I wanted to join the conversation about Larry Summers’s remarkable statement in a recent New York Times opinion piece about why we don’t need to learn foreign languages anymore.
Mr. Summers advances two reasons why, 25 years from now, we won’t need to know how to speak other people’s languages. First, we will all have an app for that. Well, maybe. I read in the New York Times a few days ago that they have an app now for flirting in bars, so I guess anything is possible. May he and I both live long enough to know.
But as I am a bit skeptical of that one, I focus more on the other reason: the not-exactly-original notion that English is now the universal language, so why make the effort to learn other people’s languages? Here’s why.
The idea that we will not need to know other languages in 25 years because everyone will speak English has in fact already been around for about that long. It has not served us well.
America has a listening problem. We continually fail to understand—or even see it as important to understand—what others think—and are telling us—about us, about themselves, about their situation, and about our frequently-proffered prescriptions for what they should do about it. The list of foreign policy fiascoes that this problem has caused us is a long one, and it is growing. Mr. Summers’s profession is far from the only culprit, but it is one of them. American economists’ advice about how other countries should run their economies fills many of those volumes in the Library of Congress that Mr. Summers mentions elsewhere in his article. At any given time, much of the U.S. foreign policy agenda consists of dealing with what we refer to as the unintended consequences of past agendas. They may be unintended, but in many, if not most cases, they were not unanticipated. Most policy failures were not only predictable, but predicted. We just didn’t listen. We didn’t think that understanding the people and the places that were the arena for these policies was an important thing to do. We didn’t even really know how to do that—in many cases because we only listened to the people who knew how to talk to us.
Language is a vehicle—a tool—for listening, for communicating, for understanding, for being able to relate to people on their terms. People who understand the need for such communicating tend to be people who also understand that it helps to know languages to do it. Conversely, people who invest in foreign language-learning tend to be people who understand that what these languages are for is to be able to communicate with and understand other people and cultures. It is an essential habit—not just for all the very good and valid reasons that have been cited earlier in this conversation, but also because it is quite literally essential for our country’s future in a multi-polar world characterized by what Fareed Zakaria has characterized as “the rise of the rest.” NAFSA has long argued that the United States cannot be secure and successful in—much less purport to lead—a world that it does not understand. That statement is truer every day. Language is a tool for understanding. With all respect to wireless technology and social media tools, no app can replace it.
America has a listening problem fundamentally because it has—I’m sorry to put it this way, but it’s true—an arrogance problem. Think of how it sounds to the rest of the world when we say: We don’t have to invest in learning your language; it’s your responsibility to invest in learning ours. Yet if we knew how to listen to the world, we would know that much of it sees that as typical of our approach to them. This causes huge damage to our country, and it is unnecessary. Making the effort to communicate with other people in their languages, even as they make the effort to learn ours, shows respect for them. Respect gets you a long way. In the ‘60s, when I was coming of age, we understood this. Foreign language study was a lot more common than it is today, high schools and universities had foreign language requirements, and the government was wise enough to promote foreign language study for reasons of national interest. The notion that we don’t need to do this anymore does not constitute progress, it constitutes forgetting.
NAFSA believes that everyone who graduates from college in this country should be able to communicate in a foreign language. The Obama administration is now promoting a “race to the top” in higher education; this should be one of its key indicators. If, 25 years from now, this objective becomes reality, we will have much better educated citizens, and we will be a much stronger, more successful country.
I’m so impressed by this article. It helpfully lays out reasons that learning languages is essential. The willful inability to listen demonstrates arrogance. When the stubborn monolingual walks into the room, it puts people on edge and puts us as Americans at a disadvantage.
This article also brought to mind the historical ark of “universal” languages. At different points in time, everyone had to learn Babylonian, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, etc., in order to engage in commerce. But as one empire decline and another ascended, a new language was “universal.” One hundred years ago,it was not obvious that everyone needed to know English. I’m not sure that it will be obvious 100 years from now.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. Learning another language is very important, even when some of us don’t learn it so well. It shows our interest in reaching out to others, and it definitely demonstrates respect. In international education, we are so fortunate to work with colleagues from all over the world. Many of them are multilingual and multicultural. We can certainly learn a lot following their footsteps.
I totally agree that “Everyone who graduates from college in this country should be able to communicate in a foreign language”. For those international students in the U.S., they are fortunate to have their advantage. They may never expect others to communicate with them in their own native language. However, it is possible for them to struggle with the different accents of English which hinder their effective understanding. It seems almost as difficult as listening to another foreign language they haven’t mastered very well. Anyway, they will get used to the accents eventually. It is so true that “language is a vehicle—a tool—for listening, for communicating, for understanding, for being able to relate to people on their terms”. They may have to “break-it” first, and then “make-it”.
I agree that we have an arrogance problem when it comes to the issue of language. We feel that others to learn our language and accomodate us. But language is so important as it allows us to communicate beyond simply speaking. We communicate through making an effort and learning about other cultures and places beyond ourown backyard. Language sharpens the mind and adds to cultural appreciation.
Learning a language as a high school or college student will rarely enable someone to gain the level of fluency and cultural understanding as they would if they learned a language as a child. Multiple language learning should be an integral part of every elementary school curriculum. Although not everyone goes to pre-school, I would propose bilingual preschools an amazing way to learn a language in a fun way when the mind is still open and flexible to the input.
I could not agree with you more Vic. Each university should require students to take a language to graduate. In a few years we will all be amazed when half the US will be speaking Spanish and the other half Chinese. Many citizens of developed countries and developing countries already can speak at least twoif not three languages. We can no longer afford this language isolationism and elitism, the world is just too small and increasingly interconnected.
Wow, I can’t help visualizing the future “..half the U.S. will be speaking Spanish and the other half Chinese”. The ABC (America-born Chinese) won’t have to attend Chinese School to study Chinese in the U.S. then. As we all know, it is of vital importance for second-language learners to have a lingustic environment in the process of language acquisition. It would be mutually beneficial for native English speakers and non-English speaking foreigners if this dream comes true. What a wonderful multilingual world!
Thank you for this impressive article. I am increasingly aware of the need for speaking multiple languages. A couple years ago I traveled to Europe for the first time (I live in the US). I was so impressed with the numbers of people who spoke multiple languages. While it may seem easier to learn because of the close proximity of so many countries who speak different languages, I noted that there is a concerted effort to make this a reality. One does not automatically learn a second language just because a neighboring country speaks another language. If that were the case, all the states which boarder Mexico would be fluent in Spanish.
A family I stayed with in Germany is a good example. In the town I was visiting, many of the older people did not speak English. However the granddaughters of the couple I stayed with were in a public school junior high school. The girls were speaking fairly good English even though their parents barely spoke English. They started English instruction at a young age. By the time the graduate from high school, they will be fluent.
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I also agree that “Language is a vehicle—a tool—for listening, for communicating, for understanding, for being able to relate to people on their terms. However; in addition to learning the language of other people one would also need to learn the culture of that specific country and its people for a better human communication, otherwise with technology we will be able to carry on a conversation, but it will be without life feelings; how can a machine that we are using its app understand body language, a smile, an expression that was done to show happiness or anger, or simply love. This is needed, the world is becoming smaller and the boarders are coming down.