Language learning at UNL | News
Of the approximate 24,000 students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, around 1,650 are international students from over 130 countries. Lincoln itself is home to 30,000 immigrants, most from countries where English is not the predominant language.
Educators and language students at the university are encouraging deeper engagement in language courses and pushing for further regulation by stakeholders.
U.S. students lack language education
Between 2016 and 2021, there was a 16.6% drop in total enrollments in world language classes at colleges and universities nationwide.
In a survey done of 1,000 Americans, of the 30% of respondents who said they weren’t interested in learning a second language, a combined 72% said either most people speak English or other languages are “not important in real life.”
This belief is in part due to the size of the United States and its limited access to other countries, according to Hamza Rfissa, a Ph.D student at UNL studying world language and language teaching.
Rfissa began learning English at 14 years old while living in Morocco.
“It was just like a whole world out there that opened up,” he said. “A whole world of movies, of songs, of culture that I wasn’t really aware of because I didn’t speak English.”
Places like Europe, where countries are smaller in size and closer together, see significantly higher language course enrollments.
“You can take the train and go through seven countries that speak seven different languages,” Rfissa said.
The U.S. lacks students enrolled in language courses compared to other countries because no national-level mandates exist, leaving states to decide regulations.
UNL requires two units of a foreign language for admission and four units as a graduation requirement, depending on the major program.
Few opportunities exist outside of the classroom for students to practice language proficiency, according to Rfissa.
Only 4% of Americans have advanced their language skills to what they’d call “fluent.”
Why it’s important
Christiane Jensen, a German language coordinator at UNL, has attended conferences and presented to political leaders how required language education is essential to the functioning of today’s global environment.
“A senator said one time, ‘Well, why do I need to learn that? I can just whip out my app and do Google Translate,’” she said.
Jensen said she believes communication is more complicated than that, and understanding cultural differences can change how the message is interpreted.
“How do you communicate with people from another country so that these people feel welcome, so that these people feel like we’re on good terms?” she said.
Jensen said the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at UNL teaches cultural lessons coupled with their language lessons.
“Culture functions through language, and I think that’s where people really lack understanding,” she said.
Rfissa said that by not learning another language, people miss out on knowing people, history and art that aren’t the same translated. When traveling, those unfamiliar with the native language lose the opportunity to connect with locals, constraining them to touristic areas that may lack the culture of the destination, according to Rfissa.
Language learning advice
Jensen experienced culture shock when she first moved to the U.S. at 30. Though she had been learning English in school since fifth grade and was practically fluent, she was unable to understand the movies she watched in English. The combination of colloquialisms and references to unfamiliar pop culture made it nearly impossible for her to follow the dialogue.
Jensen said she thinks studying abroad is necessary for those wanting to work in a language field.
Ally Muellner, a junior computer science student, and Bailey Dorfmeyer, a junior international business student, both recently returned from Summer in Berlin, a six-week German study abroad program.
“We plan to use these experiences in our professional lives,” Muellner said in an email, noting that she and Dorfmeyer collaborated on the response. “Whether we work abroad or partner with international companies, we will be able to accomplish more with our better understanding of another language.”
In a survey of 2,100 U.S. employers, 93% value workers who can work well with people from different countries and cultures.
Jensen said UNL is moving away from using English to teach world languages and focusing less on grammar. Instead, language courses aim for no more than 10% English in their classroom, and communicate the rest with gestures, images, songs, props and cognate words that sound similar to the English translation.
Rfissa said that while it’s more difficult to initially follow, it’s more effective for language acquisition over time. Instead of learning a second language through translating one language to another, students learn to associate words directly with what they want to communicate.
Though it’s easier to learn a language when you are younger, Jensen said that it’s never too late.
“When I started dating my husband and it got serious, she said, ‘Oops, I better start learning English or I’m not going to be talking to my son-in-law.’ And guess what? She did, she became fluent,” Jensen said.
Above all, Rfissa said he stresses as much immersion as possible.
“Listen to music, documentaries, movies, whatever input you can get,” Rfissa said, adding that open AI is a positive tool for practice and feedback. “You’re never going to be able to have output if you don’t have 1000 times more input.”
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