There is a growing trend across Europe for university students to combine their courses with a foreign language. Students are realizing that mastery of languages is a key to improving their career prospects, cross-border travel and better communication with fellow Europeans.
Erasmus representative Anthony Smallwood says: ‘The increase in the number of students wishing to study languages is apparent in the rise in Lingua and Erasmus grants currently in demand.’ In 1990-1991 Lingua’s first year of operation, 1,867 ‘network students’ received Lingua Student mobility grants. There are now 8,847. a similar number of students have received a grant for Erasmus.
‘More universities are offering courses with modern European Languages as a minor,’ says Smallwood. The upward trend is due in part to students realizing the importance of cross-cultural exchanges and the growing need to be able to communicate in a number of different languages.
Johanna Wilson, a Scottish teacher of English living in France began studying German so that she could take part in a German exchange programme. ‘I had stayed with a German family and worked as a ‘chambermaid’ in a German hotel. I wanted to communicate with the people in German. I caught the bug realizing the importance of exchanging of breaking down the barriers. I ended up studying German for four more years, one and a half through Erasmus in Germany and two and a half at the University of Aberdeen in conjunction with my degree in modern history.’
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