Continuing some of the thoughts from this post on learning foreign languages, while I think that learning languages other than your own is unambiguously a good thing, I think that we should be careful in not overestimating the economic value of doing so for Americans. Actually, I think that many if not most Americans already understand this and it’s just become fashionable in some circles to complain about how provincial Americans are.
The reality is that, if they’re looking for Cantonese or Arabic or Russian speakers, American companies will hire native speakers of Cantonese or Arabic or Russian even if their English isn’t perfect over native speakers of English whose school-learned Cantonese or Arabic or Russian isn’t perfect and, since English is easier to learn to speak than Cantonese or Arabic or Russian and the value of learning English is manifest there are significantly more Cantonese speakers who speak some English than there are English speakers who speak some Cantonese, Arabic speakers who speak some English than English speakers who speak some Arabic, and so on.
Learning languages is valuable for its own sake, because it enriches your life, and because it expands your horizons. Don’t overstate the economic case. It really is not as important for Americans to learn foreign languages as it is for Germans, Hungarians, and Albanians. Americans are very practical people and, correctly, apply themselves when it makes sense to do so.
