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COLS To Offer Language & Cultural Education Programs

The College of Letters and Sciences (COLS) will offer language and cultural education programs in Arabic, Chinese and Farsi, with the first courses slated for early 2007, according to COLS Dean Michael McAnear.

The programs will be offered in degree, certificate and seminar formats to meet the broad and diversified needs of numerous constituencies. The global demands for such programs are increasing at a rapid rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, has predicted that the number of employed interpreters and translators will increase by 22 percent between 2002 and 2012 , which is faster than the average for all occupations.

To meet this demand, President Bush launched the new National Security Language initiative in January 2006.  One of the major goals of the initiative is to increase the number of Americans mastering what the federal government has defined as "critical need foreign languages."

Mandarin Chinese is currently the world's most spoken language, and Arabic and Farsi (Persian) rank among the globe's top 15 most spoken languages.  With increased commerce and international attention between the United States, Asia and Middle Eastern nations, National University aims to serve vital needs in government, military and business markets.

Degree programs in Arabic, Chinese and Farsi will consist of six language courses, broken down into beginning, intermediate and advanced, along with six additional courses. COLS aims to begin offering Arabic courses in early 2007.

Certificate programs will be offered to enhance an individual's understanding of Arabic, Chinese and Persian culture and language, providing the ability to interact successfully in a variety of general communicative situations. It will consist of three online courses to be completed in 90 days.

Seminar programs will be designed to teach users useful phrases in Arabic, Chinese and Farsi, along with the essential cultural and historical information required to facilitate successful social interaction in a self-paced online learning environment.

For more information regarding the development of Arabic, Chinese, and Farsi  language programs, please contact the College of Letters and Sciences at  cols@nu.edu, or call (858) 642-8450.

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