Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2005
Abstract
In a world in which every other country seems intent on teaching English to their youth, and in which the United States educational system does not place a high priority on teaching foreign languages, the American law student, dean and professor may doubt if foreign language knowledge is anything more than marginally helpful to law graduates. Similarly, educators at the primary school level may not be likely to assess foreign language education as warranting a greater allocation of scarce public resources.
The usefulness of foreign languages to the United States lawyer gradually has been gaining increased recognition in the profession, however. While the advantages to a lawyer of being able to communicate in the language of a client or colleague are many, the main need for our students to become fluent in foreign languages is not that they otherwise will be barred from communicating in transnational legal situations. Rather, it is the disadvantage of monolinguism, a problem that can be summarized as a limitation on the imagination.
Recommended Citation
Vivian G. Curran,
The Role of Foreign Languages in Educating Lawyers for Transnational Challenges,
23
Penn State International Law Review
779
(2005).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.pitt.edu/fac_articles/425
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, International Law Commons, Law and Philosophy Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legal Education Commons, Legal Profession Commons, Other Communication Commons, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons, Transnational Law Commons