Sara Ziegler recently wrote about her experiences in Germany in the Daily (Oct. 10).

I agree with her conclusion that the more languages we know, the broader our outlook usually becomes.

I wish to comment on her criticism of the U.S.A. Germany has sins of its own. There are now some eight million “guest workers” living in Germany, most invited from Turkey during Germany’s post-war labor shortage following the war years.

Yet hardly anyone in Germany studies Turkish.

Turkish legal aliens for some 30 years now are facing deportation, and their children born in Germany and now grown may also be deported.

Every country has its good and bad points. The U.S.A. did nothing to stop the extermination of six million people, while we confined our racial hatred to Irish Catholics and blacks and killed them individually.

Success in learning is easier when you’re young.

Foreign language study begins in the primary grades abroad. Motivation is especially high among European students because the borders of other countries are close, making the likelihood of using another language very real.

It is a wonder to me that so many Americans study another language even though they may never use it.

E. T. Mericle

ISU retiree

Ames