"Most people who decide to learn a foreign language don't realize their own enormous linguistic potential," says Leo Wordington - http://online-
According to Wordington the internet has afforded us worlds of advancements that make our lives easier especially with languages and the new and interesting courses available through online learning.
"With technology advancing so much of our lives it is wonderful to see how it can also advance the way we learn a foreign language", he says.
Educators say the Internet can help level the playing field by giving students online access to teachers and coursework otherwise unavavailable in their local area.
According to a study issued by a leading Irish university, 85 percent to 90 percent of students succeed in online foreign language courses and 99 percent of middle-school foreign language courses are completed successfully
And in the business world too foreign language skills are also becoming increasingly important to the successful future development of enterprises, with any deficit in this area resulting in firms failing to achieve their full potential.
“If we neglect to ensure adequate availability of foreign language skills in business, the opportunities of the global market will not be realised,” Wordington comments.
"Business must also continue to develop foreign language skills in key management to ensure that they are not at a competitive disadvantage in terms of the ability to attract foreign investment.”
In this context, governments in Europe and the US are spending millions of dollars to help increase the number of citizens learning foreign languages. These grants are intended to address the shortage of critical foreign language speakers crucial not only to commerce but to security.
In fact there's a language shortage in critical languages such as: Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Urdu and Hindi.
"Too few speak languages like Arabic, Chinese and Farsi at a time when communication is vital to a peaceful world," according to the U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "We hope to enable more people to become fluent in critical languages."
This is regarded as not just an education issue; but an economic issue, a civic issue, a social issue and a national security issue by governments and educational agencies - http://online-
