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Of all the skills that a person could have in today's globalized world, few serve individuals – and the larger society – as well as knowing how to speak another language.
People who speak another language score higher on tests and think more creatively, have access to a wider variety of jobs, and can more fully enjoy and participate in other cultures or converse with people from diverse backgrounds.
Knowledge of foreign languages is also vital to America's national security and diplomacy. Yet, according to the U.S Government Accountability Office, nearly one in four Foreign Service officers do not meet the language proficiency requirements that they should meet to do their jobs.
Despite all these reasons to learn a foreign language, there has been a steep decline in foreign language instruction in America's colleges and universities. Researchers at the Modern Language Association recently found that colleges lost 651 foreign language programs from 2013 to 2016
The advice to learn foreign languages has been repeated for decades, but how much does it really help native speakers of English, professionally, to learn other languages? Additionally, does the decline of language courses at traditional schools reflect cheaper, better alternatives online?
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:50PM (2 children)
Love that! Using the IPA for things like 'ing' and 'ed' and some prepositions.
What a great visual image!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 07 2019, @10:35PM (1 child)
I noticed that happens mostly when conjugating verbs or modifying adjectives; the kanji for the infinitive (verb) or abstract (adjective) is given, followed by modifiers like -imasu. -imasen deshita, -[tte kudasai, etc in hiragana. The language is still hopelessly difficult to write but once I figured this out things became easier since I now knew where semantic blocks started and ended, if that makes sense.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Saturday February 16 2019, @04:24AM
Yes, that's pretty well the way it works. Except perhaps in young childrens' literature, where it's all hiragana to make it easy for children to read. And it makes it harder for foreigners learning the language because there are no visual clues about word boundaries.