| Monoglot No More |
10 November 2003
|
Americans Studying Foreign Languages Hits Record Levels
It is a common scene. A loud, Hawaiian-shirt wearing, over-weight buffoon shouts at the nearest native of some foreign land in purest American, "Can't you speak English?" The stereotype may not be dying entirely, but it is being undercut. According to the good folks at the Modern Language Association, over 1.4 million college students are studying a foreign language, a 17% increase from 1998. Its the highest figure the MLA has ever recorded, and its surveys go back to 1958.
Part of the problem is historical. Immigrants just off the boat were encouraged, both by Americans already here, and by their own desires, to become Americans. That mean English, and English only. It was not unusual for grandparents to be unable to converse beyond short sentences with their grandchildren in some American families just a few decades ago. And the US political and economic victory over the Reds in the last several years, the growth of TV and movies on a global scale and the arrival of the internet have all made English more common outside the US.
Now, though, it may be that an American who speaks four languages (like any Belgian waiter) will not be such a rarity. The study of Arabic, a faint silver lining in the 9-11 cloud, rose 92.5% in just four years. Biblical Hebrew is up 59%; no more mumbling through bar mitzvahs for American Jewry. American Sign Language has 4 times as many students now as it did when Mr. Clinton prepared for retirement.
"To learn another language is to acquire another soul," says the adage. That is, perhaps, pitching it too strong, but there is nothing wrong with going to a foreign country and asking for a hotel room in the vernacular. If there is to be understanding, there must be communication. Smiling and waving only gets the human race so far.
Home