“Remaining monolingual is a surefire way for America to fall behind,” an op-ed co-authored by President David Wippman and Cornell American Studies Professor Glenn Altschuler in The Hill, revealed that the U.S. remains a mostly monolingual country.
“Americans’ foreign language complacency may stem from the knowledge that English remains the language of international business and diplomacy and is by far the most commonly studied second language around the world. But others’ knowledge of English is no substitute for Americans’ knowledge of foreign languages,” they continued.
Providing multiple statistics confirming Americans’ lack of foreign language knowledge and emphasizing the importance of acquiring fluency in more than one language, the writers also provided possible solutions.
“Colleges and universities, many of which have no language requirements or require just a year of instruction, should consider encouraging or even requiring students to graduate with fluency in a foreign language,” they wrote in their conclusion. “Colleges and universities should also consider using consortia to expand instruction in less commonly taught languages, and ramp up summer introductory offerings for high school and college students.”
