Nor will we, as adults, learn all of them.

Sure, we might master a few but it is impossible to be that multilingual. 

Language has been offered in schools for as long as we can remember but students have never been given the option of what they learn.

A recent study has finally questioned if we are teaching our children the right ones.

French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Wiradjuri are among popular options offered around Riverina schools.

Wiradjuri is native to this region so it’s natural our students learn this.

It’s important to our heritage and to the culture of thousands of people and students in the region.

But how do we choose what other languages to learn?

European and Asian languages plague the syllabus and it has parents and researchers wondering who decides that our children should learn these.

Is the decision based on travel, employment or popularity?

The Wiggles are singing in French, every second word out of Dora the Explorer’s mouth is Spanish – children are already exposed to different cultures from a young age.

And no one is arguing that they shouldn’t be.

The question remains that who, as they get older, decides what they learn?

Surely, children cannot be allowed to pick otherwise you would need multiple language teachers on hand in every school.

And the debate between teaching Asian or European languages proposes other questions – which ones?

Asian languages have so many different dialects and European languages are so wide and varied.

Even if students learned German in schools, chances are if they travel on Contiki, that knowledge is only going to help them for about two or three days of their trip.

Do schools start offering a Lonely Planet version of language classes where they teach the basics from multiple countries?

Children learn to say hello and ask where the nearest train station is.

That would seem to offer a much broader scope of knowledge.

What languages would you prefer your children were taught in school?