One of the major factors which contribute to the existence of human kind is communication. Communication, whether verbal or written, is made possible through languages. There is a huge amount of languages in the world. The use of some is facing a rise, whilst some are on the way of extinction. In this era of globalization, it is no longer wise to restrict oneself to only one or language apart from the native language.
Why should the learning of foreign languages be encouraged?
There is a frequent interaction with people of overseas for business purposes, marketing, vacation schemes, further studies, employment, settlement or simply conversing via the several networking sites which exist. Consequently, in the first instance, being multilingual eases communication. It also adds to the pool of experiences acquired. For students, they will have a wider career prospect in this global labor market. They will be more able to face the competition. Many organizations, like for example T.J. Max has hired many foreign workers to be able to run the company smoothly. As stated in the Cultural and Language Barriers In The Workplace document “T.J. Max relies on its international workers to meet the company’s workforce needs and production demands”. Similarly, many other companies had to resort to hiring foreign employees. It can thus be deduced that knowing multiple languages make job seekers gain a sort of competitive advantage since they will be possessing some language competency.
Furthermore, as far as the cultural aspect is concerned, multilingualism helps in bridging the gap between different cultures. It helps in discovering and understanding other people and cultures. People nowadays are increasingly travelling or immigrating. Knowing multiple languages provides room for a better and fast adaptation. It is no longer advisable to depend on the fact that English is the official language for many countries thus knowing English is enough. This thought no longer holds. Going towards other languages may even help people in understanding other languages. In a programme by the BBC, someone stated that if ever someone knows German, it is possible for him/her to understand Dutch or some other Scandinavian language. So the effort invested in learning a language is never wasted.
Some reforms which could be adopted for Language Teaching in Mauritius
Some languages like Mandarin, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, and Arabic are taught. German and Spanish are also offered in few schools only. A solution could be making some foreign languages compulsory in the school curriculum. Since all languages cannot be done simultaneously, a list holding all the languages can be produced. The student then can choose which language to do: one language per year. Some people now may argue that it is too much. In that case, a threshold of 3 languages can be considered. Of course, with this reform, the staff should be reconsidered too.
Impact of technology on foreign language learning
With the progress of technology, learning languages is not restricted to school hours only. Several websites, blogs and software are available to fuel the learning process. One of the popular sites is BBC Languages which facilitates the task of beginners through multimedia materials. However, one feature which may be considered as being advantageous for some and disadvantageous for others is the creation of translation applications compatible with mobile phones, as mentioned on the Wall Street Journal. Since it is reliable and ubiquitous and it will be portable anywhere, people may find it very practical and thus does not find it a need to learn additional languages. Therefore, it depends entirely on the individual, how he/she makes efficient use of technology to enhance his/her learning.
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