Last week I sat in on a call on the changes in college admissions and financial aid practices and the college counsellor who led the admissions portion of the call quoted the head of admissions from Lafayette as saying "we want to see four years of a foreign language on kids' transcripts because languages are hard and sticking with them shows fortitude." Exactly.
I've seen speculation in recent weeks/months that the continued improvement in AI and its ability to provide dynamic translations will do away with the need to study foreign languages. That misses the point of studying foreign languages entirely. One doesn't study them for the instrumental ability to communicate with others. One studies them to make the effort to come closer to others and to show respect for them. If you have made an effort to study and you speak to them in their language -- even if they know English -- they appreciate it. It is the quintessence of diplomacy.
As for me, after backing off on Duolingo for a little while (I missed a few days while in Europe and got demoted one league) I am back on it and hae been re-promoted as far as the Diamond League (the top league) and have made my way into the playoffs, which I think you need to win three weeks in a row or something to achieve Champion status. I'm not sure that ever happens. There's some crazy kid in my group of 15 that looks like he spends five hours a day on there. After studying French and Spanish in the summer I have moved on to alternating Ukrainian, Italian and German. It's all kind of a time sink, I know, but it feels like it's good for the old noggin. 20-25 minutes a day seems to keep me afloat in the upper echelons.
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