Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.

Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.

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Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.
Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.
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Learn a language

Mandarin, German, or French. But maybe Spanish. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

Bill Murphy Jr.'s avatar
Bill Murphy Jr.
Jun 29, 2021
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Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.
Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.
Learn a language
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A French guy I knew thought he was pretty funny. He told a joke that went like this:

What do you call someone who speaks two languages?

Bilingual.

And what do you call a person who speaks three languages?

Trilingual.

But what do you call someone who has only learned one language?

American!

Touché. It’s true; about 80% of Americans speak only one language, according to the US Census Bureau. Compare that to 44% of Europeans who only speak one language—a majority of Europeans (56%) are at least bilingual.

But some research suggests that maybe it’s time for future generations to think differently. We'll start with a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research and Opinion in the United Kingdom:

  • They interviewed 2,000 British adults who had children under 18 years old, trying to determine how many of their children spoke languages other than English.

  • Then they surveyed 500 British business leaders, asking them to predict which foreign languages they thought kids should study in order to…

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