A panel of five Elon faculty members, including Kenn Gaither, an assistant professor in the School of Communications discussed in McKinnon April 8 the importance of learning a foreign language and developing an intercultural skill-set in a world that is being globalized impetuously.
Each professor shared a different perspective to reason the relevance and importance of a second language in today’s world.
Dr. Ketevan Kupatadze, a Spanish professor at Elon who emigrated from Georgia to pursue a doctorate at Emory University, illustrated the prospects for graduate studies in foreign languages.
In the field of foreign language study, almost all students are granted a stipend that provides approximately $1,500 a month, health insurance and compensation for study abroad programs, she said. In essence, students granted acceptances into these programs teach classes instead of paying tuition.
The difference between graduate study and under-graduate study however, is not so much in the pay structure.
“It is the emphasis on doing something instead of memorizing material” and “applying your knowledge” among students who are interested in the same material, Kupatadze said.
She added that in turn, this opens up numerous possibilities for the future.
Dr. William Vincent applied linguistic anthropology with his experiences in West Africa and elsewhere. His discussion explained the scientific reasoning behind language from an anatomical perspective in an attempt to trace its genealogy.
Two structural changes in the human brain trace the origin of language: the Broca’s area located on the surface of the left temporal lobe in the brain and associated with language skills, and the Vaulted Basicranium, which allows the larynx’s movement to produce complex sound. They are estimated to have been seen in fossil records for the first time nearly 2.4 million years ago he said, dating the origin of language relations.
“Language is an important part of the human condition,” he emphasized.
Vincent also narrated some of his foreign experiences and observations in northwest Amazon and West Africa, where he worked and lived. Ethnocentricism can be diminished through the study of foreign culture, he said while placing the “importance of language in a cultural context.”
Dr. Brian Niehaus explained the changing trend of the global economy and the importance a foreign language will have as an asset in the business world.
In 1950 the United States dominated 75 percent of Gross World Product and by 2000 it had dropped to 23 percent, he said.
As globalization is more prevalent than ever before, companies are now looking at hiring more diverse workforces with intercultural skills, he said. Also lending to this is jobs in fields such as electrical engineering that are accounted for by more than 70 percent foreign employees.
Professor of Communications Dr. Kenn Gaither described his experience in Brazil, where he researched soccer and learnt Portuguese. He reiterated the sentiments of Neihaus for learning a foreign language: “There is nothing better you can do with your time, nothing better to prepare you for the real world,” he said.
The world opens up in ways he could not imagine through learning a new language, he added.
Professor April Post, an Elon alumnus, described her study abroad experiences while enrolled in Elon, graduate school in Sacramento and as professor of Spanish at Elon. She revealed some memorable moments and experiences she shared in Spain while stressing the importance of language skills. She also described what study abroad would be like for anyone interested.
The Panel was organized by the Sigma Delta Pi honors society. The underlying thought behind it was to inform students who are not involved in the foreign language experience but are merely taking care of the requirement President of Sigma Delta Pi ,Kiersten Dittrich, said.
She said there are only nine seniors expected to graduate with a major in Spanish this year.
Professor Gaither ended the discussion with considerable emphasis on the importance language will play in the future: “For companies to grow, ideas to flourish, nations to build, and stories to be told, languages are the undercurrent of the tide,” he said.
by Neel Arora, ’10