I remember a good deal of French, but I'm a teacher and I've been to France twice, so I've been able to use it with 8th grade French students as well as with French citizens.

I will say that there were parts of English grammar that I didn't really get until we learned the same things in French. Infinitives, conjugation of verbs, tenses, articles, direct and indirect objects-- none of them made as much sense in English class until I had to learn about it in French. And then it suddenly made sense.

There's a lot of cultural awareness that goes on in foreign language classes, too. I think it makes many students more open to the fact that other people and other countries are *not* just like the US.

The Pledge of Allegiance in other languages.
 

These are straight literal Babelfish translations (babelfish.altavista.com), so they may or may not be grammatically correct in their respective languages:

SPANISH:

Prometo lealtad a la bandera de los Estados Unidos de América y a la república para la cual está parada una nación debajo del Dios indivisible, con libertad y justicia para todos.

FRENCH:

Je mets en gage l'allégeance au drapeau des Etats-Unis d'Amérique et à la république pour laquelle il tient une nation sous Dieu indivisible, avec la liberté et la justice pour tous.

GERMAN:

Ich verspreche Untertanentreue zur Markierungsfahne der Staaten von Amerika und zur Republik, für die sie eine Nation unter dem Gott steht, der mit Freiheit und Gerechtigkeit für alle unteilbar ist.

ITALIAN:

Impegno il allegiance alla bandierina del unito Dichiaro dell'America ed alla repubblica per cui si leva in piedi una nazione sotto il dio indivisibile con la libertà e la giustizia per tutti.

JAPANESE (may need international code page to see the characters):

私は米国の旗とすべてのための自由そして正義と分割不可能な神の下に1 つの国家を立てる共和国に忠誠を誓約する

PORTUGUESE

Eu prometo o allegiance à bandeira dos Estados Unidos da América e à república para que está uma nação sob o deus indivisible com liberdade e justiça para tudo.

KOREAN (may need international code page to see the characters):

나는 아메리카 합중국의 깃발과 모두를 위해 자유 그리고 공정에 신의 밑에 1개의 국가를 서는 공화국에 충성을 기약한다

RUSSIAN (may need international code page to see the characters):

Я pledge allegiance к флагу Соединенных Штатов Америки и к республике для он стоит одна нация под богом нераздельным с вольностью и правосудием для всех.

GREEK (may need international code page to see the characters):

Δεσμεύω την υποταγή στη σημαία των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών της Αμερικής και στη δημοκρατία την οποία αντιπροσωπεύει ένα έθνος κάτω από το Θεό αδιαίρετο με την ελευθερία και τη δικαιοσύνη για όλες.

DUTCH

Ik verbind trouw aan de vlag van de Verenigde Staten van Amerika en aan de republiek ertoe voor wie het zich één natie onder God ondeelbaar met vrijheid en rechtvaardigheid voor allen bevindt.

CHINESE (SIMPLIFIED) (may need international code page to see the characters):

我承诺忠诚对美国的旗子和对它站立一个国家在上帝之下不可分以自由和正义为所有的共和国.

CHINESE (TRADITIONAL) (may need international code page to see the characters):

我承諾忠誠對美國的旗子和對它站立一個國家在上帝之下不可分以自由和正義為所有的共和國.

Learning other languages helps make you more culturally aware, not to mention it can benefit you later on in life. In my elementary school in what was formerly known as Yugoslavia, we started learning Russian in 3rd grade and English in the 5th. Some other schools learned French or German, but English was always one of the two. Looking back, I think Spanish would have been more helpful, as it is spoken by more people in the world.
Nowadays, if you go up to a random person in the street over there, they'll almost certainly know enough English to get around and give you directions=)
I honestly don't understand why hearing the Pledge of Allegiance spoken in another language would be considered offensive. I would have thought it would be rather neat to learn.

I often wished I had taken Spanish instead of French, but I wondered about the comment above, and did a Google search on the most used languages.

Of several lists and ariticles I read, the only true consensus seems to be that the most spoken and used language is Mandarin (Chinese).

The next closest point of (almost) agreement is that English is probably the second most used -- but probably the most "important" because it is the language of the most important country and the language of international commerce.

Some, however, give the second place nod to a dialect of Hindu.

Spanish generally ranked about third or fourth, although did place in front of English in one survey.

oh I was just checking to see if that was misinterpretted-I didn't mean to say Spanish was the most spoken in the world, but it is generally taken to be about the 4th most spoken language in the world. Mandarin is 1st I believe, and Hindi 2nd, although some would say English would be 2nd, although many of those speakers don't speak it as a 1st language=)

we don't have a national language

Lifesaver, I arrived on American (our) shores in the late 1980s, got my green card, took ESL, and got my citizenship finally when I was in college.

-Rudey

Congratulations on that. You obviously did very well on ESL.

A lot of times we don't agree, but you always state your case very well.

I just wonder why people come to a New Country and do not learn the language?

If you want to be here, then why not learn how to communicate?:(

I am sure if most of us went to another Country, We would try to be able to speak the language.

If you do not want to learn and live in your suriugote Country, then why come? Oh, to be Free from oppression, then learn some form of the Mores of your adopted Country. Works much easier that way!:)

Rudey, another side of You that I wasnt aware of? Where are you from?

If dont want to put on site, PM Me. Yes and I am interested. Nice to learn things and people!:cool:

I didnt mean it to be a dick. I meant that so many are ready to forget that none of us are from here. I think my favorite political cartoon that illustrates this showed a white business man telling an asian man that he 'needed to go back where he came from." The native american next to the white business man says to him (white guy) "Great! I'll help you pack." lol.

Everyone becomes really americanized after a few generations here anyway. I dont think speaking other languages is the end of the world.

Kudos to you for getting your citizenship. I have been to two ceremonies where friends got their citizenship. One was from Mexico, the other was from Bangladesh.

Just outta curiosity, how many languages do you speak? What was your native language. (PM me if you dont want to put it on the main board) If you came from an area that spoke many languages, do you feel it leads to the acceptance of others (by speaking multiple tounges) or do you think its divisive?