By Taylor Breckles (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: November 20, 2013
Recent budget cuts to the language programs at Abbotsford’s Yale Secondary suggest a diminishing interest in multilingualism. A staff member at the high school explained that the budgets for the Japanese and the Spanish programs have been cut. The French program continues to be supported. Perhaps this is only because Canada is a bilingual country. I would suggest it’s evidence that languages are viewed as less important.
Additional languages are seen as a way to get a beer in a foreign country, a means of fancily and sneakily swearing, and as easy courses to take to meet educational requirements. But they also have a greater purpose.
With the knowledge of a second, third, or eighteenth language, opportunities open up. For one, you will be able to travel with a certain amount of ease. Most students will travel at some point during their lives, whether chasing a degree, an internship, or fun, so if you do want to explore the unknown, knowing the language of the region you’re in can save you a certain amount of trouble.
Language can help you make transactions, haggle, or understand the beautiful history you are surrounded by. Also, if you want to work in the Canadian government, you need to be able to pass a French test.
Now you may be asking yourself about how this relates to UFV, but trust me, it does. One of the Spanish professors who teaches here, Teresa Arroliga-Piper, has a goal of bringing a Spanish minor to the school. UFV offers French, Halq’emeylem, Japanese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Russian, German, and Spanish – but you can only get a minor or extended minor in French.
Compared to the east coast, those of us in British Columbia aren’t as accustomed to French. In Quebec and Ontario, French is everywhere; on billboards, in stores, and heard regularly on the street, so having a large French program in schools is expected. In BC, however, we hear a great multitude of languages, from Punjabi to Mandarin, and yet advancement is only offered in French. I hope the Spanish minor is brought to UFV, because other languages might follow suit.
One should stop and think about the value of every aspect of life before laying a judgment upon it or casting it away as irrelevant. For after all, in the words of psycholinguist Frank Smith, “One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.”
