zib
That little baby needs kisses on the head and rubs on the belly.
As an American, I’d agree to a certain point. It is sad that foreign language skills are not terribly well emphasized in the US, but finding instruction in languages you might want to learn can be challenging depending on the language, unless it’s something common such as Spanish, French, or German. I work on my language skills using online resources as much as I can, but I’m also an adult with a full time job, so finding time is also a challenge. Also, unless you’re surrounded by people actively speaking the language, it can be exceptionally difficult to build those skills and hang on to them for very long. I know a little Danish, a little Russian, a little Finnish, a little Greek, a little Japanese, a little Mandarin, but lacking the ability to immerse myself in environments where those languages are spoken, I’ll likely never get good enough to speak any of them anywhere close to fluently aside from knowing a few phrases at best.
And to your point about how language learning should be mandatory, it’s a nice idea, but when I went through school, it was mandatory to take at least one language course. I took French in high school. I didn’t enjoy it and don’t remember a damn bit of it. Most of the kids I knew took Spanish. Nearly all of them also didn’t retain any of it. So, it’s more than just making instruction mandatory, schools need to get kids genuinely interested, otherwise none of it will stick.
Top half: Just a baby
Bottom half: Still just a baby