MOUNT VERNON — In December, the Foreign Language Advisory Council submitted a statewide foreign language implementation plan to address Ohio’s need for citizens who are proficient in languages other than English, citizens who are better prepared for the global marketplace and citizens who can communicate effectively with people from around the world.
Besides increasing the opportunities for students to learn traditional languages such as Spanish, French, German and Latin, the council said, “Ohio must increase the number of languages that students have access to, so that they have opportunities to develop language skills needed in business, diplomacy, science and service industries.” Other languages that should be taught to meet Ohio’s current and anticipated needs include Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian, languages deemed to be critical for future scientific and diplomat efforts.
Why? One reason is to meet the needs of the work force. The Ohio Department of Development in 2006 reported on the number of Ohioans employed as a result of international investments in Ohio (numbers approximate): Japan, 60,000; Germany, 37,000; The Netherlands, 12,500; Canada, 12,300; France, 11,300 and 21 additional countries where the primary language is not English, 22,000. Ohio also has international trade offices located in Belgium, Japan, Hong Kong, The People’s Republic of China, Israel, Canada, Mexico and South America.
One of the major emphases of the Foreign Language Center at The Ohio State University, according to French and Italian Department chairwoman Diane Birckbichler, is the idea that “our students need to be better prepared for the global economy and that an essential component of that preparation is advanced language skills. Possessing advanced language skills will allow our students to interact successfully in business and social settings and thus be more competitive. We encourage students to combine their advanced level [language] skills with another discipline/career path.”
OSU requires two units of foreign language for admission, but Birckbichler would prefer a three- or four-unit requirement.
“Our placement records show,” she said, “that students with three to four, or more, years of language study place at higher levels of instruction and thus can move more quickly to advanced levels.”
Other Ohio colleges are stepping up to the plate to provide expanded language instruction, and many require language courses for graduation. For example, if students attending Mount Vernon Nazarene University have not had two years of one foreign language in high school, they need to take at least one semester of foreign language at MVNU to graduate.
According to the Department of Modern Languages and Literature at Kenyon College, “the study of language is not merely a practical skill that allows one to do research using non-English sources, or to live and work abroad. It is an intellectual discipline in its own right, training one to think and to interpret the world in a completely new way. ... a person who is fluent in another language gains insights into the world in which we live that a single-language speaker does not.” Therefore, Kenyon College offers classes in seven different languages — Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and Arabic — and a student must complete 1.5 units of foreign language in order to graduate.
Another reason to increase world language proficiency, according to the FLAC, is to meet the needs of organizations such as banks and hospitals that serve recent immigrant populations who speak languages such as Spanish and Somali.
Jesse Marlow, of First-Knox National Bank, said the bank has served customers who speak another language, but most brought an interpreter with them. He recalls only four occasions in the past 25 years when the bank had to call in an interpreter.
Knox County Auditor Margaret Ann Ruhl also said her office has had no problem with regard to English-as-a second-language speakers. Pennsylvania Dutch, she said, is the most common “other” language heard in her office.
Health and other social service agencies are required by law to provide services to individuals in their native tongues, so those agencies are impacted by non-English speaking immigrant populations. Roger Shooter, director of Knox County Job & Family Services, said although that is a growing issue statewide, Knox County is affected less than larger urban areas. His agency contracts with Spanish and American Sign Language interpreters, Shooter said, and subscribes to a translator service for the rare occasions when a less common language such as Somali or Vietnamese needs to be interpreted.
Knox Community Hospital contracts with an American Sign Language translator, subscribes to an interpreter service and additionally has a number of bilingual employees, including native speakers of Asian languages.
Kay Benick, Help Me Grow project director for the Knox County Health Department, said the health department has had several opportunities to work with families that have limited English skills. The department has three Spanish interpreters on contract and subscribes to a translator service for more rarely encountered languages, such as Albanian.
The most recent census data indicate approximately 5 percent of Knox County residents speak a language other than English as their primary language.
