Students take up foreign language courses to have an edge over others when it comes to getting admission in foreign universities. Some take up the courses for job opportunities. Still others do it just for fun.
“The number of students has been increasing steadily,” says Prabin Rana, deputy director of Alliance Francaise which takes 210 to 215 students for French language classes each session.
“To stand out, one needs to focus outwards and forge stronger links with the non-English-speaking world,” says Rana. Command of a foreign language other than English helps open eyes to different perspectives and open heart to a variety of ideologies, he adds.
There are other rewards too, students say.
Daxika Bhandari, a Spanish Language apprentice, thinks learning language is a fun as it enables one to communicate in a tongue and chat with friends with words that not many are familiar with. “Perhaps I just like the pronunciation of Spanish words,” she says.
Bhandari adds that fluency in a third language makes it easier for students to get admission abroad, regardless of which language the country dominantly uses. There are other academic benefits of learning a third language. “French is essential if you are studying human science in the United States,” says Drishya Khadka, who is studying French at Alliance Franchaise, Tripureshwar.
Job is another prospect.
“Many learn French for getting jobs in the tourism sector. Students studying hotel management and business take up French language classes as the number of French tourists in Nepal is rising. More than 50,000 French tourists visited Nepal in 2008,” says Rana.
Yadav Panta, Campus Chief of Bishwa Bhasa Campus, concurs that taking up language classes is a job-oriented decision.
“More and more people are taking up Korean language for getting jobs in Korea. The next favored languages are Japanese, English and Chinese,” he adds.
Roshani Thapa, a French language student at Alliance Francaise believes that French language will better her prospects of getting a UN job. But she has no plan to go to France. “I´m trying to go to Canada or somewhere else. I want to get a job in development sector,” she adds.
Meanwhile, the Garman language is taken up by students because after learning the language they can get admitted to a college in Germany where education cost is very low, according to Michael Chand, director of Goethe Zentrum, a German language institute.
“We take 200-300 students every session and most of them prefer going to Germany as students don´t have to pay tuition fees there. Even if they do, only 500 euro is required per semester,” says Chand.
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