By: Roberto Ruiz, Opinion Reporter

Welcome to a new, weekly addition to the opinion column where I ask for your opinions. This week’s question is:

“What other languages should we be able to learn here at WJPS, besides Spanish?”

Freshman Akiah James says that she’d like to learn other languages. To her, it’s easier to learn a language in school. As she puts it, “I’d like to learn other languages because I’d like to talk with people who don’t speak English or Spanish. It’d be easier to learn them here instead of learning them on a computer or at special classes.”

Another freshman, Joseph Arellano, gives us another thought. “Spanish is a big part of the United States, and we have a lot of immigrants. A lot of them are Hispanics. But, there’s also a lot of Asian immigrants, and it’d be nice to be able to learn a language like Chinese.” The reason we learn Spanish is to help us in the real world, so isn’t Chinese another valid language to learn?

Sophomore Ekaterini Stylianou has a more personal answer for us. Learning Greek would let her better connect with her family and heritage. She tells me that “I would like to learn Greek personally. I’m Greek, but never learned the language from my parents. It’d make life much easier.”

Junior Amelia Baffo gives us an answer like Joseph’s. To her, “I think we should add other languages like French, Italian, or Japanese. They’re interesting and I might use them everyday.” Language is as much a joyful interest as it is a useful tool to some.

Finally, sophomore David Antenor said. “I’d like to learn French or Italian.” When asked for further comment, he said “That’s all.”

That’s all, folks. As you can see, most of us would like to be able to learn more languages. Some may have different reasons, but mostly, students here at WJPS find languages practical and fun. If you have suggestions for future questions, please let me know in the comments section or email me at [email protected]