Nytimes: Will Americans Really Learn Chinese?
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The Times recently reported on the rise of Chinese-language instruction in American schools, a push supported by aid from the Chinese government. While language fads come and go — there was Russian during the cold war, then Japanese in the 1980’s, then Arabic after 9/11 — thousands of public schools have stopped teaching foreign languages in the last decade. Is the boom in Chinese language education going to last?
There’s a long tradition of bemoaning Americans’ inadequacy in foreign languages. But what specifically should the nation do to improve its citizens’ knowledge of other languages? What are the impediments?
Susan Jacoby, author of “The Age of American Unreason”
Ingrid Pufahl, Center for Applied Linguistics
Marcelo and Carola Suárez-Orozco, N.Y.U.’s immigration studies program
Norman Matloff, University of California, Davis
Hongyin Tao, professor of Chinese language and linguistics
Bruce Fuller, U.C. Berkeley professor of education and public policy
Read More: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/will-americans-really-learn-chinese/