DH and I got married in Costa Rica and would love to take the kids back there someday.

 

I probably know even more German than Spanish (took in high school and college), so I guess the first reason I gave above is not the main one. For some reason it's hard to imagine my little ones walking around speaking German, lol.

 

 

I had to laugh at your thought on German. I lived in Germany for quite a few years, and though I am not fluent anymore, I can understand others conversations quite well. I thought about teaching the kids German because it would be the easiest for me, but then I thought about it and realized, that other than ease, it didn't make sense anymore.

[Matryoshka]

I had to laugh at your thought on German. I lived in Germany for quite a few years, and though I am not fluent anymore, I can understand others conversations quite well. I thought about teaching the kids German because it would be the easiest for me, but then I thought about it and realized, that other than ease, it didn't make sense anymore.

 

I'm fluent in both German and Spanish. I worked for 10 years in international marketing for high-tech firms. Used my German almost every day. Never used my Spanish once. Did learn how to understand a lot of French, and can now read in French quite well!

 

My own kids are learning German and Spanish because, well, that's what I can teach them!

Edited February 17, 2011 by matroyshka

[warriormom]

Husband and in-laws speak spanish so that is our first priority (other than english). I would choose latin next and maybe some french. We will see....

[Ester Maria]

I've been thinking a lot about what makes a language important to learn.

[...]

How do you place importance on what languages should be taken first?

Your question is somewhat ideological in nature - i.e. to answer it, you need to consider what is your overall ideology when it comes to education. What is the main purpose of education? To equipen the person with the tools needed to function in the society, contribute to it and choose his own path within it, allow a quick insight into various portions and aspects of human knowledge and focus on what's deemed as practical to know, likely to need? (A more "utilitarian" view of education, as prevalent in your part of the world.) Or, on the other hand, is it to hand down a certain complex cultural and symbolic heritage, regardless of its practical utility and even at the cost of neglecting some more practical skills, along with providing a historical-philosophical "(national, mostly) identity" to question and develop, allowing an insight into various aspects of human knowledge, but still focusing on its preestablished "grounds"? (A more "classical" view of education, as prevalent in my part of the world.)

Is education a process that one largely models for oneself, or it must take part in a fixed traditional framework? What is the place of language instruction inside each of the models - is a foreign language chosen or given? What are the criteria that are likely to dictate the choice - availability of resources and speakers? national tradition? economic importance? cultural importance? All of those are serious questions to consider.

 

I can only offer you my opinion, but as you might have understood by now, I have a radically different ideology behind education than what you're likely to encounter in your surroundings. As I believe that only a small part of education is to be incidental in nature, I don't believe the choice of languages is either to be dependent on things such as the current political and economic trends, or even demographic trends, but that it has to be deeply rooted in one's culture. For us, all three classical languages are simply non-negotiable, as they provide the basic starting point to even discuss the "identity" we're trying to communicate, understand, question and - should we decide to accept it - develop. With regards to modern languages, there is maybe some more choice in the air, but basically, they still have to be languages that are culturally relevant for our situation - i.e. the "big" and "close" languages of Western civilization. It's not so much French for French's sake, I could live with it being German, but not with it being Mandarin. Mandarin is a different world - a one to respect and admire, but, at elementary and secondary levels of education, to do so from far, from an education rooted in one's own cultural context. As such, Mandarin can for us be at most an elective, after-school type of activity, something to do for fun - not a part of regular framework. It's not a language I would request my children to learn, unless we were to live in an area where it's an official / everyday language, and even then it would more be out of respect for our host country than because we'd think it carries some inherent cultural importance for us.

 

These are tricky matters, to know your stance on them, you need to know your stance on several other things first.

[Rosie_0801]

I want my kids to graduate with enough proficiency in three UN official languages that passing the tests is a reasonable goal. If they can pass them on graduating from our homeschool, all the better, but I don't think that's realistic. If they could be at that point at the end of their tertiary studies, I'll be a happy mamma. I think that is possible.

 

English and French are the two most important UN languages and I think Arabic has the most bang for the time and buck spent. English and French open a lot of doors, but a third language opens even more. They'll have enough Auslan to get around in too, since dh is half deaf, but only as a home language. Neither of us feel it is worthwhile to devote school years to studying it. My brother has Arabic on his list of things to learn one of these years ;) so that will be a bit of extra supportive enthusiasm, and that can only help. We're going to do Latin too, because it's something that I can teach at home, dh is interested and he only has three interests in life so it would be terrible to waste one. It will also give a good boost to our English and provide a foundation to French when they start, I hope, in high school.

 

If they want to pick up another, I'd hope for Russian, Spanish, German or Polish (because I want to know Polish but am too busy preparing for homeschooling to learn it and that would give me a legitimate reason to boost it on my priority list!) but if they wanted to pick up Karen or Dinka, Arrernte (I thought that was spelled without that third r :confused:) or something, I'd be happy to donate some dollars to the cause.

 

:)

Rosie