As a foreign language major, I am often on the defensive against statements like "There's so much to see in the United States. Why go anywhere else?" or "Anything worth seeing or reading has subtitles or a translation made," or "Everyone abroad speaks English anyway."

People ask me what I study and shoot me that "Have fun, you'll never use it" look, which implies I'll eventually need to get a "real job."

For citizens of a nation with its fingers in an extensive array of political pies, we are astoundingly and embarrassingly monolingual. Most Americans are strangely unashamed of this for the simple reason that they cannot see the value in learning a foreign language - or two, or three - something not at all uncommon in the rest of the world.

In fact, as we have seen with recent discussions across the country about making English the only official language of the U.S., Americans are not just uninterested but blatantly hostile to any sort of linguistic pluralism. I would like to present a few arguments as to why foreign languages are good for us as individuals and as Americans.

The first reason is, on an individual level, learning a foreign language both as children and as adults is good for our brains. We take for granted math and science, so emphasized in schools for their practical applications within scientific foundations and industry, expand our minds and force us to think in new, systematic ways.

"How useful it would be if only I could do mental math faster - I could figure out the tip on my bill or do my own taxes," we think.

The applications of foreign language learning for those not in business, or planning extensive global jet-setting, are less obvious.

The bane of many language learners is the dreaded task of rote memorization. I am sorry to tell this to you folks who love the touchy-feely, broad paintbrush approach to learning, but expanding your ability to acquire and retain information is a highly useful and marketable skill. Our dependence on calculators and personal organizers has left us stunted. People used to memorize "The Iliad," and I would be rather surprised if most of us could memorize a grocery list without forgetting something.

Foreign language learning both expands your memory and introduces you to concepts in grammar rarely addressed in English classes. I won't lie to you - I love grammar, and I am well aware I am in an even less than negligible minority.

Despite the biasing pleasure I take in refusing to end my sentences in prepositions, the ability to speak English correctly or the lack of said ability, is one of the most clear-cut criteria for being accepted or rejected for employment.

Don't believe me? Try to remember the last time you watched a weather report and heard someone say "Today, we have a high of 75, and there ain't a cloud in the sky" or went to a store in the mall, asked for a size 10 and was told, "Sorry, we don't got no more of those." So foreign language is good for your mind and your career.

Something else to consider as an American: The U.S. is currently party to 900 treaties. John Donne wrote "No man is an island," and metaphorically speaking, neither is a nation.

Most Americans may never leave the U.S., but in a world where our own interests are so linked to the interests of those internationally, our language barrier, which prevents us from directly - without translation and filtering by U.S. media - informing ourselves about world events, cripples us as citizens by depriving us of information, which influences how we vote to change U.S. policy.

The learning of foreign languages does more for that beautiful buzzword "tolerance" than any other kind of multicultural education available. In learning a foreign language, we learn how careful we must be with words to say what it is we would like to say.

The difficulties we encounter as new speakers humbles us to the experience of non-English-speaking foreigners in America. So often we take the meaning of words and language for granted and hear only what we want to hear of another person's views, in order to confirm our preconceptions.

A strong awareness of both the ambiguity and incisive power of words that learning a foreign language teaches can do nothing but broaden our minds as individuals and deepen our sense of empathy in a world of ubiquitous diversity.