Reply to WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is not just WVU that has been dropping language programs. This has been going on since at least the great recession. My understanding is that fewer students are taking language in HS (and the vast majority of those kids are taking Spanish) and fewer are taking it at the university level. There is just not much demand. People argue that folks need to know these languages for foreign service and military intelligence, but as someone who has experience in both of these areas, the foreign service and the military have their own language training programs. There is of course a real need for spanish speakers in many parts of the country for in health, policing, education type jobs, but, there is really no demand for other languages. My guess is that universities are also having trouble finding qualified professors for these programs.[/quote]

I mean, if you had a good pool of applicants and 3 of them came from universities where the students could study a foreign language in depth and 1 came from WVU where they could not study any foreign languages and so was monolingual, which candidates do you think the foreign service or military intelligence -- or some other organization where being bilingual was useful-- would consider more seriously?

I'm in a field where being able to read in multiple languages can be very useful. And no, you can't just use google translate when you are reading published books or documents that are not online. I don't even look twice at applicants who have no foreign language experience.

I would guess this means that a lot of WVU's study abroad programs are going to stop. What's the point of going to study in France or Spain if you can't speak any of the language? And that also will mean you don't have something interesting to put on your resume.[/quote]

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