Is there a Language Crisis in the United States?

The United States faces a serious problem when it comes to language proficiency. The nation requires professional-level competence in over one hundred different languages, but there are massive gaps in language skills, including some in jobs of national importance. The most significant needs for language proficiency lie in defense and intelligence, as well as in the globalization of business. The localization industry, which prepares products for use in another language and culture, is a multi-billion dollar business, and many U.S. residents require language assistance for essential public services in as many as two hundred languages.

The American education system is not to blame for the lack of language proficiency, as teachers and students alike have limited time allocated for language learning. Few U.S. schools teach more than a token amount of the world’s most important tongues, such as Mandarin Chinese, the most-spoken language globally, or the languages of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Professional-level skill in a language requires a long sequence of education, time spent in a country where the language is spoken, and extensive, meaningful use of the language in real-world communication tasks. American students generally do not have access to such programs, which is a real pity.

The solution to this problem requires serious investment in training. America needs to provide wider and deeper education in far more languages to introduce new languages to monolingual Americans and to strengthen the skills of people who speak another language at home. The children of immigrants may speak the family language at home, but once they are in school, they quickly switch to English, and by the third generation, the family language is lost. Therefore, high-quality ESL programs, paralleled by the development of literacy in their family language, can achieve the goal. If America’s next generation is to fill critical roles in government, business, and community service, they must have proficiency in various languages.