With recent advances in technology, including international teleconferencing, we live in an increasingly globalized society.  Proficiency in one or more foreign languages is becoming a more and more valuable skill.  The New School in New York offers education courses in 17 different languages, including Arabic, German, Portuguese and Tibetan.  According to Ms. Florence Leclerc-Dickler, chairwoman of the foreign language department at the New School, French is the most popular, followed by Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.  

The New School, New York

The school offers classes that meet once a week for 50 minutes over the course of 13 weeks, as well as an immersion course that lasts 14 hours over the course of the weekend.  Online courses have also become more popular.  The University of California, Los Angeles offers online classes that include video lectures, readings and assignments that the instructors can correct and return to the student via email.  Chatrooms are available where students can practice with each other, and instructors and students can even talk on the phone to work on pronunciation.  This UCLA Extension program caters to the needs of surrounding communities.  Los Angeles has a large Korean population, and many court officials have utilized the program to help them communicate with offenders.

The military is also starting to use online software to train enhance soldiers' language skills.  Rosetta Stone recently released six new "mission-critical"(1) language programs for Dari, Pashto, Urdu, Arabic, Swahili and Bahasa Indonesia, which are languages "critical to global security efforts."(1)  The Armed Forces plan to use this technology to teach soldiers specific words and phrases related to modes of transportation, weapons and directions.  The software actually constructs a storyline with realistic situations that test communication skills.

Rosetta Stone and other language programs are used by organizations such as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, the Australian Defense Forces, and the Colombian Military, and many claim that it has been an invaluable tool.  It seems that online language classes and software could cause a paradigm shift in the way we learn a foreign language.

1- www.marketwatch.com, Rosetta Stone Delivers Six New Mission-Critical Language Editions to Strengthen Military, Government Efforts, August 18, 2010