Why Learn a Foreign Language?

This is a question we have been discussing a lot lately: "Why should we learn a foreign language?" Does it have advantages if we learn one? Or are drawbacks of knowing another language more than the advantages that a foreign language brings?

Another important question that I want us to tackle today is this: "How do we actually learn a foreign language? At what level we can confidently say that we know a language?" Most people agree that when a person is fluent in a language, then they know it. However, the education system today, and more precisely, the way languages are taught in schools, contradicts this idea.

In most of the important universities in the US, and most other countries, students fulfill their language requirement by taking one year of language classes. These classes surely provide a good insight about the language and teaches the basic grammar rules along with useful vocabulary, but it definitely does not achieve a higher level of proficiency in the language.

As Jay Mathews points out in his article called "Why Waste Time on a Foreign Language?," the foreign language teaching at colleges and high schools is not efficient. As he says, there are "high grades for little progress." It is actually quite easy not to learn a language and still get high grades in class, as the foreign language teaching today is based more on memorization and less on fluency and proficiency.

A question that I have is this: If we change the education system regarding the foreign language teaching, would the negative attitude towards foreign languages change? Instead of requiring one year of foreign language, if we require certain courses which aim at proficiency and fluency rather than generic language classes, would people think that learning a foreign language is actually useful?

Link to the article: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/04/why_waste_time_on_a_foreign_la.html