Let's Stop Being the Butt of the Foreign Language Joke

[Francis Hult]

IT Business Edge

 

Let's Stop Being the Butt of the Foreign Language Joke

 

We've all heard the old joke that someone who speaks two languages is called "bilingual," and someone who speaks one language is called "American." The shame is that so few of us Americans are bothered by that.

 

 In a post I wrote back in December titled "Setting Our Kids Up for Tech Career Failure," I argued that our willingness to allow schools to drop foreign language instruction as a cost-cutting measure will yield a very costly predicament for our children:

 

The message being sent to our kids is that having a second language in their career-building arsenals is inconsequential. Given that the competition for STEM jobs will only become more global in scope by the time these kids enter the work force, we're handicapping them by failing to prepare them with the international perspective and globally oriented skill set that they'll need to succeed.

 

Since then, it's only become more obvious how beneficial it is to be bilingual. A nationwide survey conducted earlier this year by CareerBuilder and USA Today listed the demand for bilingualism as a key employment trend for the second quarter of 2010...

 

Full text:

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/tennant/let-s-stop-being-the-butt-of-the-foreign-language-joke/?cs=41239

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