Foreign Language Essay -- Language

Only 9% of the U.S. population is bilingual, and less than 8% of college students enroll in foreign lyric poem courses (Baron). The United States has non put enough furiousness on the importance of foreign speech communication culture. People atomic number 18 not aware of the price this country pays due to a lack of language professionals. Its national protective cover and diplomacy are lagging behind. American companies are becoming less prevalent in the international economy. Americans are separated from culture that thrives in their communities. However, the future generations can be salvaged from this weak soil with foreign language education. The teaching of foreign language in American public schools will help shape a culturally-nourished nation coif to advance into international political, economic, and social personal matters.The national security and diplomatic affairs in the United States has suffered and will continue to if foreign language education is not rect ified and strengthened. Perhaps the most severe tragedy on American soil, 9/11, exposed the language-related weaknesses of the U.S. government and intelligence agencies. After 9/11, the intelligence community revealed that it was only 30% prepared in languages crucial to national security (Holt). Although the government, had 123,000 hours of Arabic language recordings following the attacks, there werent enough linguistic professionals to analyze the information (Holt). In 2006 the FBI reported that only 33 FBI employees had limited skills in Arabic (Holt). However, they werent even in departments in which their skills could be used towards counterterrorism (Holt). The breach in national security is widening when intelligence agencies can only offer agents with limited language skills. There are intel... ...gn-language-educ_b_127588.html.Lowery, George. Cornell history U.S. Should Emphasize Foreign Language Education. Cornell Chronicle Online. 24 Oct. 2007. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. .Os born, Terry A. The Future of Foreign Language Education in the United States. Westport, CT Bergin & Garvey, 2002. Print.Pufahl, Ingrid, Nancy C. Rhodes, and Donna Christian. CAL Digests What We Can Learn From Foreign Language instruction In Other Countries. Center for Applied Linguistics. Sept. 2001. Web. 02 Jan. 2012. .Ramzy, Austin. Get Ahead, Learn mandarin - TIME. TIME World. Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 26 June 2006. Web. 02 Jan. 2012. .