Learning a foreign language is not optional these days. It has become a prerequisite for almost everyone living in this era. As globalization quickly spreads out, speaking only one’s own mother tongue is definitely not sufficient to be competitive in 21st century. Therefore, I strongly agree that all high school students should be required to take at least 3 years of a foreign language class.
First, while learning a language, not only do you learn grammar or phonics of the language, but also you can gain deeper understanding of the country’s culture of which that language is spoken. Understanding a different country’s culture is a quite valuable experience since we live in a global world where we have to respect and embrace different aspects of nations. For example, I used to take a French class at school. At first, it was the language itself that attracted me, however, after a couple of weeks I could also indirectly experience its culture and customs of French people while learning the language. When I went to France myself with my family, that experience turned out to be very helpful.
Secondly, every corporation these days unexceptionally mandates applicants to have at least one foreign language score. If you don’t prepare your score from high school, it’ll be too late compared to other competitors. For example, in Korea, if applicants don’t have TOEIC (English test) over 850, it is very likely that they can’t get a job anywhere. Thus, it’s necessary for high schools to make their students prepared for those kinds of tests in advance.
Last but not least, knowing a language other than your mother tongue definitely helps you to communicate with wider range of people. In the global world, you should deal with multinational people, not just your indigenous neighbors. With the capability of speaking foreign language, you can also widen your network. I’d like to take my father for example. Since he speaks 4 different languages; Spanish, Korean, English, Chinese, his number of customers quadruples every year and it becomes more multinational each day. In conclusion, it is needless to say that high schools should necessitate their students to take mandatory foreign languages classes, for it can provide innumerous benefits. Indeed, learning a foreign language is a difficult process, however, once mastered, it doesn’t only enable you to speak that language, but also add competence to your profile, widen your network, give you profounder understanding of that culture. |