Home / Blog Posts / Foreign Languages Extremely Useful In America

Foreign Languages Extremely Useful In America

TV, movies and music show United States of America as a solely English-speaking country while this cannot be further away from the truth. What people tend to forget in the face of mainstream media is that there are over 340 languages spoken everyday in American Homes. USA is not a monolingual nation. It is not country where only English is spoken. It is a multilingual land where many citizens are aware of the benefits of speaking more than one dialect.
When seen statistically, USA is the most multicultural country on Earth which translated to the most linguistically diverse too. Millions of immigrants that come to the land bring with them tongues from all over the world. Heritage speakers and natives of North America have their own dialects. American made creoles and hybrids created a language unique to them. The result is when you scratch the surface, you find as many vernaculars as possible being spoken in the USA along with their related cultures.
The linguistic diversity means that any person who lives in the States or is thinking of travelling extensively would benefit a lot from learning another tongue. Though English is enough to take you from coast to coast, it doesn’t hurt to know a few words and polite phrases in some other vernaculars. There are about 349 foreign lingos in USA but one can do well enough by picking up just two of them.
· Spanish is considered the second language of United States Of America, at least unofficially. Almost one in six American speaks Spanish either because it is the native language, a learned foreign vernacular or it is a heritage lingo. A heritage language is a tongue that is spoken at home with parents. Knowing a few basics of the dialect can smooth the way specially if you are citizen of the country.
· The next language that can turn out to be extremely useful in America is French. We are not talking about the French heard in Paris or Quebec, we are alluding to Louisiana French. This is a group of dialects of French and French-based creole that is commonly used in the state. Most of the dialects do not have a strong connect to each other, but are often lumped in one category. The most often used variety is Cajun French. It is the lingo of the Cajuns of Southern Louisiana. The language is a New World mix of Colonial French, local Native American languages, English and Acadian French that was first spoken in USA by settlers from French Canada.
Though English and a few phrases of these two other languages will make any person more than competent to navigate their way around USA, one other vernacular can also be mastered – Cantonese. In Chinatowns of the big cities like New York and San Francisco this native of China lingo is spoken at a daily basis. Learning it will help those who aim to live in these cities or mingle with Cantonese speaking immigrants.

About Mabel Kennedy

Check Also

Group of students holding books summer language class

3 Best Colleges To Learn A Foreign Language

While learning a foreign language has become simpler due to online courses, the best way …

Leave a Reply