Why Foreign Language Education Matters
Imagine a storeroom full of hundreds of hours of audio recordings and documents in Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, or Korean. The materials might hold the clues to prevent a future terrorist attack or help American intelligence officials finally locate Osama bin Laden, only a handful have been translated because a lack of trained linguists.
We have those storerooms now. We lack these translators now.
Such troves of untranslated materials exist, and in at least one case FBI officials admitted that they destroyed a storeroom of documents before they were even translated.
The problem is not only in the area of national defense. Our companies lose international contracts to competitors, our scientists miss important collaborations, international assistance organizations fail to understand local customs critical to advancing America's interests, and average Americans are deprived of a cultural enrichment in their lives.
Illinois Senator, Barack Obama, recently expressed concerns about our nation's foreign language deficit saying, "You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language."
Senator Obama's opponents seized upon his remarks, making the claims that he was trying to force Americans to learn a secondary language. Such criticism is not only foolish, it is dangerous.
Rather than attack Senator Obama, I would hope we could reach a political consensus in this country that our government must change course and stop undervaluing and under-investing in foreign language education. Leaders from both parties should recognize the issue's importance and bring forth strategies to increase our interest and our ability in foreign languages.
Some members of the public and media might question why, with our unparalleled military and economic might, would Americans need to learn the languages of the world. Doesn't everyone speak English anyway? It is no exaggeration to say that bolstering foreign language education for ensuing generations is vital to our nation's economic and national security.
Our national security is heavily dependent on translators, specialists, and interpreters within the intelligence community, the diplomatic corps, and the military. Prior to September 11, 2001 our intelligence community was at only 30 percent readiness in languages critical to national security. The government revealed after the 9/11 attacks that it had a 123,000-hour backlog of Arabic language recordings waiting to be analyzed. Five years after the attacks, news reports demonstrated that only 33 FBI agents had limited proficiency in Arabic, and "none of them work in the sections of the bureau that coordinate investigations of international terrorism."
Our ability to compete in the global marketplace -- one in which China and India continue to rise - is dependent on our knowledge of other languages and cultures. Already, China claims to be the second largest English-speaking nation in the world. As the non-partisan Committee for Economic Development wrote in a 2006 report, "Many small- and medium-sized businesses from New England to the Pacific Northwest are now finding it necessary to do business in the languages and cultural environments of the world's emerging markets." Still, the same report cited a study showing that 30 percent of large U.S. corporations believed they failed to exploit fully their international business opportunities due to insufficient personnel with international skills.
Recognizing the importance of foreign language understanding has not been -- nor should it be -- a liberal or Democratic viewpoint. In speeches, President Bush and Secretary of State Rice have shared the view that the U.S. should do more to support foreign language education.
In 2005, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page approvingly cited a report published by the Department of Defense that recommended "immediate...engagement by public, private and government agencies to improve the nation's foreign language and cultural competency." That same report noted that after September 11, 2001, Americans were "caught flat-footed, unprepared to confront Al Quada terrorists."
Language learning is a long-term process; unfortunately there is no short-cut to acquiring fluency in a foreign tongue. It takes hard work, individual commitment, and the proper institutional support. We must ensure that we increase the supply line of students who have strong language skills.
The 110th Congress has taken steps to confront this problem. We passed legislation, based on language I wrote, to create upfront tuition assistance for college students who commit to teaching critical foreign language at public schools. Over the last two budgets, we raised federal funding from $16 million to $44.7 million for the National Security Education Program, a language studies and cultural awareness training program for future federal employees.
We can still do more. We could establish grants for foreign language partnerships between local school districts and foreign language departments at institutions of higher education. We could create an Assistant Secretary for International and Foreign Language Education in the Department of Education, who would provide leadership in directing efforts aimed at international and foreign language education.
There are other approaches to strengthening America's foreign language education, and all of these should be discussed. Unfortunately, some would rather score cheap political points than have a serious discussion about an issue that directly affects our economy and national security.
Another Illinois Senator, the late Paul Simon, in his book, The Tongue-Tied American, once called the United States a "linguistically malnourished" nation. He said that almost 30 years ago. Our nation's appetite for learning a foreign language sadly still needs to be filled.
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But I do have to say, some of the most astute and thought-provoking comments I have seen on HuffPost - have been regarding this article and subject. Much more intelligent that most of the political oriented comments than I've seen. Thank you for being an astute thinker and caring enough to say so.
CCW4ME2 is very short-sighted in outlook- precise and literal translation of scientific, medical, diplomatic and military communications etc. is vital to keeping our country free - if prejudicial and inaccurate translation is prevelant - and no one to verify and assure accurate translation - it allows mis-information and false information to be received.
When major vital decisions are made, based on incomplete and inaccurate information - wrong actions are taken, wrong decisions are made and peoples lives are in jeopardy.......
Would you like a major decision made in your life, on the parameters of life-saving surgery for instance, from the most brilliant doctor in the world - if he was Mongolian or Chinese - and procedures to save your life had to be translated by someone who was fluent in the language, but hostile to their politics - someone whose country was interested in undermining Mongolia or the USA - but who could translate from Mongolian, to Chinese to English WOULD YOU THEN ADVOCATE THAT ENGLISH IS ENOUGH?
Could you depend on the fact that the 'right' thing or the 'humanitarian' thing would be to translate accurately? Would you put your life on the line for the promise?
It is vital that America wake up and educate their children for a global future - and because English seems to be universal to you - look at world statistics on how many people speak what languages and where. We are the minority globally, both economically, militarily, and linguistically - enjoy your
Berlitz has wonderful programs for teaching foreign languages in fairly short periods, but it is full time....I think this really has more to do with the overall quality of education in this country... That is that the NEAs recommendations be implemented to decrease the class sizes... Also there is no reason for languages not to be taught in elementary school as someone else has indicated...
I realize it will take billions of dollars to bring our education system up to par with the other developed countries and this is a social engineering concept... (we all realize that all the taxes are a result of social engineering).
We do have so many people who are underemployed and would probaby jump at the chance to pursue this... But they do want economic security and some job stability,....
Need a horror story, Rep. Holt?
I had the benefit of a $70,000 education at the Defense Language Institute, passing the Basic Arabic Course with 3/3/2+...the maximum scores possible on the DLPT (Defense Language Proficiency Test).
The US Army sent me to Fort Hood, Texas, where I spent the next two years changing oil in humvees. Our skills languished. Two weeks a year in "refresher" training just didn't cut it.
I was shocked -- and more than a little aggravated -- to hear a US Army general saying in 2004 that "it wasn't too important" that the Army didn't have enough linguists because we lacked knowledge of local culture and customs.
Really? We lacked knowledge the Army never saw fit to give us because there were so many trucks to maintain instead?
I had left the Army in 1999, getting a degree in International Studies. From September 2001 to January 2002, I submitted resumes to the CIA, the FBI, the NSA... You name it. Not one replied or even so much as called me for an interview.
And seven years after 9/11, I don't know of a single High School in America with a class in MSA or dialect Arabic. High schools still teach French as if it was a critical strategic language. Latin, a language that hasn't been spoken in 1000 years, is more commonly taught than Russian or Chinese.
We're a nation determined to remain deaf to the world.
That is an amazing story, and a disturbing one. People say the expression, "The Kings Not Wearing Any Clothes," often without awareness that it's more than a one liner, it's a story.
Hans Christian Andersen tells the tale of an emperor who hires two tailors who promise to make him a set of remarkable new clothes that will be invisible to anyone who is either incompetent or stupid. When the emperor goes to see his new clothes, he sees nothing at all — for the tailors are swindlers and there aren't any clothes. Afraid of being judged incompetent or stupid, the emperor pretends to be delighted with the new clothes and “wears” them in a grand parade through the town. Everyone else also pretends to see them, until a child yells out, “He hasn't got any clothes on!”
In thinking about your situation and our need for such a critical language skill with lives hanging in the balance, I think of the story, and feel we have met the swindlers, and they are us.
3/3/2+ are not the maximum scores. They're better than average.
And there are lots of opportunities for high school students to learn Arabic, as well as immersion/cultural studies. The HS programs can't keep up with the demand. I guess the Arabic HS Khalil Gabrin in NYC doesn't count in your calculus, nor does the Saudi Academy in VA. There are also several programs in Mass.
3/3/2+ are the maximum scores available at DLI. None of the DLPT questions is rated higher than 3 in listening or reading, and instructors are actually discouraged from giving a score better than 2 on the speaking test.
That's it??? One in NYC, one in VA, and a handful in Mass?? Boy, I'm sure we'll have scads of qualified linguists ready by the next millennium, at that rate.
You probably did not belong to the Young Republicans, the Federalist Society, the CFR, or the Chamber of Commerce or Regency/Liberty University or whatever it is or a church member...
Your other comments about Latin are interesting and you certainly are correct about Russian and chinese...French is spoken fairly widely spoken elsewhere...
French hasn't got any strategic importance, though.
Funny, you rarely find Latin taught even in Catholic schools these days ... but actually, if you're dealing with anything related to Western culture, Latin is DEFINITELY worth knowing. You have all the Romance lang's (French, Spanish, Italian etc) plus that 2000 years' cultural inheritance that English is steeped in as well. True to an extent with Greek as well.
If you look over here to Asia for a parallel, a study of any Chinese language (Mandarin, Cantonese, what have you) would give you a huge leg up in the language of EVERY country in the region. Even if they don't use Chinese characters (Japanese does, most don't - Korean has its own easily learned alphabet) there's a huge amount of vocabulary borrowed. Something like 70% of the Korean vocabulary is Chinese in origin.
As for me, I speak Korean and Czech (badly) plus a little Japanese and Turkish, and my degree is in Slavic Languages (ugh - truly a pain in the ass to learn) including some Russian and Croatian that I've mercifully forgotten. Never liked those much.
Shukrun ya habiby, Muchas Gracias, Merci Beaucoup, Danke, Abrigado,
As long as we are "number one", we will call the shots. And at the risk of sounding defeatist, this xenophobic, insular culture that surrounds us will preclude us from learning useful foreign language skills until we HAVE to. I have worked hard myself to develop some mastery of no fewer than six languages and worked in an office with over 16, so I know how it works in other countries. It works extremely well when those skills are expected of people by society as a whole. We are already falling behind with education in general, and it may not be long before the "globalization experiment" that we have been propagating leaves us wondering what the hell happened to our dominance.
But, hey, there's always a war to start somewhere to keep us going, right? Sadly, some of the least educated, and those with the least opportunities, are the first ones to die on the battlefield. Maybe education isn't so important after all...and to think I always believed the pen was mightier than the sword.
It's sad how little attention foreign-language study receives from American educators. I majored in languages in college, studying French, German, Russian, Spanish, and felt immensely enriched by those endeavors.
Moreover, I wish that universities would offer Sicilian Studies. Americam scholars and administrators share a misconception with tourists who assume Sicilian is a dialect of Italian. In fact, Sicilian is a language, the oldest Romance language in the world. Its grammatical structure, and its vocabulary, are not identical in many cases to Italian.
Not just Sicilian, but so many languages throughout the world are dying away, simply because they are not considered important international "business" idioms. Such provincial thinking does little to spark a global sense of hospitality and community.
I agree. I am currently learning German using Michel Thomas's tapes. Thomas makes learning fun, and surprisingly easy! Although it's not totally painless: you still have to focus, listen well, and "guess" the correct answer by stopping the CD. Michel has two learners on the CD with him, and you follow along with them, which makes it seem normal to hesitate and blunder along.
I agree with Harveycritic that the way languages are taught in high school should change. I studied French for 2 years in high school and basically learned how to ask someone's name and tell them mine. I pretty much had to start all over again in college.
I'm hoping to learn new languages throughout the rest of my life. For one thing, I've read it really helps keep the brain sharp. Plus, I'm learning some things about English (as justjojo mentioned). For instance, in German "werden sie" is "will you" i.e. always the future tense; but in English, "will you" can mean either the future tense OR "would you like to," i.e., "will you please." Also, I ran into some German-speakers the other day and I almost had the guts to speak to them, and maybe next time, I will! (future tense AND I would like to :)
I studied classical Latin for five years in Junior and Senior High School and two years in College. I studied mordern German for three years in College. That experience helped me in reading and writing English more than I can say. Unfortunately, I never got to use the German after graduation in any meaningful way. My only foreign travel was to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Panama, Canada (Montreal) and Brazil. Not much German is spoken in those places. But English was spoken everywhere.
I married a Naturalized American Citizen whose primary language is Portugese, so I know a little bit of that language (which is after all a vulgate form of Latin.) And Portugese is close to various Spanish dialects.
We Americans have had it easy. Most foreigners speak English. The average American can get by in the world without learning a foreign language. Unless you want to be a translator or a professional diplomat, or unless you want to live full time in a foreign country, you do not really have to become fluent in a foreign language.
In the future, this will change. As American importance in the world recedes, As China and India rise in importance, Americans will have to become fluent in other languages. As cutting edge science is done in foreign lands and the scientific journals are written in these strange languages, our people will have to change.
I argue for the personal enrichment of foreign language study. My parents agreed with my wish to take a high school year in France and at 17 I lived 9 months with a French family. 1968 - what a year to be in France! I studied history, politics, composition. I stood arm's length from Charles de Gaulle during a street demo. I had friends among Breton separatists. My fluency approached native. Ten years later on my own I lived in Japan, studying in Tokyo for 30 months. I was yearning for the richness of cultural immersion. Making connections in the art and dance worlds, I showed sculpture in the Ginza. I knew Japan's foremost architect. Eighteen years later returning for three weeks, I worried I'd lost the language. After stumbling for two days, the Japanese returned. I marvel at the retentive abiltiy of the human mind. Now in New Mexico, I pick up some Spanish. My teachers? The Mexicans who helped build my house and the ladies who clean it. Yo estudien el Espanol en la Universidad de El Dorado. The most amazing thing about language? Each one holds its own key to the limitless variety of human expression.
My grandkids are enrolled in a French and Spanish immersion school. They are being raised to know that we live in a "global" society. Yes, IT IS okay to learn and speak another language. Kudos to their parents!
My child goes to a dual immersion school as well. A lot of peolple have mixed feeling about this, but he picked up so quickly. I only see it as an advantage for him.
Exposure to different languages and becoming muli-lingual at an early age has proven to be benefecial to brain and cognitive development. It's a positive on many different levels.
In each European country, children are taught a second language starting in 3rd or 4th grade. This is an ideal time because young children have brains like sponges and can pick up a new language with ease. Many people in America have an arrogant attitude when it comes to learning another language besides English but they are doing themselves a great disservice by refusing to realize that we live Earth not just in America.
It's time our educational system take some clues from European countries where they kick our butts in Math, Science and Language test scores. We are hurting our children and jeopardizing their future with an isolationist stance towards the world.
Amen, I taught English kindergartens for a couple of years here in Korea - still my favorite teaching work ever. The little ones never failed to surprise me!
Anyone who travels knows that many youth already know English in countries where it is not the native language, but they don't stop there, the are most likely learning a third language by the time they graduate high school. Whether you like it or not, the internet is creating a global community. By knowing English, Spanish, and Mandarin (Chinese), you can communicate with almost anyone in the world. You can travel abroad and stay with a host family while learning Spanish or other languages. Check out http://www.spanishabroad.com/ for Spanish programs or other language programs at: http://www.a2zlanguages.com
Costa Rican kids are learning Mandarin. Ours will learn creashun science and intelligunt design.
Yeah but since God's native language is English, our kids will be ready for the Rapture!
"Yeah but since God's native language is English, our kids will be ready for the Rapture!"
i hope that is sarcasm. i don't believe english existed in "the time of jesus."
When you allow the ignorant minority to dictate curriculum and politicize the education system you get exactly what we have today. I fear for my children and if McSame and failin' are elected it will only get worse.
An educated citizenry is the fundamental prerequisite for democracy.
The stupider the electorate the more efficacious "bread and circuses" and "shiny things" like flag lapel pins.
A good part of the problem might be that so much of the educational budget is being spent for either remedial schooling in the basics i.e. reading, writing, arithmetic OR teaching English as a second language to those who cannot speak enough English to enter grade school. So there is little, if nothing left for students to be properly trained to a degree of expertise in damn near anything.......
The educational system in this country is a travesty on the American people - again, i.e. California gives tuition breaks in colleges and universities to Illegal Immigrants - entrance to a university or college should REQUIRE -
#1 - BE AN AMERICAN CITIZEN
#2 READ, WRITE AND SPEAK ENGLISH AT COLLEGE ENTRY LEVEL
#3 - HAVE A 3.0 MINIMUM GREAD POINT AVERAGE IN HIGH SCHOOL
#4 FLUENT IN TWO FOREIGN LANGUAGES AS A GRADUATION REQUIREMENT TO RECEIVE DEGREE
#5 NO STUDENT SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO MATRICULATE TO THE NEXT CLASS i.e. Soph. Jr. Sr. without a 3.0 GRADE POINT AVERAGE AT END OF YEAR
If those requirements are not fulfilled - NO COLLEGE DEGREE SHOULD BE PRESENTED. No other country in the world treats higher education as a four-year drunken celebration of stupidity - but this is allowed to exist and get worse each year- OOPS -DON'T FORGET, BUDGET FOR COLLEGE SPORTS TEAMS and let them slide through college because they can play sports - I am ashamed of it all.
Unfortunately foreign language education in this country often doesn't work, even when it IS available. We take high school French or Spanish for a few years and then forget everything once we graduate.
For a real breakthrough in language learning, the US should lead the way toward a universal second language such as Esperanto. Esperanto is much easier to learn than national languages --- our kids could be functionally fluent with just 2-3 years of study.
And if the US drafted a treaty in which all signatory nations agreed to include Esperanto education in their secondary schools, then our children would soon be able to converse fluently with those in every other country... How awesome would that be?! :-)
it doesn't work because we only insist on those two years, and use 12th-century teaching methods which are all grammar/translation, no practical usage, no immersion ... Ultimately, we just don't care that much whether they learn the language.
Classic case here in Korea, where I teach esl - they're not really any better, the emphasis is on memerizing mile-long vocabulary lists and grammar drill, and after years of this nobody can answer a simple question or understand a simple reading. (I've been here six years, so I'm well able to judge!)
Asian education is highly overrated. It only looks good because US education is an unmitigated disaster.
Esperanto has been around for over one hundred years. At most, a few million people know more than just the name of the made up language. There are over six billion people in the world. If you want to force a Universal language, you might as well settle on English or Spanish or Mandarin.
I vote for English. It works for me. ;-)
Funny you should mention Mandarin. Studying Mandarin was what convinced me of the necessity of Esperanto.
Yes, English works for us right now. English is currently the world's dominant second language because the US is the world's #1 economic and political power. However, this was not always the case... and it will not always be the case.
If China takes our place as the most dominant world power, then our kids will need to learn Mandarin in order to compete in the global economy --- and believe me, that will be an enormous national headache.
The only way to avoid such a situation is by establishing a neutral, easy-to-learn language like Esperanto as a universal second language while we are still on top. Otherwise, prepare to start memorizing thousands of Chinese characters...
Okay, now that the subject has been brought up, can I'd like to clear up a few misconceptions.
First, "made up language" is a bit snide to refer to any language that has been in practical use for over a hundred years and is indeed spoken by a few million people. Actually, ALL languages are human creations, constantly changing, and therefore "made up".
No one is trying to "force" a Universal language (except perhaps those Americans who insist the rest of the world speak our language to us.) Esperanto is purely voluntary and has a rich culture including and incredible number of publications, books, translations, music, radio programs, internet pages and discussion groups,and film.
The number of Esperanto rock groups alone would probably surprise you.
One of the greatest advantages of learning Esperanto is that it actually facilitates the acquisition of other languages, due to its clear, regular, unambiguous grammar. Some Eastern European schools give children one year of Esperanto before starting another foreign language, and it has been found to increase their performance.
I encourage anyone on this thread to Google and Wiki the word Esperanto. You will be surprised.
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