Top of the day to you! My name is Donna J. Jodhan, and I am the president of www.sterlingcreations.ca.
Today, I would like to shine the light on how well we are doing when it comes to being able to compete against others in the foreign language arena.
Tongue-tied: Americans lack multi-lingual edge
This statement is only too true and it is one that we as a country should and must be paying more attention to if we hope to keep our position as the number one economic power in the world. For the past few years, China has been quickly and quietly making strides towards helping its people to become more in tuned with foreign languages. Especially so when it comes to training its younger population. However, and regrettably so, we cannot say the same for the United States.
In my reference below, you will see why I have made this comment but for the time being, allow me to make a few suggestions as follows:
If we are serious about wanting America to remain the number one economic giant of the world, then we need to start now to do this and where do we start? By equipping our youngsters with the necessary tools. Introduce language studies at an earlier stage of our Educational system and teach the languages that are the most important to learn. I.E, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and so on.
Next, provide our students with detailed geography of those countries that use these languages and include lessons on culture and customs. The entire picture would not be complete if these types of instructions are not included. As we all know, Spanish is our second language but we need to go a few steps further to provide our students with a greater understanding of those persons whose first language is not English.
If we have any hope of retaining our position and creating opportunities and advantages for tomorrow’s America, then we need to act now as our Chinese counterparts are doing. Introduce more foreign language and cultural studies into our school system. Introduce it to students at a younger age. Do it in such a way as to show them why it is necessary. I will close by providing you with a reference below.
Tongue-tied: Americans lack multi-lingual edge
Medill Reports – Washington,DC,USA
An estimated 200 million school-aged children in China study English, according to a 2006 Education Department release. Just 24000 of their US counterparts …
Read more at:
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=109681
If you require translation services then please visit www.translationpeople.com, a subsidiary of www.sterlingcreations.ca.
I’m Donna J Jodhan wishing you a terrific day.
Donna J Jodhan is the president of Sterling Creations
Now you can view blogs and editorials written by Donna at:
http://numpadplus.com/blog/?page_id=7 (access and accessibility)
http://www.accessibilitynews.ca/acnews/editorials/donna.php (accessibility issues in Canada)
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com (accessibility and disability issues on the international scene)
http://www.onestopbookcafe.com (under the café talk link)
http://www.untappedwealth.com/businessdesk.html (important answers to consumers concerns)
https://www.sterlingcreations.ca/magazine.html (monthly editorial)
https://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog/blog.html (blogs for language professionals and special needs business consultants)
