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Ruby Sekera

Mrs. Jenkins

English IV, Period 5

13 May 2020

A World of Words

It is obvious that not everyone on Earth speaks the same language, yet, when I think

about the 360 million people who are native English speakers like I am, it is easy to get trapped

in the idea that practically everyone else uses the same language I do (Mitchell). This all changed

for me in the summer of 2019, when I went on vacation out of the United States for the first time

in my life. My trip to French-speaking Canada with other students learning French in my school

opened my eyes to numerous cultural differences, even though the two countries are neighbors. I

remember feeling captivated by so much more than the language; everywhere I turned, there was

something new that interested me, whether it be architecture, food, transportation, or art. Since I

was first introduced to world language classes in middle school, I have been fascinated with

learning about different cultures and walks of life. Not only do these classes broaden students’

views on the world, but they also give students numerous benefits which can increase over time,

should they continue with their language practice. However, these classes are becoming more

scarce and the choices of language that students do have access to are also diminishing heavily.

While some may believe that world language classes are unimportant to one’s education unless

they are pursuing a job in that field, I found the classes to not only be a crucial part of my

education, but also enjoyable in general. Nevertheless, this difference in perspective on teaching

the subject prompts me to ask the question: How does learning a world language impact one’s

life?
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Fluency in a world language takes patience and a great amount of practice. While one can

begin learning a new language at any age, it is clearly easiest to do so as a child, mainly because

a young child’s brain is more malleable and prone to comprehend the language better (Robin).

The effects of immersing a child in a second language are largely apparent in later years, and

those who learn a second language earlier in life will likely assume nativelike language expertise

quicker than those who learn it later (Lang). Due to the fact that adults, and their brains, are older

than children, it is more difficult for them to acquire a new skill. While early world language

education can easily create new neural circuits and strengthen existing ones in a child’s brain,

recreating these neural pathways become more difficult as people age (Jauregui). Educational

opportunities for children, such as dual-language programs, are designed to help students become

bilingual, and combining these initiatives with the structure of a child’s mind is evidence enough

as to how children have a biological lead over those with older and more developed brains.

Although it is impossible for everyone to begin learning a second language while they are

still a child, there are numerous technologies that one can utilize to make learning interactive and

enjoyable. There are countless informational sources on the internet that teachers can use to

enhance a student’s experience in the classroom. Technology gives a much wider expanse of

knowledge than what was previously available, and instead of shying away from it, educators

and students should embrace it with the intent of discovering academic yet engaging websites.

For a more personalized approach, teachers can employ online programs that allow students to

work with their cell phones or laptops, but still keep the reach and focus of the lessons inside the

classroom. One example of this is in-class chat boards, where “students message their ideas

anonymously in the target language as a group, while teachers facilitate a discussion about what

students have posted” (Lutfi). This technology works effectively in a world language class
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environment because students are required to express their ideas and opinions, often concerning

other parts of the world, and technology gives access to a great amount of accurate and firsthand

information. It also allows students to communicate with their peers, and concurrently learn from

the class’ mistakes in areas such as grammar or spelling.

The ability to make real-world connections and learn about other cultures is vital for a

myriad of language learners, and activities such as listening to music, watching movies, reading

a magazine, or “posting on social media in your target language are all great ways to start getting

real with your learning” (Inês). Real-world applications can even extend to communicating with

other learners or even native speakers. Native speakers offer a new perspective on their country

and language, which can be eye-opening for learners who do not live where the language is

spoken. People who become culturally invested in learning a second language find “new and

different vistas opening before them, not only of practical opportunity but for the fulfillment of

intellectual curiosity and the fascination of looking at the world from a background and view-

point of another culture” (Berlitz, vi). With the rise of social media, it is now easier than ever

before to connect with learners and native speakers around the world.

Due to Europeans seeing the importance of learning world languages, they value and

implement those lessons into schooling more than Americans. Since “only 10 states and the

District of Columbia make [world]-language learning a high school graduation requirement” in

the USA, “only 20 percent of K-12 students in America study a [world] language (compared

with an average of 92 percent in Europe)” (Engle). This is clearly a low amount on its own, but it

becomes even worse when considering that “learning a [world] language has been mandatory in

the EU for several decades” (Riehl). It is critical for students in the United States to be able to

learn a second language for numerous reasons, but it is equally important for world language
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classes to be available for students across the nation, so that their benefits can be reaped for

generations to come.

Françoise Langlois, a tutor and teacher of French for the past thirty years, provided more

cognizance on learning a world language. I met with her for an interview at a small café,

attributing to how she can tutor students anywhere they want to meet, and actually prefers to be

outside of the classroom or library. Langlois is a French citizen who grew up in Africa, and

considers herself to have grown up bilingual, due to her exposure to the language of Malagasy

during her childhood: “[A]wareness of another language was always a part of my life, my

thinking. And very early on it brought, in my mind, also the cultural aspect of knowing another

language”, which she decided to explore further in her higher education. She received her

Master’s degree in linguistics from the University Paris Seventh, now known as the Paris

Institute of English. When she moved to the United States from France, she started out by

working in an administrative role for a medical field. About thirty years ago, she finally found

her passion when she was hired as a teacher at schools including Diablo Valley College and

Seven Hills, the latter being where she eventually took over the French department at the end of

2019. Langlois was even a full-immersion preschool teacher for some time, but she soon began

tutoring students one-on-one, which is where she feels her instruction is most effective: “I think a

tutor does what maybe a personal trainer would do for sports. [They are] someone who is trained,

who knows how to teach, but can apply it to you directly and fast, before you develop bad

habits” she explained. Langlois cites that she tutors bright students who have been practicing

French for years but still make mistakes because in “a class of 20 to 30 students, you cannot

correct everybody” and teachers must “let a lot of things slide”. However, she adores tutoring for
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the personal aspect that it brings to learning; she has a variety of students that she teaches, and

she values the joy they get when they find what interests them.

Crediting her experience as a main factor of being a helpful tutor, she finds that with a

range of students comes an array of learning techniques. Although, she does engage in “debates

with friends of mine who are teachers, because I stick to my idea that full-immersion [language

learning] does work, but not all the time. Why should there be one thing that works [for

everybody]? It makes no sense”. Langlois’ issue with full-immersion stems from how “there are

fashions in curriculum, there shouldn’t be. I have all my old, old books that are actually... French

on one side, English on the other. This is something that totally disappeared” because it was no

longer in fashion, and students were expected “to be exposed to one hundred percent French”.

Langlois agrees that the ability to communicate is integral to accepting people and their

ideas, but the education system in America does not put enough emphasis on the importance of

these classes as other countries do. Langlois believes that this is in part due to how “America,

geographically, is very isolated from the rest of the world”, whereas in Europe, most countries

are smaller and closer together than those in North America, which incentivises schools to

require world language classes, as well as students to “learn two, three, four languages easily”. In

contrast, she remarks that in America the “cliché of ‘We’re all immigrants’ here is quite true, I

mean everybody goes back a generation or two and finds a different language in their family

history”, so “it’s obvious that you need to learn languages [in America]... but sometimes it’s

really tough, people don’t really want to or have no interest in it”. Langlois is surprised by

people who are resistant to learning a second language: “it still amazes me to this day that there

are some people who have never really thought about how other people live… they just have no

curiosity”. Langlois’ motivation to learn English originated from her own curiosity: “I wanted to
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know what the Beatles were talking about”, she confessed with a laugh, “[b]ut that was really

very real to me, I found it extraordinary that all my friends were listening to the Beatles all day

long, and they didn’t know what they were saying!” She encourages people to step out of their

comfort zone and try learning a new language, especially when they are “starting to look at being

an adult... and how you’re going to participate or explore [in life]. I think this is a beautiful way

to start opening your mind to other ways of thinking and doing things”.

Learning a world language stimulates and expands one’s brain, allowing one to become a

better person overall, as “multiple studies suggest that bilingual education has cognitive, social,

and health benefits” (Inlingua Blog). These benefits can positively affect a person’s life from

when they first begin to learn a world language, and they can range to impact innumerable

aspects of who a person is. Not only can academic skills escalate, but “[l]earning how to string

new words together to communicate effectively requires you to use your brain in an analogous

way as when you form creative thoughts… One study found that bilinguals were more creative

than monolinguals” (Inlingua Blog). One of the most useful benefits of knowing a world

language is that it “improves the knowledge of one’s… [native] language” (Latimer). While it

was previously believed that children who learned multiple languages in their early years would

not be able to keep up with their understanding of both languages, they can actually work in

tandem to strengthen each other, especially if the languages are a part of the same language

family. This is often likely, as “many modern languages do descend from a common ancestor, as

evidenced by basic similarities in their vocabulary and grammatical structure” (Katzner, ix).

However, adults and the elderly can profit from a world language as well. Bilingualism “can…

[improve] cognitive skills not related to language and even [shield] against… the onset of
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dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease” (Bhattacharjee). With no end to the assets

that are developed with a world language, it is essential to learn one now more than ever before.

To learn more about world language, an interview with Madame Julia Flanagan-Schmidt,

a high school and college French teacher, provided firsthand insight. Flanagan-Schmidt has

studied French since 1986 and taught it since 1998. Although not growing up as a French

speaker, she always wanted to learn a second language, so she took French classes in middle and

high school, and majored in French in college. During that time, Flanagan-Schmidt studied

abroad for a year at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar in Senegal, and also studied

Wolof, an African language spoken in that country. As the people of the world become more

connected and dependent, Flanagan-Schmidt comments that “[h]aving knowledge of another

language opens our minds as well as professional and personal doors to opportunity. I never

would have studied in Senegal if I had not studied French previously”. After graduating college,

she worked for three years in the corporate world before going to the University of Wisconsin-

Madison to pursue graduate studies in French, where she also studied Swahili due to her dual

interests in African studies and French language and literature.

In the classroom, Flanagan-Schmidt strives to impart both the knowledge of the language

as well as the culture of France and Francophone countries. She observes that “[m]any people

focus on the professional advantages of knowing a specific world language” and while this is

beneficial, Flanagan-Schmidt asserts that “learning languages paves the way to greater

understanding of other cultures, and this is essential in the twenty-first century”. The twenty-first

century also brings the advantage of technology, and teachers such as Flanagan-Schmidt

encourage students to capitalize on those resources. However, these technologies are far from

replacing the typical classroom setting: “Apps are great for practicing and memorizing
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vocabulary, but they do not offer the cultural insights that a classroom can provide”.

Furthermore, the structured set-up of a world language class in school is essential for success, as

“frequent, consistent practice is one of the most important elements in learning a language”. This

is imperative for mastering a language, and Flanagan-Schmidt adds that “[a]dolescents and

adults do not like to make mistakes and feel self-conscious while learning a language in a way

that young children do not”, but a class environment, where everyone learns at the same pace,

provides them with a safe space to make those mistakes and learn from them.

To Flanagan-Schmidt, it is obvious that learning a world language should not be solely

about understanding what is spoken, but also how people live their lives and their perspectives

on the world. This fosters cultural awareness, and in her field, Flanagan-Schmidt sees “that

Americans have a limited understanding of the many parts of the world where French is spoken,

and forget that it’s not just in France”. She believes that “learning another language expands our

knowledge of other cultures and enables us to interact with and make connections with people

that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to communicate with”. This is what Flanagan-Schmidt hopes

for anyone who decides to learn a second language to discover. She found that through travel and

“living and studying in Senegal, I have made friends that I would never have been able to build

relationships with if I only spoke English. To me this is the best part about knowing other

languages - the ability to get to know amazing people”.

A benefit of learning a second language that most people recognize is the increased

opportunity for getting a job or a promotion. This is incredibly important when one is applying in

a competitive job market, because“[l]earning to communicate fluently in multiple languages

provides additional job security and advancement opportunities in uncertain economic times”

(De Valoes). This does not only apply to occupations such as interpreters or translators, but in
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fact “enhances one’s opportunities in government, business, medicine, law, technology, military,

industry, marketing”, and more (Latimer). Moreover, knowing a second language can increase

one’s salary, even rising by “(at least) 1[.]5-3.8 percent, with German skills having the highest

value due to their relative scarcity and Germany’s importance to global trade” (Schreck).

Conversely, countries that fall behind in educating their citizens in world language face the

possibility of losing money, most notably in the global market: “One UK study suggests that

Britain’s lack of [world] language skills costs its economy up to £48 billion ($80 billion) per

year” (Victoria). However, while the United States is still behind European countries in terms of

how it treats world language classes, “US studies have revealed that demand for bilingual

employees has more than doubled in the last five years, and that nearly 40% of US businesses

plan to hire bilingual staff” (Victoria). Prospective employees will have a much greater chance of

getting the job they want if they pursue their world language education, and by putting that skill

on their resumé, they will likely have an advantage over other candidates who are monolingual.

The impact of learning a world language goes much further than I ever imagined.

Mentally and socially, humans are almost naturally inclined to learn to communicate with each

other, express their ideas, and construct a better world with more educated and kind people.

Babies and young children can easily adapt to and understand a second language, mainly because

they can retain information better and are unafraid of making mistakes. With programs such as

full-immersion becoming increasingly popular, young children may find them extremely

beneficial and be able to enhance their language skills in a manner that a classroom could not

provide. Children who learn a world language typically show better performance in other

academic subjects as well. Students in America usually have the option to take world language

classes in middle or high school, but the importance of these classes is not stressed as much as it
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is otherwise around the world. There are also less options of languages for students to take.

However, with the introduction of technology in the classroom, there are new opportunities for

them to take advantage of these resources and go deeper with their learning. Adults who cannot

take language classes at school can also utilize these technologies, and can become friends with

others who are learning the language both online, and through programs offered through their

community. Additionally, having world language skills on one’s resumé can boost the likelihood

of being hired or promoted. Learning and using a world language has even been shown to

decrease the chances of different types of dementia as one grows older. No matter what age a

person is, being able to understand a second language helps them broaden their cultural views,

increase their creativity and cognitive skills, and show them just how much influence languages

have throughout the world. Just as how I discovered the limitless opportunities that language

opened up for me during my trip to Canada, I believe that anyone can have this same experience

as long as they keep an open mind and enjoy how they practice and master their new skill.