Language study surges on college campuses

Parents Forum
1

<p>Article by Justin Pope:</p>

<p>[Language</a> study surges on college campuses – chicagotribune.com](<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/wednesday/chi-language_wednov14,0,2435568.story]Language”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/wednesday/chi-language_wednov14,0,2435568.story)</p>

2

<p>Interesting. I know I have heard lately of more than one student studying or planning to study business AND mandarin.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the link. Forwarded to S, who is taking one additional language for sure and considering another as a minor.</p>

4

<p>Sadly, Russian is my son’s foreign language, and it is being squeezed out by Arabic and Mandarin. The kid is out of date, I guess.</p>

5

<p>Some families are getting an even earlier start…</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/us/05aupair.html?_r=1&oref=slogin[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/us/05aupair.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

6

<p>Do you think this makes it easier or harder for a candidate to gain entry this year to undergrad collleges? Someone in my circle is expressing interest in Arabic as her major, and wants to become a translator. Should she emphasize this on her apps, since obviously majors can change. She chose her list based on where the programmatic offerings were strong in Arabic.</p>

<p>Put differently, is the student demand ahead of the supply?</p>

7

<p>I have a d who just started taking Russian (she’s a freshman). At the last minute, she decided that she didn’t want to continue with Spanish (she had four years in high school) and wanted to try something new. My family is of Slavic ancestry, so she figured she’d try Russia. So far, so good. So far, she enjoys it and is considering going to Russia for study abroad. I took Russian in high school (late 60s/early 70s); at that time, it was offered in numerous high schools. Today (without the impetus of the Cold War) it’s not offered as much at the high school level. Don’t know if that’s the same at most of the LACs today.</p>

8

<p>^^re Russian: even here in midwest college town, our high schools do not offer Russian. My son went over to the public flagship university to take it while in high school. Even there, it is part of the German dept, and that is true at the well-known private university which he now attends.</p>

<p>On the other hand, my 10th grade daughter, who would like to start taking Russian (same tactic as brother), was looking into a small private LAC last night and discovered that they do offer Russian.</p>

<p>Did you know MIT does not offer Russian? Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised to discover that, but I was.</p>

9

<p>Interesting update article in Inside Higher Ed:</p>

<p>“Hype vs. Reality in Arabic Enrollment Boom”</p>

<p>[Jobs</a>, News and Views for All of Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed :: Hype vs. Reality in Arabic Enrollment Boom](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/29/arabic]Jobs”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/29/arabic)</p>