2008 Woodie Awards
Letter: Foreign languages teach more than just words
Issue date: 12/1/06 Section: Opinion
To the editor:
One thing is certain about learning another language: what you encounter is unique and what you learn will help you better understand human behavior. Those who study language and culture can better understand and appreciate our composite culture and why we act the way we do. We have to be patient with those around us who think that functioning in more than one language is somehow outside the scope of the American mind. Do you realize that ours is one of the few cultures in the world where one can be monolingual and still be considered literate?
I was an Italian major, and as such I studied perhaps that most colorful culture in all of human history. I studied a culture that produced both Pope John XXIII and Benito Mussolini. Ironic, isn't it? You want insight into human behavior? You want insight into why we act the way we do? You need not look any further than world languages. We can talk about Dante and his austere quest for truth and perfection. Or, Boccaccio bubbling over with laughter at the human scene. We can talk about Machiavelli with his cynicism and scientific art or St. Francis of Assisi with his deep love and compassion for mankind. In a global economy it is the foreign language student that can best give insight into the real Italy. Is it the country struggling for fiscal responsibility or the country that rose to a world power without any natural resources? This is not even to mention the contributions of Latin, German, Spanish, Russian and French.
If we have students who want to entertain the notion of eliminating the language requirement we might as well have them do some other house keeping while they're at it. Why not get rid of religion, history, and art? And don't even bother studying the geopolitical/economic make-up of another country. Don't waste your time. You don't want to end up like Sisyphus and push a rock up a hill for no reason at all. Then again, only those well-rounded students would understand that.
Joseph Dacchille '06
One thing is certain about learning another language: what you encounter is unique and what you learn will help you better understand human behavior. Those who study language and culture can better understand and appreciate our composite culture and why we act the way we do. We have to be patient with those around us who think that functioning in more than one language is somehow outside the scope of the American mind. Do you realize that ours is one of the few cultures in the world where one can be monolingual and still be considered literate?
I was an Italian major, and as such I studied perhaps that most colorful culture in all of human history. I studied a culture that produced both Pope John XXIII and Benito Mussolini. Ironic, isn't it? You want insight into human behavior? You want insight into why we act the way we do? You need not look any further than world languages. We can talk about Dante and his austere quest for truth and perfection. Or, Boccaccio bubbling over with laughter at the human scene. We can talk about Machiavelli with his cynicism and scientific art or St. Francis of Assisi with his deep love and compassion for mankind. In a global economy it is the foreign language student that can best give insight into the real Italy. Is it the country struggling for fiscal responsibility or the country that rose to a world power without any natural resources? This is not even to mention the contributions of Latin, German, Spanish, Russian and French.
If we have students who want to entertain the notion of eliminating the language requirement we might as well have them do some other house keeping while they're at it. Why not get rid of religion, history, and art? And don't even bother studying the geopolitical/economic make-up of another country. Don't waste your time. You don't want to end up like Sisyphus and push a rock up a hill for no reason at all. Then again, only those well-rounded students would understand that.
Joseph Dacchille '06
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