More Americans Are Studying Languages In College

Government economists expect job growth for interpreters to exceed the average for all careers in the 21st Century. This growth is being driven in part by new accreditative and legislative developments requiring doctors and hospitals to provide qualified language services to non-English speaking and hearing impaired patients.

The increasing need for interpreters has also been fueled in the past few years by global business opportunities. In the business world, foreign language and intercultural skills have proven to be vital components in the education and training of employees.

According to the most recent survey done in 2006 by the Modern Language Association (MLA), enrollments in languages other than English have expanded by 12.9% since 2002,. The study of Spanish, French, and German continues to grow and represents more than 70% of non-English language enrollments. The organization’s survey also shows an increasing interest in languages, such as Arabic (up 126.5%), Chinese (up 51.0%), and Korean (up 37.1%).

In the 2002 MLA survey, over 1.4 million college students in the United Stateswere were studying foreign languages. In fact, enrollments in post-secondary foreign language education jumped 17.9% between 1998 and 2002. Since 1970, Spanish continues to be the most widely taught foreign language at American colleges and universities.

Interestingly, the upsurge in foreign language study is easily attributed to increased interest in different cultures and languages worldwide. Undergraduate enrollments increased only 7.5 percent according to the 2002 MLA survey. Both the 2002 and 2006 surveys clearly show the increased growth of enrollment in foreign language classes easily overshadowing the jump in college enrollments.

Continued study of the 2002 MLA survey also shows the distribution of college students enrolled in Spanish and Arabic courses was fairly even across the United States. Interest in Italian and Hebrew was strongest in the northeastern United States and interest in Asian languages was more apparent on the Pacific Coast.

According to studies conducted by the University of Hawaii in 2003, 14% of the total population of the United States speaks a language other than English at home. This figure represents a 34% increase since 1980. Currently, a total of 329 different languages are being spoken in the United States , 14.1% of these being Asian languages and more than 31 million United State residents speaking English as a second language.

Naturally, fluency in a second language is a prerequisite to becoming a professional interpreter or translator. However, it is only one of many required skills a language industry professional must have. For more information read the next article, Basic Terms of the Language Industry.