Highlights

Campus News

Wildcat Weekly Minute for Nov. 17, 2011

A look at what's happening on campus this week.

Faith

Cleansed through the Cross

Dr. Quarles speaks on the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice at weekly chapel

Sports

LC hoops teams wrap up homestand with pair of wins

Off to Ozarks, UT-Dallas next

Organizations

LC media student give to Toys for Tots

More than 100 toys will help local charity

Campus Life

February is Heart Health Awareness Month

Stay healthy and 'God Red'

Culture

All the Shakespeare you could laugh at… and more!

tlc's adaptation of 'Shakespeare Abridged' pulls out all the stops

Special Coverage

LC brings another successful ‘Follow the Star’

'Christmas on the Hill' and 'Gala' add to festive weekend

A look at National Foreign Language Week

by Wildcat Staff

Special to Wildcat

National Foreign Language Week
By Mason Hess

Globalization has altered our world in numerous ways, such as by making it seem significantly smaller because of technological advances.

The Internet, immigration, tourism, and Facebook as well as other societal elements like international politics and economics reveal how interconnected the approximately 200 nations have become, all the while hinting at continued global connectedness.

The increased potential for exposure to “foreign” peoples, foods, customs, and places will undoubtedly illustrate to us our world’s complex and diverse cultural heritage. New, sometimes unintelligible, languages often factor into such cultural encounters that tell us, quite literally, our way of living using English is by no means the only manner to communicate.

However, going abroad, pursuing a career, or meeting a special someone may inspire a person to go beyond simply acknowledging a foreign language and thus motivate him or her to understand and even to master a new language. Yet, what benefits might there be in learning a second, third, fourth, or even tenth language?

New Perspectives and Cultural Education:

Each of us possesses a unique interpretation of our world while also sharing a common consensus of reality through believing in a particular world-view. Not all worldviews are Christian; others are indeed quite appalling from our Western frame of reference.

However, by understanding other perspectives, an individual gains the advantage of comparing and contrasting different cultures; with a refined education and well-founded faith, one may even gain the ability to utilize cultural relativism in order to evaluate and to appreciate different cultural perceptions. Foreign language education exposes individuals to different ways of speaking and thus to different ways of life, a catalyst to understanding other worldviews as well as our own cultural assumptions.

Through learning another language, an individual almost automatically begins learning about the countries or places in which that language is spoken, about the cultural traits of the peoples that speak it, and subsequently about these peoples’ cultural heritage. One learns about the way another people see the world.

A second point is that cultural immersion and foreign language learning usually come as a package. Should a student really desire to master a language, traveling abroad into a society using that language proves essential. An entire new world, one different and previously foreign to the native one, presents itself, allowing a person to try new foods, see new things, and meet many people that were once linguistically isolated.

In summary, by speaking other languages, you have access to people and resources that were previously inaccessible. Furthermore, you will likely have a deeper appreciation for the valuable aspects of other cultures as well as for those of your own.

Such an education will likely enrich your worldview while making you less ethnocentric and more sophisticated. If all else fails, you can flaunt your linguistic skills at a dinner party to impress the quests or mumble angrily at your friends without them understanding.

As the world continues to become more accessible through technological and social means like air travel, international security, and the Internet, appreciating other cultures, understanding why we see the world the way we do, and speaking another language will become invaluable for career and personal motives.

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