As we've all noted, Labour previously supported National's second language learning bill, and it's extremely disappointing that they won't continue to support the bill despite everyone talking about the research showing the benefits of learning a second language, and, actually, the earlier learnt the better. I am intrigued and inspired by the number of our colleagues on the other side of the House that have said how many languages they speak. As a country, we languish so far behind other countries in terms of the number of languages that many of us can speak. When I was learning German at high school, I had a German teacher who spoke six languages fluently, and he would impress upon us that this was not unusual at all; in fact, most of his classmates spoke eight languages fluently and he was considered something of a slow learner! As someone who tried and struggled to pick up both German and Latin at high school and then te reo Māori at tertiary level, I wish I had had the opportunity to learn languages much earlier.