Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Engineers now clearly need to learn a foreign language and learn it fluently if they are to participate in and benefit from the international trade in technology. George Burnet, past president of the American Society for Engineering Education, writes, "We are finding that the engineer's realm of activity is rapidly becoming international. The world-wide commitment to technology transfer and development involves engineering practice and education in many ways." Sylvia Porter, nationally known syndicated columnist, writes, "A full 43 percent of the chief executive officers who have assumed their positions in American's 100 largest corporations since 1973 have had overseas experience." Howard H. Irvin, senior vice- president of Borg-Warner Chemicals (and a Rose graduate) says, "Just think how much the world has shrunk in recent decades, how often we come across people from other countries whom we expect to speak our language; yet, how much could we put them at ease in conversation or negotiation if we could speak or at least understand their language. I know that many a business deal has come to fruition because of our ability to communicate in someone else's tongue and many have failed because of our lack of being reasonably fluent in their language."

Scientists have always needed to learn a language to unlock the world library of information and the need is still with us. Not all ideas or information are in English. In chemistry, for example, 4.2% of the research indexed in the 1987 Chemical Abstracts was published in German and 14.3% was published in Japanese that year. The fact that there may be some valuable idea or piece of information locked in some foreign language is the reason most doctoral programs require a foreign language.

Students who are considering graduate study should carefully consider the advantage of studying a foreign language at the undergraduate level when, as it has been shown, it is easier to learn a foreign language. Students who complete this long and difficult program may become professional technical translators, roving international engineers, cross-cultural sales negotiators, transcultural scientists, international intelligence analysts or agents, worldwide business trouble-shooters, intercultural technology transfer specialists, or multi-national corporate executives. Since our program concentrates heavily on the written language, on reading and on logical analysis, graduates of the program will also find themselves particularly well prepared for any career that requires the ability to think and write well.

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Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Location

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