Sophomore Cole Holiday speaks Russian, German, Ukrainian, A little Hebrew, Rusty on Arabic, and some Swedish. Photo by: Jaime Baca Ramirez

By: Jaime Baca Ramirez

At Plymouth High School a foreign language is required to graduate. While English speaking students need to learn a different language, there are those who can speak a foreign language fluently, though, there are some advantages and disadvantages with speaking more than one language.

It seems today that English speaking students are getting more and more interested in learning a different language. It could be because a friend of theirs speaks another language and that person would like to understand them better. However learning a new language can be very difficult because people have problems, like sophomore Cole Holiday who says “correctly saying words in a different language is difficult.” It can certainly be worth it, since being bilingual can provide opportunities for graduates.

Sandra Baca Ramirez is a freshman and speaks Spanish and English. Photo by: Sandra Baca Ramirez

The students that speak Spanish as their first language can have more problems than those who speak English as their first language.  Those who speak Spanish as a first language may be expected to speak perfect Spanish at home while trying to speak perfect English in school. Another problem that may arise with ENL students is that their new friends might only speak English. That causes problems because they are now expected to juggle both languages.  Freshman Sandra Baca Ramirez says that this causes problems with communication. “Yes, all the time I forget how to say words in Spanish and I can’t really pronounce the words in Spanish, but sometimes it happens to me when I speak English too.”
There are students that speak more than two languages like senior Leon Olszewski who speaks German, Polish, French, and English. He says that he sometimes forgets certain words from his other languages. Like Olszewski, Holiday says he forgets parts of his other languages if what he is trying to say is too long. Students who speak more than two languages can have more problems remembering their different languages.