???

[_Sam Harris]

http://civilrights.org/remote-page.jsp?itemID=33698751

Um, when I lived in Germany and was looking at German school as an option...I would have been taking tests in German...

[_asbestosman]

Dutch Universities will teach the entire class in English if just one student requests it. One person I know of who made such a request actually spoke French as his first language.

[_Sam Harris]

But they speak many languages in the Netherlands, don't they?

I just feel that if you are in a foreign country, you should learn the language of that country. I learned German in six months, and I had the culture of my own country surrounding me. What about people coming to this country speaking languages other than Spanish? Are tests being altered for them?

[_asbestosman]

But they speak many languages in the Netherlands, don't they?

The Dutch are often good at speaking English, and many also speak German. Quite a few know some French too. In general, Dutch is the national language, but some regions have special dialects such as Friesland which speaks Frisian--a language a bit in between Dutch and English in vocabulary and pronunciation. Speaking Dutch got me quite far with the natives. Speaking English got me far enough with immigrants who didn't yet speak Dutch. French would have been a good thrid language as I had a French speaking companion who was often able to hold better conversations with some people.

What about people coming to this country speaking languages other than Spanish? Are tests being altered for them?

I don't know. I think it's a tricky situation. On the one hand I'd to help people focus on getting an education. On the other hand, I'm not sure if it's practical to cater to all languages. Personally I think it'd be nice if more Americans spoke multiple languages. I think it reflects poorly on us when we go abroad and expect people to speak English instead of offering to speak some other international language too (maybe French, German, or Mandarin Chinese).