Claim: Non-English-speakers have as little need to learn English as English-speakers have to learn another language. Thoughts?
It seems to me most people assume that while native English-speakers have no need to learn another language, native speakers of other languages do need to learn English. But based on my real-life experience living in a non-English-speaking country, that claim doesn't ring true at all. Here in Norway, almost everyone does learn English, but that's because it's a mandatory subject in school. The vast majority of people never need English for anything, exactly like the vast majority of Americans never need Spanish for anything.
No matter whether they're rich or poor, hold a high-level position or work a menial job, are highly educated or didn't even finish school, the vast majority of Norwegians have zero use for English in their jobs. They don't need it in their private lives, either: while most are interested in English-language content, all the Netflix shows or movies they want to watch are subtitled in Norwegian, and all the books they want to read have been translated into Norwegian. Even amongst people with a high level of English, reading English books in the original or watching English TV without subtitles is a minority phenomenon. The Internet is bursting at the seams with Norwegian-language content. When I do use English, it's purely on a hobby basis, exactly as when an American uses their French.
The fact that native English speakers usually don't speak another language, while lots of people in non-English-speaking countries do speak English, is often explained with the assertion that the former don't need to learn another language, while the latter do. But that just doesn't seem to be true. On the contrary, the vast majority of people in any country only need to know the local language and have no need whatsoever in their daily lives to know another language.
So why are Americans monolingual while Norwegians are bilingual? It can't be because Norwegians need to be bilingual while Americans don't. My tentative conclusion would be that Norwegians are bilingual because they are required to learn English by the school system and are motivated to do so, while Americans are monolingual because they are not required to learn another language and lack the necessary motivation. If Americans were required to fully learn another language and could muster the motivation to do so, they would be as bilingual as Norwegians. If learning Spanish were to become "the done thing" in the US as much as learning English has become "the done thing" in Norway, the majority of Americans would have excellent Spanish skills despite having as little need for Spanish in their daily lives as Norwegians have for English in their daily lives.
Basically, "we don't need it" isn't a valid excuse not to learn another language. In all countries, only a minority of the population actually need to learn a foreign language, but in a lot of countries, the majority nevertheless manage to. Any English-speaking country can just decide that it's going to become bilingual. If we can do it, so can you. Do better, native English speakers! You have no excuse.
Thoughts?
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