Foreign Language Publications

Students in intermediate and advanced foreign language classes can be encouraged to read widely. Foreign newspapers and magazines are sometimes available in school and public libraries or may be purchased at newsstands. Subscriptions are easily placed. Some bookstores stock literary, technical, and other publications from various countries.

Other Activities

Through programs of student language clubs, summer camps, and youth organizations it is possible to plan many incidental and informal activities in which a foreign language is used.

School and Community Contribution

Teachers and school officials should keep the community well informed concerning the school foreign language program and should stress the need for providing abundant opportunities for extracurricular language practice both at home and abroad. When the need is understood, many individuals as well as civic and cultural groups will work creatively to enliven the language learning experience and make students aware of the community's interest and pride in their achievements.

B. Outside the United States

THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS and activities and their potential educational contribution to our Nation was recognized by the Working Committee of the Conference on the Ideals of American Freedom and the International Dimensions of Education, held in Washington, D.C., in March 1962. One of the summary proposals in its report dealt directly with this subject in the following words:

Participation must increase in worldwide cultural relations programs, such as educational exchanges, international contacts among educational institutions, technical assistance, etc. Ideally all American students at secondary and college level should have a minimum of one year of study or teaching abroad.

Interest in programs designed to promote international understanding and improve our intercultural relations with other countries of the world is growing rapidly. One indication is the number of U.S. students who study abroad. In the academic year 1961-62, they

totaled nearly 20,000, not counting summer school students, and were enrolled in 590 institutions in 66 different countries. Summer, semester, and academic year study opportunities are multiplying so rapidly that it is impossible to list individual programs in this handbook.

Opportunities abroad for high school students, especially during the past 5 years, have also expanded tremendously; and they continue to expand. The Council on Student Travel has estimated that more than 5,000 high school students traveled abroad under various programs in 1962. Several programs are sponsored by State organizations, usually for their own students. Examples are the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages for High School Students, and the program of the Utah Council of Foreign Language Teachers. Some local public school systems and independent schools organize programs abroad for which students from neighboring States or even from the whole Nation are eligible. A number of religious groups also have programs abroad for high-school-age members of their faith, drawn from the local community or from the entire United States.

High school students who know that they will be able to make real use of their foreign language will have an added incentive for the hard work required to gain competency. Ability to communicate effectively with native speakers of a foreign language in a foreign country is an exciting and deeply satisfying experience.

Character of the Programs Abroad

For the majority of the programs carried on outside the United States, some competency in the foreign language involved is required or strongly recommended. Although a few of these programs are confined to a single project or activity, most are a combination of two or more types. Examples of these activities are student exchanges; study abroad for a summer, semester, or year; excursions, trips and tours; camping; work camps and work in individual jobs; and family living. Some of the programs offer scholarships or other forms of financial aid to cover part of the cost. Appendix B describes some representative programs available to students and suggests sources of information.

Using Foreign Languages on the Job

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE in a bulletin of this size to enumerate or describe in any formal way all the vocations and professions in which foreign language in varying degrees of proficiency is either essential or useful. If such a list were to be made, it would include all the major categories of occupations, since in all of them foreign language competency can be either a basic requirement or a supplementary skill that enhances the value of the worker's other education, training, and experience.

For many positions in our communities at home, preference may be given, other qualifications being equal, to the person who knows a foreign language well enough to use it in everyday contacts with customers, clients, or the general public. In a study conducted at DePauw University in 1957, graduates of that university reported on their direct or incidental use in their employment of the foreign language studied in high school and college. Out of 187 respondents to the questionnaire, 106 were in gainful employment involving use of a foreign language. The variety of the activities reported was extraordinary.

A search of the New York Times classified advertisement section for December 6, 1959, revealed 151 advertisements of jobs demanding a knowledge of some foreign language. The actual number of positions was greater because some of the advertisements mentioned several positions available. Spanish led the list of desired languages, followed by French and German, in descending order. Also listed were Italian, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Portuguese, and Yiddish. Types of positions ranged from clerk to export manager, engineer, and social director, with a corresponding salary range. Similarly local business concerns such as travel bureaus, transportation companies, hotels, restaurants, department stores, and specialty shops all need employees with foreign language skills to deal with non-English-speaking customers. Although their language proficiency is an advantage, personnel for these positions are hired on the basis of other qualifications and experience. The 22 percent increase in 1 year of the number of foreign visitors to the United States, who totaled about 600,000 in 1962, is due in part to official efforts to attract tourists. To aid prospective visitors, the U.S. Travel Service has set up offices abroad with multilingual staffs. Reception and information centers have also been established in several metropolitan

areas.

The International Visitors Information Service in Washington, D.C., for instance, maintains a 24-hour answering service manned by volunteers competent in 26 different languages, including Swahili. Professional workers in almost every field find that knowledge of foreign languages facilitates their work. This has always been true; but our international contacts and involvements are now reinforcing these language needs.

High proficiency in one or more foreign languages is essential for such professions as that of the foreign language teacher, the scientific linguist, the interpreter, and the translator; and almost indispensable for others, for example, for many in the Foreign Service. But in these jobs, as in others requiring a lesser degree of foreign language proficiency, language skills alone are not enough. They must be combined with other professional education and training.

Some occupations for which foreign language knowledge or training is either essential or highly useful are briefly described below.

Technical Translators and Editors

When a student is asked how he expects to use the foreign language he is learning, he may say that he wants to be a translator. It is possible, however, that he does not know what is involved in this. Translation is the relating of two languages that the translator knows extremely well. When the subject matter is in a specialized field, as in all technical translation work, the translator must also have a thorough grounding in that field in order to be able to make a clear and accurate translation. Much translation, whether governmental or privately sponsored, is of articles from scholarly journals, and is usually contracted out to part-time translators who are professionals in the fields concerned. Most of these translators are competent in more than one foreign language. Agencies report difficulty in locating translators for rare or "exotic" language materials in certain subject areas, for instance, a lawyer who can translate Thai, or highly specialized chemists who can translate Russian, Chinese, Polish, Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, and Hungarian.

Translation services must rely to some extent on technical editors to prevent serious mistakes in the substance of the translation, and to eliminate the foreign words, foreign meanings of words, and nonEnglish ways of writing, which are apt to appear in the work of a foreign-born translator writing in a language not his own. In extreme cases, the translation may be intelligible only to one who knows the translator's native language.

Literary Translators

Problems are also involved in producing a good translation of a literary text. The translator must have a thorough knowledge of both the languages with which he is working, in order to convert the exact meaning from one language to the nearest possible equivalent in the other. At the same time he must attempt to convey the fine distinctions in meaning, feeling, tone, level of usage, euphony, style, and diction of the original. Literary translations are usually commissioned by publishing houses.

Interpreters

Simultaneous interpretation (done while the speaker is still talking) is a type of translation which requires greater skill than any other. A simultaneous interpreter must be able to listen so attentively as to anticipate what is going to be said before a sentence is finished. At the same time he has to relay this sentence in another language, exhibiting all the while some effectiveness as a public speaker—a rare combination of abilities. Not only must the performance be as rapid as the speech interpreted, it must also be in the style that the speaker would be using if he were speaking English. The constant attention and effort demanded in this unhesitating flow of oral translation and interpretation is so exhausting that interpreters generally work in pairs, each taking his turn for a short period of time. The really top positions in simultaneous interpretation are nearly always filled by persons who became bilingual in childhood. Openings for this kind of work occur in sessions of the United Nations, in international conferences on any subject, and in high level diplomatic meetings of official U.S. and foreign representatives.

Consecutive interpretation (done after the speaker has completed a part or all of what he is saying) takes less skill and is used when the services of an intermediary are required on more informal occasions involving groups of visitors from other countries or individual speakers.

The official languages of the United Nations are Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, and Spanish. A study was made by the Union of International Associations of the languages used in international congresses during 1960-61 and the beginning of 1962. The principal languages among the 14 authorized for written reports in the 285 congresses surveyed, and the number of times each was used were: English, 250; French, 242; German, 121; Spanish, 47;

694-732 0-63-3