Modern Languages Commons^™

Job Opportunities In Virginia For Foreign Language Students, Patricia Lightfoot Brown

Master's Theses

A New York City taxi driver loses a fare because he does not know Spanish. A corporate president waits in silence while an interpreter closes a deal with important Japanese investors. A nurse in Maine cannot diagnose a complaint because the patient is French-Canadian. A government scientist learns about the latest breakthrough in solar energy a full year after it happened, because the news first came out in Russian. All of these people could do their work better if they knew a foreign language, yet none of their jobs would seem to require a language.

The connection between foreign languages …