(1888PressRelease)
June 17, 2007 - San Francisco, California – America is a very insulated society. Until very recently, in the vast majority of the United States, Americans needed only to speak English in order to move ahead in society and in their careers.
Unlike Europeans, who routinely speak three or even four languages fluently, Americans are comfortable speaking only English. They learn a foreign language in high school, but then promptly forget it after graduation. This English-only mentality has a down-side, however, in this increasingly global economy. Americans are discovering that their careers may be damaged by refusing to learn a second or third language. Unfortunately, schools in America are not training students properly in foreign language skills, and this inadequate training is harming their careers later in life.
“I’ve been scared of French all my life, starting in eighth grade when I first took a class,” said Colleen Stewart, a 27 year old from San Francisco, California. “I finally had to face my fear of it if I wanted to get the management position I’ve been working so hard for.”
Colleen’s career would come to a halt if she didn’t face her fears and become bilingual. Her career concerns were based in fact: over four million English-only speaking Americans every year are losing their jobs to fellow Americans who are able to speak a foreign language. These are not jobs that Americans are losing to overseas companies – these are jobs that fellow Americans are taking away from their less educated co-workers. The sad truth is that being bilingual is necessary, not optional, for solid career advancement, even for college-educated workers.
For a small minority of people, regular high school or college classes enable them to adequately learn a second language and move past this career roadblock. The vast majority of people, however, have a very hard time learning out of a school textbook and aren’t able to obtain the necessary level of proficiency. For them, this language barrier is a big problem.
Colleen was able to find overcome her fear of learning French with some innovative online education that went far beyond what normal textbooks teach. “I found an excellent resource that really helped me out. I wish I had been able to learn this way back in high school,” said Colleen.
More information about Colleen’s story and how she was finally able to learn this challenging language can be found at RocketFrenchReview.wordpress.com.
