The United States is one of the few places where less than 15 percent of people know more than one language. We are considered the "melting pot" of all different cultures and ethnic backgrounds, yet it seems like Americans don't even care enough to learn the languages of our multicultural friends.
Europe, for example, is home to many polylingual individuals. There, children as young as 3 years old can be heard speaking at least two different languages. It is something that is built into their culture and isn't out of the ordinary to know the language of your neighboring country. The bare minimum is actually learning English and your native language, but that's more than us Americans can say. For some reason, learning another language isn't built into American culture, which begs the question: Is this just an example of Americans being lazy?
Not specifically. Individual Americans cannot be blamed because for generations, we've been raised with no encouragement to learn another language. But this should change.
With advancing world curiosity, my generation is traveling more than ever. Which is thrilling, because traveling the world is one of the absolute best ways to discover yourself, appreciate what you have, and expand your horizons.
With this shift, let's start learning some languages. There's nothing like the feeling of being able to freely communicate with someone in a different language. Let's be the generation that fills our country with multilingual individuals. Not to mention that learning another language will improve your English, open a lot of doors to work/live internationally, all while making you an overall more accomplished individual. So get out there and learn another language, there's always time to start!