By Melissa Morales
CCC Journalism Program
BLACKWOOD- If you were you would get the job of your dreams without having to take a foreign language in college would you take a language?
If you are like a lot of colleges students the answer will be no.
At Camden County College, a majority of students , no matter what their major, have to take a foreign language. It doesn’t matter what language a student takes, but they have to take two semesters of the same language.
Some students don’t see the point in taking a foreign language, especially if they took it in high school.
CCC offers a wide range of languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Latin, and classical Greek.
However, the top four languages are Spanish, French, Italian, and German.
The Departmart of Language and Culture Chairperson is Professor Martine Howard, who also teaches French. Howard believes knowing another language will help in life.
Asked why it is important to know another language, Howard said, “Language connects you with history and sociology.” Howard said most jobs want their employees to know another language. “It teaches you how to interact with other cultures,” Howard said.
Most students will take Spanish as their choice of language to study since it is so common in the United States according to Howard. However, there are students like Daniel Bitterman, who has taken two semesters of a language because it seems interesting.
Bitterman studied Latin, but doesn’t believe he would ever use it. He said he took the course because he though it would be interesting since the language came from one of the greatest civilizations, the Roman Empire.
If a student is fluent in a language or had more than two years in high school, they can take a test called CALP. If a student passes the CALP test, they will receive the credit as if they took the language for two semesters.