Why Should Americans Learn Languages?
03 February 2005
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I've been astonished to hear what people as far apart as Denmark and Hong Kong have told me as a joke that seems to span the world. It goes like this: What do you call someone who speaks lots of languages? Answer: multilingual. And someone who speaks two languages: bilingual. And some who speaks just one language? An American. Not funny. But it has a ring of truth. The monolingual American is notorious for gaffes that are made as companies try to sell burgers in India where beef isn't eaten or "finger lickin' good" is translated into Chinese as "eat your fingers off." While gaffes like that have cost us in economic terms, the lack of language skills in a post 9/11 world have more serious repercussions. It is not a joking matter.
We can't afford not to understand foreign languages and cultures at a time when national security depends more than ever on clear communication with allies and potential adversaries.
Do you know we're the only industrialized nation that routinely graduates kids from high school knowing only one language? The only major country. And the latest enrollment survey tells us only 33% of them study a language. Two-thirds of our kids... don't. Meanwhile, the government has great backlogs in materials waiting for translation, a shortage of language specialists everywhere, and a readiness level of only 30% in the most critical languages.
So that's why a U. S. Senate resolution proposed 2005 as the Year of Languages in the U.S. It's a national celebration to call attention to the importance -- and the benefits -- of language learning. Throughout the year you'll see activities across the country aimed at jump-starting a sense of urgency about language. There'll be poster contests in schools and billboards on the roads; statewide competitions and essay contests; folk festivals and cultural programs and national roundtables -- and even a radio program called Talkin' About Talk.
Part of the effort is to encourage state and local school officials to look at their priorities. Here in South Carolina, for example, we had an innovative program in Japanese for elementary middle and high schools kids. It did extremely well for 12 years and reached over 4,500 students. Then came a budget crunch. And one of the first things to go was Japanese. We have to get rid of the notion that language is some kind of "extra" in the curriculum, a frill that can easily be cut.
The paradigm has changed. 70% of Americans interact every day with someone whose native language is not English. In a global society, no matter what job a student seeks, he or she will be just as likely to do business with South Korea as with South Carolina. And who would deny that learning another language helps you understand the structure and workings of your own language better? Not to mention the understanding you gain of other people's world view. Understanding what other people think, and why, helps us be better friends and better negotiators worldwide. And if administrators need another reason, the Senate resolution points out that students with four or more years in a foreign language scored higher on the verbal section of the SAT than students who didn't.
We need to give language learning opportunities to all students, especially in elementary school. That's really the place to start -- early in a child's education when language learning is a joyous thing for a 6-year-old. And to build the country's language capacity, we have to build a pipeline of students who get language skills early in life and continue all the way through college.
A recent poll indicated that 96% of Americans think students should learn languages in school. So we understand the problem. We just need to attack it.
So the attack is under way, led by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, with an Honorary Committee co-chaired by Senators Dodd of Connecticut and Cochran of Mississippi. People like prize-winning poet Maya Angelou, Governor Mark Warner of Virginia and other leaders in business, academia, and government are helping. You can be a part of the effort too, and I hope you will. Changing perceptions about the importance of languages won't be easy, which is why the Year of Languages is really just the first year of a long-term campaign. First, find out more about the whole thing at www.yearoflanguages.org. Then find out how your community and schools are going to celebrate. And volunteer to help make the year a success.
That's the linguistic thought for today, which comes to us from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. And this is the Five-Minute Linguist at the College of Charleston, in cooperation with the National Museum of Language. If you'd like to ask a question about languages, go to our website at www.cofc.edu/linguist. In the meantime, keep in mind that wherever you are, and whatever you do... language makes a difference.