PreTeena by Allison Barrows for December 04, 2019

Jeri, actually caring about the coming school year? Guess Johnson is back working the farm!

Ach du lieber …

It’s easier to not learn Spanish than not learn German.

My daughter wanted to take French, but her middle school didn’t offer it; only Spanish. She could have switched when she entered high school, but she wanted to stick to one language to be able to take AP courses.

When I was in high school (lo those many years ago), languages offered included Spanish, French, German and Latin. This an average-sized high school in a less-than-average sized city in a less-than-average state. But it seems we have lost ground since then. The same school now offers only Spanish.

FORTRAN

English is the most difficult.

I’ve been not learning Spanish for over 50 years now. Recently I started not learning Japanese.

I was not learning French more than 50 years ago when I still rode my dinosaur to school. Still don’t know more than a few phrases.

“[German] ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it.” Mark Twain

I got trapped by that. I was stuck with French by the time I went somewhere where other languages were available.

Spanish and Italian. The Spanish got me through Spain and most of France. The Italian got me through Italy and the rest of France. Both of those, and English, got me through Germany, Denmark and Benelux.

Latin should be taught since it is still the base from which many languages sprang from. Also English is developed from German initially.

I believe that Thomas Jefferson said that if an American was to learn any foreign language, Spanish would be the one to learn.