With the world rapidly becoming more connected via the internet and easier to travel via planes and cars, why is the world still so divided? Political and social differences aside, there is only one key distinguishing factor that everyone has: the language we all speak. With language being human’s main form of communication and almost everyone being able to contact anyone, anywhere, why do so many people only know one language? 

Only being able to speak one language is really only the norm in one place: the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 20 percent of Americans can converse in two or more languages, compared with 56 percent of Europeans. Most Europeans speak at least two languages, but Americans do not. 

Why is this the case? It is true that Europe has many small countries in very close proximity to each other, all speaking different languages, but that should not discredit them. The United States is known as the melting pot of cultures: New York City’s famous Chinatown and Koreatown are great examples. Nevertheless, we still have a very small multilingual percentage. I believe this is due to a few factors, the main ones being that the United States did not grow up around other languages, and the United States fosters a culture of nationalism and conservatism that is not present anywhere else to the degree it is here which reflects on our lack of multilingualism. 

One of the main reasons I believe the U.S. is not multilingual is because the U.S. is, in a sense, an “only child” of a nation. As a direct colonization from Great Britain, which is also not as multilingual as some parts of Europe, the U.S. was never really exposed to other cultures or languages. When arriving in North America for the first time, the culture was already less developed than in the rest of the Eastern world. There were people here, yes, but the United States was not the largest fan of them, as some of you may know. 

Thanksgiving is less thank-based than some people think. So, when the colonizers from Britain made it here, they killed all Indigenous people directly or indirectly by spreading diseases. This meant that the American colonizers did not grow up being exposed to other languages, and the lack of any other countries intervening in North America led to a primarily English nation. It is similar to how Latin America is primarily a Spanish-speaking region; the Spanish conquistadors took over the land of the Incas and Mayans, which is why these areas now speak Spanish. Europe does not have this problem because of its age. So many countries speak different languages that it is difficult to live in Europe without being multilingual. In the U.S., you can travel from California to New York City and be in the same country, speaking the same language. In Europe, this is simply not the case. 

The other reason I believe that the US is not multilingual is because of the sentiment of nationalization that is so common here. We all are told to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The 45th President of the United States’ big selling point was that he would build a wall dividing the United States from Mexico. 

Why do this? Because this country fosters a culture of nationalization and is offended by any other country being seen as better than the United States. It is why the blatant racism from Donald Trump won him the election in 2016. Many Americans agree that the United States is the best and we should keep everyone else out. In many ‘southern’ states like Alabama, Georgia, and Texas, rural areas do not even try to hide it. Texas had the second-largest amount of race-based hate crimes in the nation. This hatred for things non-American is why multilingualism is so uncommon here.

So, is it important to be multilingual? I believe so, even though so much of the United States is not. Especially if any students want to go to places like France, Spain, China, or India, it is a good idea to try and learn the languages of these places. Especially given India is now the largest country in the world, with China close behind, it is vital to learn the languages native to these countries. Learning a language that you can culturally connect with can also be an important part of someone’s life. Senior SPHS student Pilar Tenore explains that she is “a different race, but [she] does not speak that race’s language, so [she thinks] it is important to learn so we can be more culturally ambiguous.” Sadly, we can only take Spanish or French at St. Petersburg High School. This is still helpful, though because Spanish is the 4th most spoken language and the language of the closest countries to us. However, given that only 56 percent of Americans have a passport, it is unlikely that you will ever use a language besides English in the U.S. I mean, we as a nation have gotten this far without needing more than just that.