More students study foreign languages

As finals week approaches across the country, more students will be studying for foreign language exams than ever before.\nAccording to a study released this month by the Modern Language Association, college students have enrolled in more languages than they have since 1972, and colleges and universities offer more languages than they did five years ago.\nThis statement doesn't surprise IU visiting lecturer of German Paul White.\n"If you turn on the radio or watch the news, there's a lot going on and to be a part of it you must have some idea of other cultures," he said.\nGerman was ranked third most popular among college students, a ranking that White says he doesn't think is surprising because so many people are of German ancestry.\nOne such student is sophomore Kathleen Burnett, who said she decided to take German in high school because everyone else in her family took German. She said the family would sometimes throw random German words into everyday conversation.\n"Also, when I was in the eighth grade, some German students came to speak to my class and they seemed fun," she said.\nGerman enrollment has increased 12.5 percent since 1998, according to the study. White said the language's ranking doesn't surprise him because it is slightly harder to learn than Spanish or French, which are ranked first and second, respectively.\n"Personally, I would like to see the interest in Spanish up," White said. "It's becoming a way of life for some people."\nAccording to the study, 53 percent of college students enrolled in a language study Spanish, including junior Melissa David, who was advised by her counselor that Spanish was "easier" than German.\n"I believe that this is the usual assumption by most students," she said, "but those who continue to study Spanish as a major or minor soon realize its importance in the United States as the Spanish-speaking population continues to rise."\nThe 2000 Census report cited the largest minority group in the U.S. as the Spanish-speaking population.\n"I think that students are most likely to choose it as their second language because it seems to be the most relevant in current situations," David said. \nSixty thousand students enrolled in American Sign Language in 2002, a 432 percent increase since 1998, making it the language with the largest increase in enrollment across the country.\nASL student and sophomore Megan Fogarty said she enrolled in ASL to help with her major in special education.\n"I may be working with hearing-impaired children," she said. "Some students use both language and sign language, so I thought it would be a good tool to have."\nFogarty said learning ASL is different from learning another language. She said ASL is a foreign language because it has its own grammar; however, it's different from a language like Spanish because students can't write papers.\n"ASL is not signing word for word," she said, "It's more than that, and it's basically all memorization."\nIU offers about 34 languages, including some less-commonly taught languages like Swahili, Kazak and Twi.\nBurnett said she wants to study abroad in Munich next year, then plans to tackle French when she returns to the U.S., becoming one of a minority of students who know more than two languages.\nWhite said whatever second language students choose to learn, it is important that students at least learn one.\n"A second language teaches a different way of looking at things," he said. "It shows a different way of expressing all kinds of ideas that are just as important as our own. Americans can't escape; the world is becoming a smaller and smaller place."\n-- Contact staff writer Kathleen Quilligan at kquillig@indiana.edu.