<huh? Bilingualism doesn't seem to have hurt the Canadians (many of whom learn both french and english), and doesn't seem to have hurt the Finns or the Swedes, many of whom learn Swedish, Finish, English and sometimes a 4th language.>
I have yet to meet an Anglophone Canadian who is equally fluent in French and English, although such individuals undoubtedly exist. The difference between European nations and the US is that in Europe there are several countries speaking different languages in close proximity to each other. Because there is virtually unrestricted travel and trade between them, they have multiple defacto "official" languages. In contrast, the US is a large, relatively geographically isolated country bordered on the North by a (mostly) English-speaking country with which it has very open borders and on the South by a Spanish-speaking country with which it has less open borders (for legal travel and trade, anyway). For that reason, English is by far the dominant language in the US even though it is not legally declared to be the official language by the government. Being from South Florida, I have been able to see the difference between the success rates of total immersion vs. bilingualism. I have Cuban friends and relatives who were taught both ways (the older ones were taught English in elementary school by total immersion while the younger ones were [and are] taught in bilingual classrooms). Those taught by total immersion picked up English very quickly, while those taught in bilingual classrooms did not. In fact, their parents had to replicate total immersion in English in their homes so that their children wouldn't fall behind in learning the language. The same is true with metrication. Provide people with conversion charts and it will occur at a glacial pace at best. Immerse people in the new thought structure of metric and they'll pick it up and learn to estimate and "think in metric" very quickly. -- Jason
