EoW January 2008

Interest in Asian, Mideast languages surges on US campuses

announced federal funding to prompt more students to learn strategic languages such as Arabic and Mandarin. (‘Looking to Adopt a Foreign Tongue,’ 14 th November) Ms Kinzie also described a culture of learning that goes well beyond the intensive vocabulary and grammar work of conventional language studies. Citing the growing Persian language programme at the University of Maryland, she wrote: “Students are speaking the language, reciting poetry by Rumi and other Persian writers, watching Iranian movies, and, sometimes, debating [Iran’s] politics and its fractious relationship with the United States.” A student interviewed by the Post expressed this double perspective. “I’m really glad that I took Persian,” the University of Maryland junior told Ms Kinzie. “What once seemed obscure now seems increasingly important, with Iran constantly in the news. It’s really necessary in today’s world. And it’s a beautiful, beautiful language.” A member of the rapidly growing Arabic and Islamic Studies department at Georgetown University, in Washington DC, is more inclined to the view of American language students as mainly pragmatic. If they see a vital need, in terms of national interest or a career, this teacher told Ms Kinzie, they are willing to invest time and effort in acquiring language skills. Dorothy Fabian – USA Editor

According to survey results released 13 th November by the Modern Language Association, interest in non-European languages is definitely strengthening in the US. The MLA, with headquarters in New York, said that more college students across the country are enrolling in language classes across the spectrum, but especially in the Asian and Middle Eastern languages. Since the last MLA survey four years before, Arabic language classes grew 126% (to nearly 24,000), Chinese 51%, Korean 37%, American Sign Language 30%, and Japanese 27%. Persian language classes nearly doubled nationally over the period, to around 2,300. European languages are seeing enrolments increasing at much lower rates: for example, 10% for Spanish, 2% for French, and 3.5% for German. Although total numbers for the up-and-coming languages are small vis-à-vis more traditional language studies, Susan Kinzie of the Washington Post perceives in the enrolment trend ‘a new sense of urgency’ on the part of students to prepare themselves for a rapidly changing world. The impulse has received encouragement from, of all people, President GeorgeW Bush, who earlier last year

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EuroWire – January 2008