By Cooper Hofmann

It feels as though the majority of Granada Hills Charter (GHC) students take Spanish. Spanish is comfortable as it is a language we are familiar with in Southern California. Spanish is a friend. That’s a fine point, but at the same time, the other language teachers struggle to fill a room with students in classes like Arabic or Mandarin. GHC language programs are struggling, but why?

In my experience, I really enjoy languages. French, for example, is a really fun language. It’s nonsensical from an English perspective, but that gives it a weird charm. The verb to need, “devoir,” is also the word for homework. The French don’t just say 80, they say ‘quatre-vingt’ (four twenties). Why can’t they just say 80? It’s haughty, it’s pretentious. But, it’s also really French. 

The way a language structures itself is a gateway into the culture and attitude of the people who speak it. For example, Mandarin is a very precise language, so it focuses a lot on cadence, and on being clear with how you speak.

“The beauty of Mandarin lies in its complexity and the way each character tells a story,” TK-8 Mandarin teacher Maggie Chen said. “The characters are not just phonetic symbols; they are rich with meaning and historical significance. When students learn Mandarin, they’re not just learning a new way to communicate; they’re gaining insight into a culture where language, art, and history are deeply intertwined.”

It’s easy to see the inequality between language programs. The Spanish program is a hulking goliath with a staggering 14 teachers, whereas Mandarin only has one.  The same could be said with Korean, Arabic, and ASL. Despite being the second biggest program, French has the honor of hosting two teachers. 

To put this all into perspective, in terms of staff, Spanish outnumbers every other language combined. If you combine all of the aforementioned languages I listed, they make up six teachers. 

Speaking Spanish can mean getting better wages in some jobs or even gaining access to L.A. culture. But, on the other side, many choose Spanish, because it was recommended by a counselor, or because they’re already familiar with the language. Some even seem to have this apathetic lack of care; they take Spanish because they need a credit, not because they’ll necessarily be using it. 

GHC should be trying to push these foreign language programs to students so that they can learn more about other places. If anything, it almost feels as though some people don’t even know we have so many languages. It was only recently I learned that our school offered Korean.

One can only hope that in the future, school administrators and counselors can work to drive attention toward languages like Korean, Mandarin, ASL, and French. We should work toward making programs for even more languages like German or Portuguese. If I can hope for anything, it’s for students to start branching out, and start exploring their options with languages.