Multilingualism is obligatory.

Thank you for your arguments. I find this topic very interesting, as I myself am multilingual, fluent in Thai, Chinese, English, and Spanish (though my Spanish is rough from not using it often). I am also familiar with Burmese and Taiwanese, though not as fluent.*Disclaimer- Pro has provided two definitions for the term "obligatory". One states that it is "required as a matter of obligation" and the other states that it is "mandatory". Required as a matter of obligation is different than mandatory. A citizen is obligated to vote, however, he or she may choose not to vote. If it is mandatory for a citizen to vote, he or she must vote, and cannot choose to abstain. -Because Pro has not clarified which defnition he intends to use, it is implied that I am allowed to choose. -I choose the latter: mandatory (adj): required by law or rules; compulsory. [1]Rebuttals:-So far, none of Pro's arguments support his BoP that multilingualism should be enforced by law in every country. "The advantages and benefits of being multilingual are enormous."-Okay. But that doesn't mean being mulitilingual should be made obligatory. There are advantages and benefits in having a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables. Does that mean that the government should enforce a system in which they force feed fruits and vegetables to us and deny us fast food? It should be our choice."Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter."-It should be one's own choice whether he or she wants to be smarter or not. And it should be one's own choice how he or she wants to be smarter. They don't have to be smarter, and they don't have to be smarter by learning another language. You would likely get smarter from taking more difficult and challenging courses that interest you in school. But you are not obligated to if you don't want to."You can connect with more people, cultures, and nations, whether you are on business, simply travelling, or need to communicate for other reasons. My opponent surely acknowldges this..."-Yes, I "acknowldge" that knowing more language allows you to connect with more people and cultures. But what if you don't want to connect with more people and cultures? What if in your life, you never get to even see a foreigner? In Thailand, where I live, there are hill tribes up in the mountains. They speak one language, which is a dialect of Thai. They have never had contact with a language speaker and most likely will not. They have no need to be multilingual, and on the off chance that they meet a foreigner once in their life times, is it really worth all that hard time learning to speak another language so that you can have one conversation with one person once in your life? Even if they have more contact with more foreigners, it is not worth the time to learn a new language."Sadly, the person does not get his coffee. Why is that so? He cannot speak German."-Yes, if a person travels to another country, it would be good for him to learn the language of the local people in the area he is going to. But it should not be obligatory. He can choose for himself whether he wants to learn the language or not. It's his own fault if he can't communicate. -Furthermore, what if he's only in Germany for one day? Is a cup of coffee really worth the time to learn German? I looked it up and found an online forum on language, and the people there discussed how long it took for them to learn German. A person said he plans to take 3 - 5 years! Another person said he couldn't learn it even after 10 years! I'm sure the tuition fees for German lessons would significantly cost more than a cup of coffee."It is not necessarily have to be the German language in question; it can be Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, or any other language, in fact. I am not saying which specific languages one should learn, but a knowledge of a language or two besides your native one will help you immensely."-In your provided example, it does necessarily have to be German. If a man knew Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and five other languages, he would still not have been able to converse with the man in the coffee shop. Therefore, knowing more languages does not necessarily "help you immensely". For example, the hill tribe people I mentioned before. Knowing a European language besides Thai would not help them because they won't have a chance to converse with any Europeans. Of course I am not discouraging them to learn another language. I think it is great! But if they don't want to, which they won't because they will be too busy farming and working, they shouldn't have to."He is monolingual. He dies a monolingual. This man's life was a failure...If a person lives and dies a monolingual, I fear they have failed life."-Pro has committed a fallacy. He is assuming that just because a man is fluent in one language, his life was a failure.-This is a baseless assertion. President Obama can only speak English, yet he is the president of the United States. My grandfather was monolingual, yet he became rich in China doing business, became an official, had four wives, escaped death by the communist party and took refuge to Thailand, came to Thailand with nothing, and worked his life rich again. Now he has around 10 children and 30 grandchildren, who are all successful, love him, and while we are spread around the world, we all come back to his grave every year. His life was certainly not a failure.-Furthermore, I am certainly multilingual. As established above, I am fluent in 4 languages. Yet, due to my personal experience of my personal life, I can testify that my life was a failure. "Life is more than just about living; it is connecting with others and accomplishing something. Being multilingual satisfies both of those criteria"-Being monolingual can also satisfy both of those criteria. The hill tribe people I mentioned are all monolingual. And they connect with each other better than most communities. They work together and accomplish many feats.Addendum:-Pro has yet to meet his burden of proof.-Freedom of Choice: Pro's resolution of mandatory multiligualism would mean enforcing people to learn other languages even if they don't want to. This violate's their freedom of choice, which is a principle that is followed by many nations.Sources:[1] https://www.google.com...;[2] https://www.google.com...;[3] http://en.wikipedia.org...