Why Does Europe Know More Languages Than America?

During our trip to Amsterdam, we heard many service industry employees speak three different languages while conversing with us and other customers.

While Dutch is the official language in the Netherlands, almost everyone we met spoke English. Then the same person who sold us a card would effortlessly speak Spanish or French. While English is the language of international business, it was absolutely crazy to hear someone speak that many languages in a short period of time.

Compared to my experience in America, my experience in Europe was that a lot of people knew a lot of languages. There’s a bias to that experience, of course — we interacted a lot with the tourism industry, so of course people who work in tourism are probably going to know a lot of languages.

In America, I meet very few people without an immigrant background who speak multiple languages. Yes, I can fluently speak English and Chinese, but I learned Spanish in school because I thought it would be the most helpful. I can read and write in Spanish, but unfortunately, I can’t go toe to toe with native Spanish speakers.

English-speaking tourists are very coddled because English is the most spoken language in the world. The fact is it’s not like Europeans know a million languages — over half of people in the European Union (56%) can speak at least two languages, so it’s not like everyone is multilingual or bilingual. By contrast, only 20% of Americans know two or more languages.

And Akos Peterbencze pointed out to me it’s easier to learn another language when languages are pretty similar. French and Spanish have 75% lexical similarity to Romance languages, and the lexical similarity between my two languages (English and Chinese) is, well, probably much lower.

Why are Americans lagging behind in language use?

Well, part of the reason is that English is a universal language. You can go to almost any civilized part of the world and encounter someone who speaks English, who can help you out. America is the richest and most powerful country in the world, after all. Any country where English is not the primary language needs people to learn English to compete on a global scale.

According to Alberto Nardelli at The Guardian, the countries in Europe where people are least likely to speak a foreign language are the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Portugal. Two of those countries (the U.K. and Ireland) have English as their main language.

How did I learn two languages? By immersing myself in two different cultures, two different worlds. I grew up in a Chinese household that spoke Chinese. I grew up in America, so there was no way in hell I could succeed in my education without knowing any English. If I didn’t know Chinese, I couldn’t talk with my parents or my grandparents.

I learned two languages not because I tried to, but because of my upbringing. I have tried using Duolingo and taking advanced Spanish classes in college. I did well, but the only real way I can really learn Spanish and learn to speak it fluently is, well, conversing with more Spanish speakers. It would be helpful to move to a Spanish-speaking country.

That is not the only way.

More people are multilingual in Europe because it’s a necessity rather than a luxury

The IBS (International Business Seminars) says the data on America’s lack of bilingualism is overblown, but Europe is doing better than America because Europeans have a different attitude towards language.

In Europe, there are many countries that require students to learn two foreign languages, and American schools do not have this requirement. In Europe, many countries have students start learning second languages when they’re in primary school — in America, most foreign language programs start in secondary school.

But it’s more than just the education system. Proximity and geography play huge factors in encouraging bilingualism. Countries in the European Union are extremely close to each other. You can take a train for an hour and be in a different country that speaks a different language.

By contrast, very few Americans can just take an hour train ride and be able to visit Mexico whenever they want.

Bilingualism doesn’t just help you converse with people — it makes you a more appealing applicant. It’s not like that doesn’t happen in the U.S., but IBS argues the effect is more pronounced in Europe since someone from Poland can better seek out a job in France if they know French. Again, most Americans are not going to Mexico to seek out jobs.

In terms of necessity, it is so difficult for an immigrant in America to succeed and get by without knowing any English. Believe me — my grandparents don’t know any English and they’re miserable here.

Since a foreign language is often a luxury rather than a necessity in America, IBS argues total immersion is the best way for an American to learn a foreign language. It’s great for an American to spend a lot of time abroad, and become comfortable speaking in the native language instead of conversing in English. Of course, many Americans go abroad and still only know English.

Takeaways

For many Americans trying to navigate daily life, I’m sure multilingualism is the least of people’s concerns. If you’re trying to pay the bills and put food on the plate, trying to learn another language can seem like a privilege.

But I will say each language has many different nuances. There are words in English that are somewhat impossible to describe in Chinese, and vice versa. There are phrases there is no direct translation for. That’s why Google Translate can never fully capture the art of a language, only speaking the language and immersing yourself in it can.

Still, I can’t imagine someone being such a proficient polyglot they can speak four different languages in five minutes, fluently and with skill. It’s not only impressive and sounds good at parties, but it’s useful. I’m not the most resume or career-focused person, but you can’t deny “fluent in five languages” doesn’t look good on a resume and makes someone a very appealing applicant in a variety of industries.

The average American knows fewer languages than the average European because they don’t need to. So much of the world centers around America as a superpower right now — America’s language, America’s politics, America’s world interests.

You can say what you want about that, but for Americans trying to become multilingual, it’s a shame.

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This post was previously published on The Partnered Pen.

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