I wrote the above title and the text below in response to "On campus beat: University of Minnesota and EMC team up to teach world languages", Lydia Coutré, Star Tribune, 2013-06-25. http://www.startribune.com/local/212860091.html I submitted it as a letter to the editor, but the Strib did not publish it. Apropos foreign languages, the Strib put the accent mark on Coutré's name.
When I was in college students coming from another country were foreign students. They were welcomed by many and considered part of the student body. I remember eating often with three Arabs whose conversation went beyond their complaints about Israel.
Now their grandchildren studying in the U.S. would be called "international students". But if a student body at a U.S. school included students from other countries, wouldn't all the students be international students?
When I worked and lived in Europe, I wasn't an international worker but a foreigner. I was called Ausländer, utlänning, étranger, straniero, and various forms of American. And gaijin (outside person) when I visited Japan.
When I was in school and beyond, languages other than English were called foreign languages; now it is the fashion to call these other languages world languages, no matter how widely they are spoken. I would consider only a handful of languages world languages; English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese are spoken in a large number of countries. Swedish and Japanese would be local languages, spoken almost exclusively on a daily basis only in their countries of origin.
No matter what you call other languages, Lydia Coutré is right to point out that Americans are woefully illiterate in foreign languages. We need to stop considering foreign languages a frill. Being multi-lingual gets you friends, business, and security. I wonder if there would have been fewer terrorists if our schools could have provided more Arab speakers.
