About the publisher: I read with interest editor Minerva Canto’s article on multilingualism in America and noted that 78% of American residents speak only English. although

currently

the US does not

currently

emphasized language learning, for a short while this was not the case.

The surprise launch of the first artificial satellite by the Soviets

,

Sputnik I

,

1957 came as a wake-up call for the United States. In response, the Eisenhower Administration created the Title IV Scholarships of the National Defense Education Act.

While the primary goal was to provide the US with technical and mathematical experts, students were also paid to take foreign language courses. I was awarded a generous scholarship to do my PhD in German at Stanford.

Then I taught German at UCLA and Pomona College, completely debt free. But in 1973

,

America’s priorities have shifted. After all, the foreign language requirement has been abolished almost everywhere by universities, doesn’t everyone speak English? and after eight years in the field my position was eliminated.

The ranks of university-level language teachers have thinned. I never got another job as a foreign language teacher.

Eric Wilson, Santa Monica

..

About the publisher: I wish my Hungarian parents had encouraged me to speak and learn this language. But they were so afraid that if I did, I’d have an accent like theirs in English that would make them stand out.

That is why I was not allowed to speak the language of the elders in the family. I could always understand what they told me to know the secrets, but I could never join them. I feel like I missed something important.

I believe that knowing other languages ​​is important and useful not only for a possible job, but perhaps even more so for the mental acuity that language learning provides.

Margo Kasdan, Seal Beach