Schools’ language programs son del pasado
Some Americans don’t even know about fado.
When we start at twelve, fourteen:
kids are working,
speaking,
learning,
even teaching or
making friends in a language
other than the known,
either at home,
or on their own,
or with a tutor in Rome.
At six, my dad was already
aprendiendo Ingles,
but in first grade, reading in English
was barely expected of us in the U.S.
In Iceland, waiters,
haters,
skaters,
parents,
teachers,
all talaðu ensku
Their language is failing at gaining speakers,
so they must wear English like they do
their sneakers.
China has the opposite wentee,
They have maybe more than twenty
Yueyen in the one single, massive country.
Neighboring India is a linguistic chutney
Because so much lies under the surface,
like Hindi and Bengali
But how to communicate when each state
has its lore?
There are so few options, but we need more.
Hablas Español?
Parlez-vous Français?
Dicisne Latinam?
Few others are as commonplace as these,
our few choices leave us in severe need
of an improvement to talk
cum el mundo
There really is no good solution,
just como pollution.
We’d need a revolution
to improve this situation.