Over half the world is bilingual according to the Washington Post, however only a small percentage of America speak another language besides English.  

Davis High School offers multiple foreign language classes including Spanish and French. Many students participate in striving to conquer the skill of speaking another language. A challenging yet very rewarding task. 

But what motivates students at Davis High to learn another language? 

“It’s just kind of fun to see the similarities in language. Like everything kind of ties together, especially in romance-based languages, so just learning one is nice. You can learn a lot.” Said Canon Curtis. 

“I’m so happy when I can talk with other people. Like, the first days, the first months, I didn’t learn nothing. I didn’t understand, and that was hard, but now I can speak more. I can understand more with friends, and I like that part.” said Isabella Gonzales. 

A language barrier is no wall you must jump if you learn another language. This gives students the opportunity to start conversations with people you would never be able to do without learning another way to say hi. 

Learning the native tongue of another group of people also open the door to help another human-being in need. 

“If you ever get into a situation where you need to help somebody out that only knows another language then you can help them in that situation.” said Ty Harris. 

Jobs rely on it, and more importantly people rely on it. When you open yourself up to more than one language, you give yourself the ability to give back to a person’s sense of communication and cultural awareness. 

“What comes with language is also you learn a lot about the place where it comes from and just like the general living there. So, I think it’s important to keep educated.” Said Canon Curtis. 

“We have a lot of different people here, not just in the U.S., around the world. And different cultures, so if you learn another language, you can learn more about that culture, that country, that people.” Said Gonzales. 

Overall, learning a new language gives you a whole depth of humanity. You grow an arm of communication, you open doors to opportunities, and you gain a sense of humility. 

But at the same time, it shows you that it’s not that different what language you speak. We’re all people.” Said Harris.