The Importance of Foreign Language Learning in General Education

I have always believed that learning a foreign language is much more than just achieving proficiency in a foreign tongue. In addition to speaking a foreign language, foreign language education comes with acquiring a global perspective, cross-cultural communication skills and critical thinking. It is an essential component of general education and personal growth. I personally have been learning various languages for many years, taught foreign languages on and off for three years and continue to find excitement in learning new languages.

I was born in a middle-sized town in Henan province, China, a place where you do not usually meet non-mandarin speakers anywhere. As required in the Chinese national curriculum, I started to learn English in my middle school, a rigid boarding school. While being disciplined in the school system, I was always struck by the lovely pictures (printed in color, unlike the Chinese philology textbook that was in black and white), interesting conversations and cultural differences printed in the English textbook. I realized then that the English world was unimaginably different from the Chinese one, at least the one in my family. When you receive a compliment, you need to say “thank you” rather than “no, no, I am not that good.” How cool! The English way of everything was just refreshing for me. Back then, the language pedagogy in my city was still unrefined: you have the book and recite everything to the English teacher before you can go to have lunch or dinner. I was somehow very good at memorizing and I always found myself among the first to go to the meal. That gave me a lot of confidence, which really set off my long journey of learning languages.

I was not satisfied with only English. I majored in Russian in college. I studied abroad in Moscow for a year. I went to the US to study Slavic literature. I studied a year of Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian as my second Slavic language. I found French was so important for the Russian intellectuals in the 19th century and I started to learn French, which lasted for two years. I studied Japanese for a quarter due to my personal interest in the connection of Chinese characters and Japanese kanji. I recently started German because I want to know more about German idealist philosophy. Phew! What a journey! Surprisingly, I am still excited every time I learn something new in a language.

I have to say that learning a language is much more than just some new sentences and new sound patterns. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities. You will be able to read the books written in the language, communicate with the people who speak the language and travel to the place independently. The world becomes bigger.

With the new language, you will be able to communicate better with your native language as well. When learning a new language in an extensive manner, you will be exposed to a new way of thinking, a cultural system and a new form of communication .You will know the “hidden cultural codes” in the target language and in your own. These are valuable experiences for cross-cultural communication.

I tried to make my students think critically while teaching first-year Russian and first-year Chinese. Different perspectives only enhance understanding. I knew how many great things resulted from my having learned these languages and I want my students to experience them to. I greatly value the importance of foreign language education. It has made me the person I am today. 

About the Author: 

Zhen Zhang is a graduate student at UC Davis. His areas of interest include modern Chinese literature and film, Russian literature and critical theory. He has taught the following courses: Russian 1, 2, 3, Chinese 1, Comparative Literature 5 and Chinese 11.