你好, Guten Tag, Bonjour, Hola! These are the greetings of the four languages offered at Logan High School. Logan’s diverse variety of world languages greatly enhanced my experience during high school. At Logan I took German, Chinese, and French. In addition, to being involved with languages in the classroom, I was also involved with foreign languages outside the classroom as the President of both the German and Chinese Club. Taking a foreign language is a great way to meet new friends and become well-versed in other cultures. In high school I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in an exchange program as well as hosting multiple foreign exchange students. My trip to China was one of the most eye-opening and interesting experiences of my life and I would recommend an exchange trip to anyone. Taking a trip outside of the country, immerses you in the language, allows you to experience a new culture first hand, and creates the opportunity to make lifelong friends. I am extremely grateful for the wonderful language programs that Logan had to offer me.

In college is it more difficult to take on multiple languages, but I would still encourage everyone to take at least one. For me, I chose to continue taking Chinese at UW-Whitewater and I am now on my way to minoring in the language. There are several similarities and differences from taking a foreign language in high school versus college. One aspect that will always be the same is the opportunity that world languages provide to meet new people. Going from high school to college, the task of making new friends can appear daunting, but foreign languages are a great way to tackle this challenge. Being involved in a Chinese class as well as Chinese Club, I have been exposed to many interesting people for all over the world. In my experience, one key difference from high school to college has been the decrease in class size. College language classes at my UW-Whitewater have been much smaller in size which has allowed for a lot of one-on-one attention. Getting extra help in learning a language has been essential in accelerating my knowledge of Chinese. Continuing to take a foreign language in college was a great choice and it has led to meeting many new people as well as been a part of many cool experiences.

While no one can be certain as to what the future holds, I am certain that I would like Chinese to be a part of my future. My major is Accounting and so I intend on working with a firm that deals with Chinese businesses. I would like to work in an environment where I would able to use my knowledge of the Chinese language and culture. I hope to be able to make routine trips China to interact and form relationships with Chinese businessmen and women. Getting to use my Chinese will come with both challenges and rewards. I will no doubt be presented with difficult situations that will test my Chinese abilities. However, it is these challenges that will better and strengthen my knowledge of the language. I am a firm believer that the world is becoming a much more diverse place and the distances between countries is in a sense “shrinking”. As a result, the importance of being involved world languages will be critical in the future with any career path.