What I find interesting about this comment is here we have a presidential candidate who himself has second language experience (Indonesian) and third language experience (Spanish, which I understand is at a novice level). Here we have a candidate who appreciates and understands diversity and cultural differences. I’m wondering if this is signaling a shift in America politics. For so many decades our county has had the attitude of “if you want to do business with us, learn our language.” Perhaps this call is a recognition that if the United States wants to do business with the rest of the world, and understand the rest of the world, and develop tolerance for the rest of the world, perhaps we can start by speaking the languages of the rest of the world.

We’ve seen a shift in attitude due to national security. After 9/11, when the government discovered a backlog of untranslated documents, a lack of second language speakers in our citizenry, suddenly in the name of national security there is interest again in world languages.

In business, the saying was “speak the language of your customer.” Well here in the US, we have many products we are trying to sell abroad as our dollar weakens – our products are now bargains. Who are our customers? Who is interested in buying our goods? Now, perhaps, we can have a shift in part due to economics and in the name of understanding our fellow human beings.

I’m thinking this election is going to set the stage for many years to come. What kind of world are we going to have for our children and how are we going to prepare them for it?

I know my thinking is richer because I also speak Spanish, and I have had the opportunity to live in Mexico and Peru. I hope we can create a world where other languages and cultures are treasured, honored, and respected – languages and cultures within the United States as well as throughout the world.

Photo credit: Automania

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) on May 19 will release Olympic-themed collectible cans and FridgePacks bearing the iconic Coca-Cola logo in different languages, including Ethiopian, Russian, Thai, Mandarin, and of course, English. Twenty-ounce Coca-Cola bottles will have labels with multiple languages including those of the Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Korea, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The packaging marks the first appearance of the Coca-Cola script in different languages in the United States, with new designs appearing every two to three weeks.

In today’s global economy, the ability to communicate is key, and as more companies expand internationally, the ability to communicate in another language has become a significant advantage in the workforce. Research from Rosetta Stone found that people who speak at least one foreign language have an average annual household income that’s $10,000 higher than the household income of those who only speak English. And about 17 percent of those who speak at least one foreign language earn more than $100,000 a year.

and

A recent survey from Los Angeles-based recruiter Korn/Ferry International found that nearly nine out of 10 headhunters in Europe, Latin America and Asia say that being at least bilingual is critical for success in today’s business environment. And 66 percent of North American recruiters agreed that being bilingual will be increasingly important in the next ten years.

Google is hosting a competition for students to customize the Google logo. As world language educators, you could have your students enter this contest, focusing on language, culture, global understanding, etc. Why should you consider this? There is great power in being able to generate meaning through visual representation – it requires critical thinking and synthesis.

Here are some details:

Welcome to Doodle 4 Google, a competition where we invite K-12 students to play around with our homepage logo and see what they come up with. This year we’re inviting U.S. kids to join in the doodling fun, around the intriguing theme “What if…?”

At Google we believe in thinking big, and dreaming big, and we can’t think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same. So we hope you’ll gather those art supplies and some 8.5×11 landscape paper and encourage your kids to enrich us all with their creative visions of our world, as it is and as it might be.

You’ll find everything you need to get started here, including detailed lesson plans to incorporate the competition into your curricula. Registration closes on March 28th, and entries are due by April 12th. A panel of judges will select 40 finalist doodles, from which the public will help select a favorite to be featured on our homepage on May 22nd, 2008.

Google is supplying some lesson ideas, templates of the graphic, and more. Check the Google for Educators forum and check out other teacher’s experiences with the contest as well as with various Google services.

Need some more inspiration? Watch this video:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/BIctMbYL0d4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Live Mocha has launched – this website combines social networking with language learning. Here you can indicate what language you speak as well as what language(s) you would like to learn. There are synchronous and asynchronous opportunities, the ability to track your progress through various courses, and native speakers who are willing to interact with learners. Pretty cool community. I joined tonight – I’m ckendall – I’m going to learn some Chinese. Maybe some Farsi, too. Join me!

“The first instrument of a people’s genius is its language,” said the French writer Stendhal. Literacy, learning, social integration….Everything transits through language, which embodies national, cultural and sometimes religious identity for each person. It constitutes one of the fundamental dimensions of a human being. Yet specialists estimate that within only a few generations, more than half of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world face extinction, because they are not represented in government, education and the media. For this reason, the United Nations had declared 2008 the International Year of Languages, to be launched by UNESCO on 21 February, International Mother Language Day.

There are several interesting articles about languages around the world, bilingualism, and more! Happy reading!

Of particular note is Michigan’s requirement for 2 credits of a world language:

Learners at different ages and stages of development progress at different rates and require different amounts of learning time to achieve equivalent proficiency. Research indicates that students benefit from continuous and extended sequences of language study in the same world language. School districts may choose to deliver a sequence of study equivalent to two years of high school credit in a variety of ways. For example, students may complete:

1. two years of classroom instruction at the high school level;

2. formal instruction in the same world language provided by their school district over the course of the K-8 experience (proficiency assessment required; see next page); or

3. learning beyond the K-12 classroom, for example, formal schooling abroad, study abroad programs, college coursework, home or heritage languages, online courses, or other life experiences; formal documentation of equivalent proficiency is required.

I’m sure many districts will have questions on what does this mean for their students, particulary what it means to measure for proficiency. The next few years will be very interesting here in Michigan!