Language is a means of contact with other human beings. For example, the United States is developing economic and social ties to the Soviet Union. What is true about our nation's need for speakers of other languages is also true for California. California, situated on the West Coast, is a natural gateway for trade with the countries of the Pacific Rim. A less obvious but equally compelling reason to promote the study of foreign languages is the power language has to foster improved understanding between peoples of various cultural backgrounds.
Culture is embedded in language.
For example, a student of Japanese might learn that a request from an associate in Japan is rarely refused point-blank but that various cues communicate a polite no. A student of Arabic might come to understand that the terms for host and guest imply more social obligations in the Middle East than they do in the United States. However, every student of foreign languages eventually discovers that cultural conventions differ from society to society. Some cultural conventions reflect genuine differences in the hierarchy of values, while others simply conceal a deeper human commonality that transcends place and time. And the study of foreign languages is especially valuable in California, where a rich diversity of cultural traditions is represented and where one out of four immigrants to the United States eventually settles.