This weekend’s Washington Post had an interesting article about the growing emphasis on learning “critical languages” such as Chinese and Arabic.
In it, the reporter writes: “Americans have awakened to a far more global playing field and the need for specialized languages, economists say.”
Read the article: “With a Changing World Comes An Urgency to Learn Chinese”.
How important do you think it is that our kids learn other languages? And which languages are the most important? Tell us!
I completely agree with this article. Because of globalization, people must make the effort to communicate with people of other cultures. This past summer, I took my own course in Arabic in part to be able to interact with other societies in the future. Through language, we can seek to overcome problems in differences and misunderstandings. This is why we must learn languages of differing cultures, not necessarily the ones that are similar to our own – Spanish, German, French, and Italian come to mind.
I think this article is spot on. Kids today should have the option to learn more than just Spanish or French. Especially Chinese — clearly that’s the langiage to learn if you want to be on top of things