By Aaron O'Connell
Foreign language departments have been cut back at universities around the U.S. in an attempt to shift linguistic focus to countries which seem more politically potent.
According to an article by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the shift away from western languages, especially German, is due to incomprehension of what globalization really means.
Globalization literally means 'to make worldwide' but refers, more specifically, to a process by which economies become dependent on foreign trade in order to fulfill their needs as a nation. Many universities then understand that certain facets of foreign language departments must be abandoned in favor of other, more applicable language courses.
The Chronicle, however, argues that an increase in total cultural and linguistic awareness is needed; universities should not abandon one language for another, but should expand foreign language departments.
Kathleen Regan, head of the foreign language department and Spanish professor, agrees with the argument, and believes that a broad range of languages is important for any university's foreign language variety.
"Foreign languages are seen, well, like art," Regan said laughing, shaking her head to indicate the misconception. "It's one of those, 'you don't really need that.' And it's tragic."
Regan is currently part of an effort to expand the foreign language department to include Chinese, but without sacrificing any other language program.
Regan said they are working on writing a grant that would enable the Chinese language program to get off the ground. Regan said that ideally, it would be up and running in one to two years.
Success in the program, according to Regan, would require several key factors: the program would have to be interdisciplinary, it would need a "fabulously great" language professor and new students would need to understand how difficult learning Chinese would be.
Although it is not assured that the foreign language department will receive the grant, Regan hopes that even without it, they will still have other options for starting Chinese. None of these options would include cutting back any of the current language programs, though.
Regan believes that most people do not realize how often languages, especially German, are used outside of the United States. There is still strong prevalence of the language in Germany and Austria, but also in countries such as Greece, especially on the Isle of Crete.
"If you go beyond the borders of our country there are still thriving countries that use this (German) language," Regan said.
And despite cutbacks in the German programs at many other universities, the University of Portland continues to have a successful German program, which has groomed many Fulbright scholars.
John Orr, English professor and director of competitive scholarships, attributes the success of the German students in the Fulbright program to the amount of money the Germans give to bring students to their country.
"The thing that has been a particular boon for us in the Fulbright program is that we have a strong German program, and Germany gives exponentially more Fulbright grants than any country in the world," Orr said.
Orr believes that language goes hand in hand with cultural studies. Different cultures have different ways of negotiating, and learning the nuances of a language help to develop cultural awareness.
Many American students do not feel compelled to learn another language because of the commonly held notion that everyone speaks English.
This idea, however, may not be as true as most people believe.
"It's absolutely a myth that everyone speaks English," Orr said. "If you're not in the tourist spots, people don't speak English."
Senior Megan Purcell, from her experience as a Spanish major, agrees that not as many people speak English as some people think.
"It's not true that everybody (speaks English)," Purcell said. "I think we expect them to but they don't, especially the older generation."
Although there is some truth to the fact that English has been adopted as the business language of the world, many argue that the lack of cultural knowledge Americans have puts them at a disadvantage, especially in business.
But due in part to the misconception that everybody speaks English, many American students do not learn more than one language.
"Everybody should learn another language, no matter what it is - intrinsically that's a valuable exercise." Orr said. "We are handicapped because so many of us are not fluent in a second language."
Purcell avows that her Spanish language skills are also valuable because of the cultural insight they provide.
"There's a lot of demand for (language skills), especially because there are a lot of people who don't understand the cultural aspect," Purcell said.
Regan believes that whether or not everyone speaks English is largely irrelevant, and it's more a responsibility to have knowledge of other countries' practices.
"Just because people speak English doesn't mean they get you culturally," Regan said. "Learning a language is much more of an interdisciplinary push. It's two separate things between knowing 'where is the bathroom?' and the nuances of a culture."
