- Foreign language study creates more positive attitudes and less prejudice toward people who are different.
- Analytical skills improve when students study a foreign language.
- Business skills plus foreign language skills make an employee more valuable in the marketplace.
- Dealing with another culture enables people to gain a more profound understanding of their own culture.
- Creativity is increased with the study of foreign languages.
- Graduates often cite foreign language courses as some of the most valuable courses in college because of the communication skills developed in the process.
- International travel is made easier and more pleasant through knowing a foreign language.
- Skills like problem solving and dealing with abstract concepts are increased when you study a foreign language.
- Foreign language study enhances one’s opportunities in government, business, medicine, law, technology, military, industry, marketing, and more.
- A second language improves your skills and grades in math and English and on the SAT and GRE.
- Four out of five new jobs in the US are created as a result of foreign trade.
- Foreign languages provide a competitive edge in career choices: one is able to communicate in a second language.
- Foreign language study enhances listening skills and memory.
- One participates more effectively and responsibly in a multi-cultural world if one knows another language.
- Your marketable skills in the global economy are improved if you master another language.
- Foreign language study offers a sense of the past—culturally and linguistically.
- The study of a foreign tongue improves the knowledge of one’s own language: English vocabulary skills increase.
- The study of foreign languages teaches and encourages respect for other people: it fosters an understanding of the interrelation of language and human nature.
- Foreign languages liberalize one’s experiences and make one more flexible and tolerant.
- Foreign languages expand one’s world view and limit the barriers between people that cause distrust and fear.
- Foreign language study leads to an appreciation of cultural diversity.
- As immigration increases we need to prepare for changes in the American society.
- One is at a distinct advantage in the global market if one is as bilingual as possible.
- Foreign languages open the door to art, music, dance, fashion, cuisine, film, philosophy, science and more.
- Foreign language study is simply part of a very basic liberal education: to “educate” is to lead out, to lead out of confinement, narrowness and darkness.
--Renate Latimer, Associate Professor Emerita of German
Others in our professions have developed similar lists, including Alan C. Frantz, “Seventeen Values of Foreign Language Study.” ADFL Bulletin 28.1 (1996): 44-49.