Thread: Bush seeks foreign language study

President Bush said Thursday (01/05/06) the United States could help shed its "bullying" image abroad if more Americans learned to speak a foreign language.

Bush said he would request $114 million in the next budget year to help teach U.S. students Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi and other languages that are rarely studied.

The president said it is only natural that people who speak the same language relate better. It helps when he meets with foreign dignitaries, Bush said.

As an example, he cited Peru's president, Alejandro Toledo, who was educated at Stanford University.

"When somebody comes to me and speaks Texan, I know they appreciate the Texas culture," Bush told the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education, where he announced the initiative.

"I mean, somebody takes time to figure out how to speak Arabic, it means they're interested in somebody else's culture," Bush said.

"It really is a fundamental way to reach out to somebody and say, `I care about you. I want you to know that I'm interested in not only how you talk but how you live,'" said Bush, who speaks some Spanish.

Bush acknowledged that the U.S. is not universally perceived as friendly as he pushes to spread democracy as part of the fight against terrorism.

"We're also going to advance America's interests around the world and defeat this notion about our - you know - our bullying concept of freedom by letting people see what we're about," he said at the State Department gathering. "Let them see firsthand the decency of this country."

Bush said the main goal of the National Security Language Initiative is to protect the U.S. by training soldiers, intelligence officers and diplomats to be proficient in languages other than English.

Statistics from the Modern Language Association that were cited by State Department show that only 15 U.S. public schools that run from kindergarten through 12th grade teach Arabic.

About half the money that Bush is requesting would go through the Education Department, State Department officials told reporters.

The State Department would get one-fourth while the rest would go to the Pentagon and the National Intelligence Department, the officials said.

The money would:

_go to primary and secondary schools through grants that support foreign language programs.

_help pay for "feeder" programs to train students at all levels.

_pay for 300 foreigners to come to the U.S. to teach understudied languages in the 2006-2007 school year.

_pay to send 100 U.S. teachers overseas to study those languages.

_provide scholarships for up to 3,000 high school students to study abroad by summer 2009.

A 2005 report that was the product of a gathering of leaders in government, industry and academia said large gaps in language skills have threatened the country's safety and competitiveness.

"They have restrained social mobility, lessened our commercial competitiveness, limited the effectiveness of public diplomacy, and restricted justice and government services to sectors of our society," the report said. "And they have threatened national security."

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __

What does everyone think of this? What are yalls opinions?

sounds interesting 8)

It just seems to me that Bush is more focused on teaching the school kids foreign languanges than he is concerned with them learning like Math, Science, History, etc.

sad aint it?


he wants us to do his bidding :shock:

He doesn't even know how to speak PERIOD! ~Inkslinger

speaking isnt a qualification for president

where's the owned smiley when you need it :P

..but Intelligence should be a pre-requisite. Bush certainly lacks there, but this country is loaded with Yee-Haw mentality...sad.

inky, you like going to the extremes dont ya 8)

That I do Lemon.. I grew up during the punk genre. I thought people matured and grew out of it, but at 42, the gov still keeps me pissed.