How many Americans are proficient in a second language?
Only 9% of Americans can speak their native language plus another language fluently, as opposed to 53% of Europeans. Only 44% of high school students are studying any foreign language and less than 1% percent study a critical-need language. There is a shortage of language professionals in the U.S. diplomatic corps, military, and intelligence agencies. The national deficiency in the languages and cultures of critical areas around the world is compromising American security and business interests at home and abroad.

Which languages are studied in grades 7-12?
Amost seven million students in American public schools are enrolled in foreign language classes in grades 7-12, representing 33.8% of total enrollments. Here are the languages they are taking, according to a 2000 survey by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Click on the name of the language to learn more about it on this website.

This survey showed that 95.7% of all foreign language enrollments in public schools in grades 7-12 were in Spanish, French, German, Latin and Italian. Only 4.3% studied other languages.

Which languages are studied in U.S. colleges and universities?
According to the MLA Foreign Language Enrollment Survey 2002, out of total college enrollments of 1.5 million, about 1.3 million (or 8.5%) took foreign language courses. College students study a wider range of languages, but a great majority of them (75%) choose Spanish, French, and German.

Click on the name of the language to learn more about it on this website.

Less commonly taught languages (LCTLs)
Approximately 90% percent of Americans who study foreign languages in our schools, colleges, and universities choose Spanish, French, German and Italian while only 10% choose languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Russian, Farsi , Swahili and other languages spoken by the overwhelming majority of people around the world.

According to the MLA Foreign Language Enrollment Survey 2002, 147 foreign languages were taught in the U.S. colleges and universities in 2002 with a total nationwide enrollment of about 25,000. A few languages such as Aramaic, Hawai'ian, Hindi, Farsi (Persian), Polish, Swahili, and Vietnamese had enrollments of over 1,000. The rest, including such critically important languages as Urdu (Pakistan) and Pashto (Afghanistan), were studied by only a few individuals.

The National Council of Organizations of the Less Commonly Taught Languages is a web-based network that serves the needs of organizations, institutions, and individuals interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs in the U.S. Click here to see the list of 18 organizations representing LCTLs.

Which languages are critical toUS national security?
The US Government is in need of translators in a number of languages some of which are listed below. Click on the name of the language to learn more about it on this website.

With the exception of French, these are all Category II or Category III languages in terms of difficulty for speakers of English that require prolonged intensive instruction to reach professional proficiency. With the exception of French, they are either not studied at all or studied by very few students in US schools and universities, as the tables above indicate.

Langnet
LangNet is an online foreign language learning and maintenance system developed by the National Foreign Language Center which includes practice in reading and listening in a number of LCTLs to foreign language learners who generally range from advanced beginners to near native speakers (proficiency levels ILR 1+ TO ILR 4). These materials are developed primarily for self-study to maintain or enhance existing skills in reading and listening.The languages included are the following:

*Modern Standard, Iraqi, Gulf, Sudanese, Levantine, Egyptian