Six thousand five hundred. That’s the number of languages spoken around the world. Three hundred eleven. That’s the number of languages spoken in the United States.

    So why are non-English speakers considered less intelligent than your typical, monolingual, American? Are people in the United States simply that ignorant?

    The United States of America does not have an official language. Though, most Americans speak English, 311 languages (as mentioned earlier) are spoken in the United States. So what does that mean?

    Let’s compare the United States to European countries for a second. In France, Portugal, Norway, Poland, and other countries, learning two foreign languages is requirement to graduate. While in America, it’s not even a requirement to learn one foreign language. Why? The more I look into this subject the more astonished I am.

    So many Americans ignore any culture that isn’t their own. Many stories arise about people getting upset while talking to someone who isn’t great at speaking English, or, which isn’t any better, just being flat out uncomfortable. People do have a right to their emotions, but they shouldn’t be uncomfortable, they don’t have a real reason to be.  

    My family is from China. They moved here when my stepmother was in her teens, and she’s now in her late 30s. Last Christmas break, we went to San Francisco to spend Christmas with our whole family and sight-see. We went to the coast of San Francisco, right by the ferry that takes people to Alcatraz. My family was speaking Chinese to each other. People around us would walk away faster or simply stared at us until we continued on our journey around San Francisco. But why?  

    Though America is disconnected to foreign countries there’s no excuse for many Americans to be uncomfortable with hearing languages other than English, and or, not understand them. More than 56 million people in the United States speak Spanish, and, according to the New York Post, there’s more Spanish speakers in the United States than there are in Spain. China is our country’s second biggest business partner. More than 37 million people in the United States spoke Mandarin in 2011.

    And everything I just said in the last paragraph is outstanding and that’s incredible progress, especially since in 1980 only 11 million people in the U.S. spoke Mandarin. But the discrimination has to end. I’m so tired of my family being looked at like they’re crazy. I’m tired of Americans thinking because we’re in the United States everyone must speak English perfectly. I’m tired of hearing people make fun of foreign language speakers. I’m tired of students ignoring other students who aren’t great at speaking English. If there’s anything I want to be taken out of this story it’s that someone who speaks multiple languages on a daily basis is smart. Not stupid.