Some Americans are poor at speaking foreign languages. It's a fact. In any city around the world, you can find American tourists asking for the restaurant menu in English. At best, they will try to say a couple of phrases they 1 from a phrase book, but they will stop making an effort the moment they discover the waiter knows a little English.
I read a survey once that found that only 20 percent of Americans could speak a language other than English in their own homes. So 2is this? I think laziness is possibly the key factor（因素）. There is a general feeling among Americans that “Everyone speaks English nowadays, so it's not worth learning other languages.” In multinational companies（跨国公司）, English is often the official language of communication within the company. 3, Americans who live abroad can always find other American people to talk to or to watch American TV with – all reasons for never bothering to learn the local language.
The situation in American schools doesn't help. In 1997, about 75 percent of American public middle schools offered foreign languages. Today, that number has 4to 58 percent. And even the few students who study foreign languages at school don't spend as many 5of classes as students in other countries. I think it is also a 6that American children don't study English grammar any more, which makes it more difficult for them to learn the grammar of another language.
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