We are living in an era when many people are saying, “Let’s be isolationist” and, “Let the world take care of itself.” Along with that comes the feeling that English, American English, is the only language that matters. In fact, many people believe English isn’t a language; it is like air or water in that you don’t think about it.
Thus, the University of West Virginia, faced with a budget crisis, dropped teaching and language courses this August. But, due to public pressure, it was forced to rescind some of the cuts. The New York Times reported that, “Language requirements for graduation have been eliminated at Amherst College, the University of Alabama, Johns Hopkins, George Washington University and Duquesne University, among others.”
Not surprisingly since Duluth, an international port city, often counters what the rest of the country is doing, UMD is the only U.S. university with an undergraduate degree that integrates world languages, cultures, and creative industries.
The University of Minnesota Duluth notes that, ”In our programs, you will develop analytical, creative, and critical thinking skills; learn robust intercultural communication; and acquire a far-reaching knowledge base. Learning languages and cultures helps you find your place in an interconnected world and opens perspectives to interact as curious and empathetic collaborators in local and global communities.”
But the worst of insular thinking is the assumption many people make that because someone doesn’t speak English, they are not very smart. In recent memory, President John F. Kennedy was the only president who wanted to show the world that English was not supreme. He was deeply involved in learning French so that he could negotiate with Charles De Gaulle in his language.
Note that throughout history there were many smart people who didn’t speak English: Moses, Martin Luther, Mozart, Plato, Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, and Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian map maker that America was named after, among them. And When Ted Turner started and ran CNN, he forbade any of its reporters to use the word “foreign” in reference to languages other than English. As Turner pointed out “They are not foreign to people using them.”
The English-only argument is befuddling to me, as I was born in Latvia, where most people speak one or more languages almost from birth. Being multilingual from a young age made learning other languages so much easier. After mastering (well, sort of) Spanish in the Peace Corps and Portuguese in business, I even learned Persian (Farsi) when working in Iran.
The age at which children in Europe are learning a foreign language is getting younger. In 2002, the Barcelona European Council called for further action in “teaching at least two foreign languages from a very early age” to improve the mastery of basic skills in education. The 2023 edition of
Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe
states that, since then, around two-thirds of education systems for which there are data have lowered the age at which children begin to learn a foreign language. Now, learning at least one foreign language is compulsory before the age of 8 in most education systems — and even before the age of 6 in many education systems.
A growing trend is language immersion, programs that teach kids the basics in another language. My grandson did this at age 8 and would run off to the kitchen in restaurants so he could speak Spanish to the Mexican cooks.
This from Education Week: “Immersion: the benefits are many, the arguments against it are few. It strengthens the brain, improves understanding of native language, and gives students an advantage later in life when looking for a job.”
You have to realize that the U.S. is not falling behind. Rather, the world is catching up. We think nothing about learning new software, and we should feel the same way about learning other languages.
John Freivalds of Wayzata, Minnesota, is the author of six books, is the honorary consul of Latvia in Minnesota, and is a regular contributor to the News Tribune Opinion page. His website is jfamarkets.com.
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