Washington Times: Foreign language ‘emergency’ hinders U.S. economy and foreign policy, report warns

The inability of too many Americans to learn or speak anything but English constitutes a foreign language “emergency” that could end up harming the economy and impairing U.S. foreign policy, according to a survey.

Only 20.7 percent of American adults can speak a foreign language — compared with 66 percent of all European adults who know more than one language, says “America’s Languages,” a report released in March by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The findings were discussed this week at a briefing hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.

U.S. students have no national mandate to study foreign languages, but nearly two dozen European countries require high school students to study languages besides their native tongues for at least a year, according to a 2015 Pew Research report.

Read the full story from Washington Times: Foreign language ‘emergency’ hinders U.S. economy and  foreign policy, report warns

Read the full report from New American Economy: Not Lost in Translation