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EuroWire – January 2008
35
Interest in Asian, Mideast languages
surges on US campuses
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
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