PEOPLE around the world put us to shame when it comes to speaking different languages.
The notion of speaking in a foreign tongue in Britain often goes no further than learning a dozen phrases to get by on a Spanish holiday.
Meanwhile other countries are developing multi-lingual youngsters who can converse in a variety of languages.
Here in Wales we are fortunate to have a language of our very own, one that is regaining in its popularity, and many thousands of children are able to speak fluently in both English and Welsh, giving them a distinct advantage.
Not only does bilingualism open doors for them in terms of job opportunities, it opens their mind to all other languages. Getting your head around another language is not a simple business, and yet it is something that children demonstrate can be mastered at a number of points in their life.
If immersion can work at a later age for children in Canada it opens the doors for children in Wales to access Welsh-medium education at a much later date, widening their options to the most suitable education for them.
And if it can be done for one language then it can be done in so many others. Yes, the resources will need to be made available - so many schools have difficulty in recruiting capable language teachers - but perhaps too we must change our attitude towards languages.
Foreign languages are not just something that foreigners speak.