Posted on 12/12/2004 6:22:39 PM PST by SandRat
I took Russian in high school during the 1960s. The teacher's salary was paid for by the government because not too many kids took Russian.
If the government wants schools to teach Arabic, the government needs to pay for the teachers because not enough kids will sign up for Arabic to make it cost-effective for the school.
This is just one of the many areas which our government doesn't properly utilise the internet. If you want more people to learn arabic, put free arabic courses online. IIRC, the state department already publishes its own arabic book and audio tapes for its diplomats, but it costs about $200-300.
High school is already late for learning a second language. Once you hit puberty, your brain begins to "lock-in", basically hardwiring the learning process. Adults who speak two languages can learn a third or fourth without nearly the same difficulty as a person who didn't learn any foreign language until after puberty.
I know the "English Only" types are gonna complain about this, but they have done more damage to American education and our ability to compete in the global marketplace (let alone conduct a reasonable foreign policy) than anyone else.
Reminds me of a riddle from, of all places, Ft. Huachuca (96B Intel Analyst Course 11-78). What do you call someone who speaks two languages? More than two? Only one?
FYI...
The federal government needs to pay for these teachers because school districts can't afford the teachers unless the enrollment is substantial.
Well, technically that is Monolingual but I kinda like Unilingual.
The answers to the riddle: Bilingual, Multilingual and American.
:>)
The US gov. won't hire Jews or Palestinians as translators.
That takes a huge chunk of educated people out of their databases.
If you think the white boy down the street is going to study Arabic, forget about it. It's waaaaaay too difficult.
Morse code is MUCH easier than Arabic, and can land an enlistee automatic NCO status.
Yet how many can do it?
Like a previous poster said, if you haven't learned 2 languages by puberty, you're sunk.
Only first and second generation Americans are bilingual. I admit to that category African Americans who speak both standard English and Ebonics.
The rest of America is lost. Clueless.
"The center trains using images. A person can more easily relate some parts of a language to an image, Shaver said"
"It's a fact. We think in images," he added.
Gee, I thought we used words to communicate. Does this mean future translators/interpreters from the center will be able to see the images in terrorists' minds while not understanding overheard conversations? Will images of 72 virgins trigger a code orange?
The government could attach a substantial financial premium on a student's gaining proficiency in the needed languages. The language training needs to start young. For instance, any kid who can pass an advanced fourth year level of written and oral Arabic by, for instance, 10th grade, would receive $40,000 or most of his college education paid, sort of like an ROTC arrangment, but in this case earlier on in the game, since languages need to be learned early. The student would owe the government a certain number of years of paid translation work - some even after high school and before college - using these language skills.
"Gee, I thought we used words to communicate. "
We do, but adult learning is "holistic", and most adults learn better through images, though all five senses are involved. There's a whole body of new neurolingistic research in this area (which I can't understand, but I find people who do).
I know the literature and the issue. And when I hear buzzwords, I envision garbage.
Of course, the theorists love buzzwords ... all academics do. Educational theorists really pile them on. But any specialty uses them. The bottom line is that adults learn differently, and pictures, sounds, smell, taste, and feel are part of how we learn.
Not really.
I speak five fairly well and can get by in a sixth and didn't speak anything but English until I was in my twenties.
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