Learning a language in the USA:

* Many people take great pride in only speaking English

* Foreign language education usually begins around 13, if then

* Gifted students are often steered toward a dead language, Latin, instead of one they can use at the bodega down the street

When we moved home after 5-6 years in Asia, my Mom was aghast to learn we would have to wait until high school for more language classes

School counselors:
“Your daughter speaks Chinese? Let’s put her in Latin”

“I think she enjoys speaking to living people” Mom tried not to say

They stiffened.

“You should know that we are in the center of the Latin belt!”

“How is that remotely useful?” Mom asked.

They sneered at her foolishness. “It vastly improves SAT scores.”

“I think she’ll do fine with flash cards and Spanish.”

That was my Mom’s Midwestern “Latin Belt” version of a Harper Valley PTA moment, I suppose

Note: I did kick ass on the language portion of the SAT

BUT it was very hard for me to transition to Spanish, which has verbs with many tenses, after Chinese

中文 grammar is more a series of context and patterns than rigid rules and tables.

So thank Mom I didn’t take Latin!

But I hear Latin texts feature sex, murder, and crimes against nature more often than Spanish ones

I got to read about tourists desperate to find the library, despite only being in Madrid for 3 days, lacking any ability to read the language, and having yet to see el Plaza Mayor

@epiphanist1248 to your point...