Bilingual TVs

Re “Spanish lessons?” editorial, Oct. 7

I was amused by your editorial over the recent Spanish-language mix-up by Adelphia cable, but you concluded with, “Next time, the glitch should be accompanied by subtitles.” Jeez, what century are you living in?

Virtually every TV set made includes closed-captioning. I always watch with it on, anyway, so even if the audio goes completely out -- as it did the other night during “Crossing Jordan” -- I can still follow the show. I wonder how many of those angry “Desperate Housewives” fans are even aware their sets have this feature.

MICHAEL SCHLESINGER

Sherman Oaks

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It may be true that many Europeans learned English from movies, but millions more learned it in school, starting when they were 5. For some reason, in the U.S. foreign language instruction has always been done in high school. But we are now also teaching Spanish-speaking children English as a second language starting in the first grade. It works. Let’s teach the English-speaking children Spanish at the same time and start an entire generation of bilingual Californians.

GLEN PARKER

Glendora