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The study of foreign languages

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The study of foreign languages

by gmatjeet » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:44 am
The study of foreign languages is finally becoming a serious endeavor in U.S. education. The number of American college students enrolled in non-English language courses has increased by 20 percent over the last five years. Spanish, with over 500,000 students, is the most popular; its enrollment has increased by 30 percent. Meanwhile, enrollment in Japanese and Russian has nearly doubled, and now comprises eight percent of total foreign language study. Clearly there is now an increased interest in foreign language study. When these students join the work force, they will enhance not only U.S. businesses' ability to compete internationally but also our country's reputation abroad.
The answer to which of the following questions would be LEAST relevant to evaluating the above claims?
(A)Do students enrolled in foreign language classes continue their studies long enough to attain competence in those languages?
(B)By what percentage has overall enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities increased over the past five years?
(C)Does a significant number of students of foreign languages go into professions in which the ability to speak other languages is useful?
(D)Has the study of "dead" languages like Latin and Ancient Greek increased at a similar rate to that of modern languages?
(E)How does the percentage increase in foreign language enrollment over the past five years compare to previous increases in enrollment?

- Can someone please clarify regarding how to choose between D and E.

I did not choose D because as per me foreign language includes Modern language + dead language and if the rate of learning dead languages has been much more than modern language then even though the overall increase in language learning will not be relevant for the workforce.
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by HSPA » Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:18 am
D looks fine..
First take: 640 (50M, 27V) - RC needs 300% improvement
Second take: coming soon..
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by XLogic » Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:51 pm
gmatjeet wrote: - Can someone please clarify regarding how to choose between D and E.

I did not choose D because as per me foreign language includes Modern language + dead language and if the rate of learning dead languages has been much more than modern language then even though the overall increase in language learning will not be relevant for the workforce.
(D) Does not seem relevant to me. After reading this answer choice I thought "So what?"
If Answer=Yes, then the study of Latin and Greek has increased at a similar rate as modern languages. Who's studying? US students? Students in general? It raises more questions than it answers. So not sure how it helps evaluate.

If Answer=No, then study of Latin and Greek has not increased at a similar rate as modern languages.
Okay, but US students have increased enrollment in Japanese, Russian and Spanish languages, maybe these are more relevant than the "dead" languages. But then, we may be speculating. So it doesn't help evaluate.

Thoughts??
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by Acorn » Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:56 am
What is the OA ?
For me option B seems the least relevant.

(B)By what percentage has overall enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities increased over the past five years?

The change in percentage of OVERALL enrollment does not imply a change in number or change in percentage of foreign language enrollment. There can be other disciplines such as history, science etc where there is a change.And there is no change in foreign language enrollments.

Gurus please comment.
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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:51 pm
Choice B is very important information to know.

We are told in the stimulus "The number of American college students enrolled in non-English language courses has increased by 20 percent over the last five years." Now this is only a part of the picture. A 20 percent increase in foreign language studiers is not very impressive if the total enrollment in college has increased by 50 percent. Do you see that this would mean that we actually have a lower percent of people taking classes.

Here it is with some numbers. Lets say we have 1 million students and 100 thousand foreign language takers. So if we have a 20 percent increase in foreign language that is 120 thousand foreign language. But what if that comes with an increase in total students up to say 1.5 million? Now the conclusion is "Clearly there is now an increased interest in foreign language study" choice B can tell us if this is true.
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by navami » Mon Aug 22, 2011 5:54 am
D looks better
This time no looking back!!!
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by XLogic » Mon Aug 22, 2011 6:16 am
navami wrote:D looks better
Can you explain why?
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by TOPGMAT » Mon Aug 22, 2011 6:41 am
Hi gmatjeet,
I choose choice D. Whats the OA btw ?

The author claims, "When these students join the work force, they will enhance not only U.S. businesses' ability to compete internationally but also our country's reputation abroad".

What is the Assumption ?
Foreign language learnt will be used to increase business ability/compete internationally ?

Does learning dead language increase competency ? No, It is already dead i.e to say it can be learnt for academic purpose but not for communication. So it falls out of scope.


Please note One more fact test...
Even if it were that dead language courses are being increasingly sought over, the author can still argue by stating, "Ok. It may be so but students studying foreign languages will still improve the business competency".

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by killer1387 » Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:36 am
D has the least relevance so ma pick D.
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by GmatKiss » Tue Aug 23, 2011 6:14 am
Answer should be D.

Enrollment in universities and enrollment in foreign languages are relevant.

Latin and Greek does not help to evaluate the claims
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by Acorn » Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:35 am
David@VeritasPrep wrote:Choice B is very important information to know.

We are told in the stimulus "The number of American college students enrolled in non-English language courses has increased by 20 percent over the last five years." Now this is only a part of the picture. A 20 percent increase in foreign language studiers is not very impressive if the total enrollment in college has increased by 50 percent. Do you see that this would mean that we actually have a lower percent of people taking classes.

Here it is with some numbers. Lets say we have 1 million students and 100 thousand foreign language takers. So if we have a 20 percent increase in foreign language that is 120 thousand foreign language. But what if that comes with an increase in total students up to say 1.5 million? Now the conclusion is "Clearly there is now an increased interest in foreign language study" choice B can tell us if this is true.
Thank you so much David for pointing out what I had overlooked. The answer should be D. The dead language....concept is irrelevant.

Option E is relevant (E)How does the percentage increase in foreign language enrollment over the past five years compare to previous increases in enrollment?

If there is more increase in foreign language enrollment over the past five years comapred to previous enrollment then it strengthens the claim. If there is less/no increase then it goes against the claim.
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by mankey » Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:43 pm
What is the OA for this one?

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by ColumbiaVC » Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:54 pm
E
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by mankey » Sun Oct 16, 2011 12:54 am
Can someone please provide the OA so that others can match their answers?

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by veenu08 » Sat Jun 15, 2013 11:57 pm
Conclusion: Clearly there is now an increased interest in foreign language study. When these students join the work force, they will enhance not only U.S. businesses' ability to compete internationally but also our country's reputation abroad

So the main focus is on the business benefit that can be achieved by studying foreign languages, but if students study dead languages there wont be any benefit to the business.

So isn't the evaluation of the dead languages studied important here? please explain.

E. Has the study of "dead" languages like Latin and Ancient Greek increased at a similar rate to that of modern languages?
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