The Duke Chroncicle – Henry Pickford
Let me provide two (admittedly anecdotal) consequences of attaining this kind of intellectual growth in a foreign language and culture. First, foreign language study has intrinsic value: It is the beginning of what can be a lifelong trajectory of personal growth, expansive horizons and enriching experiences. My foreign language studies led to extensive living and working experiences in Russia, Germany and Italy and engendered relationships that continue to this day. To name just a few of my more recent experiences, I’ve interpreted Russian-German for Ukrainian refugees in Berlin, worked with an Italian doctoral student in philosophy, partaken in a literary event via Zoom in St. Petersburg, served as an evaluator for a Canadian dissertation in French and more. None of these opportunities and eventualities occurred to me when I was choosing what courses or majors to take as an undergraduate, but none of them could have happened without the choices I made back then.