To me, the issue
of whether or not to require university students to enroll in world language
courses is quite interesting. On the one hand, I understand that many students
consider language learning to be outside of their comfort zones, or perhaps
just too challenging. Such individuals often express that they “cannot” learn a
language, or that they have previously attempted to learn a language and were ultimately
unsuccessful. In these cases, most students truly feel as though they are
incapable of studying a language, and, for that reason, tend to attach a certain
amount of fear and anxiety to the idea of enrolling in language courses.
Although I usually do not agree that someone simply “cannot” learn a language,
I do understand how crippling fear and anxiety can be. I do not, however,
understand the logic of those who decide not to learn a language because they
feel as though they do not “need” to.
Even if one
never intends to travel outside of the United States, he or she will more than likely
encounter individuals who speak a language besides English. As our country
becomes increasingly diverse, the linguistic reality of the United States grows
more and more heterogeneous. The Unites States has never existed as an “English-only”
entity, and now, more than ever, the idea that one would pass on the opportunity
to become multilingual seems absolutely ridiculous.
University
students, perhaps more than any other population of Americans, should actively
work to reduce the United States’ strong preference for monolingualism.
Requiring students to enroll in language courses would bolster their “real
world” skill-set, as well as bring them closer to international linguistic standards.
Anyone who has studied outside of the United States notices that
multilingualism is usually not the exception but the norm. Young people around
the globe often speak multiple languages fluently, unlikely the majority of
American college students who are generally monolingual. Why should American university
students, who live in a country that is so linguistically diverse, speak just
one language, when students in other countries speak two, or three, or four?
I think you raised several good points that I had not considered when I wrote my answer. Your point about the United States being a multilingual country made me think about how students, or anyone for that matter, can get a multilingual experience without even leaving the country. Because of the opportunities that the United States offers, many people are coming here and do not speak English as their first language. I think now, more than ever, there should be a push to learn a foreign language.
ReplyDeleteI found myself thinking back to my semester in France, and how I realized that the university students there spoke several different languages, as you pointed out. I think, to an extent, a lot of students our age do not feel the need to learn another language because it seems like the rest of the world is learning English.
UNH is trying very hard to make the campus 'internationalized'. It's amusing to see so many people from different cultures; especially Chinese students on campus. ESL at UNH has increasingly become quite popular with all navitas students. I would think our American students would want to learn a foreign language so they can interact with them.
DeleteI do believe it may soon be coming time that we start heavily teaching Spanish in our public schools, but for most places I would say not quite yet. This is sad to admit coming from a French major. :)
ReplyDeleteI think it would be great if we all learned one or more foreign languages from the start of school. I know I would have liked it. However, there are so many things that are already trying to be shoved into a 7 hour school day that there is often hardly any room for anything else like foreign language. On top of this, many, many students have issues learning to read and write English alone, even if it's their first language.
I also believe it is more important for smaller countries surrounded by many other countries of different languages to learn more than one language, including the international language, English. While we in the US are a large country of great influence which speaks the international language of English and only directly borders the English-speaking country of Canada and Mexico. It's a completely different situation than that of the countries of Europe or most of Asia.
This summer I met several Germans in Chile who were onto learning their 4th or 5th language. I told them how much this impressed me, and how wonderful I thought it was that their language education programs started so much earlier than ours. I said that practically no one in the States speaks that many languages, and how I was out of the ordinary for even having advanced in just one other language. They basically shrugged and said, well, we have to learn other languages, not that many countries speak German. I hadn't thought of it before, but of course it made perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteAs Troy points out, we are a large country and exert a great deal of international influence. We have the largest population in North America, and also happen to share a language with other influential countries. So I don't know whether it's rational or not that it bothers me that we don't place a great deal of emphasis on foreign languages as a country. At it's worst it seems like an extension of American exceptionalism, and maybe it just really bothers me that some American tourists travel expecting the people they encounter to speak English. But if we have such an international influence, why should that mean we don't have to make the effort to familiarize ourselves with other languages and cultures? I will be the first to say I think I have a personal bias showing through here, but I think the fact that it's common for US citizens to speak only one language seems limiting to us as a country.