As society features global aspects, the importance of being multilingual is increasing. Being bilingual means being a person who speaks two languages; multilingual people can use more than two languages for communication. These two terms are so important to global communication that they cannot be properly prioritized. There is no obligation to be multilingual, but it emerges as a tendency due to various societal variations. Multilingualism increases chances of living or studying abroad, navigates students’ careers, and connects students to a larger world. Because of these reasons, many schools in South Korea hold a ‘Second Language’ class for students. Second Language refers to a language learned after one’s first language, except English, which is an international language. Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Russian, and Spanish are the main examples of Second Language.
CSIA has three Second Language classes: Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish.
April is a representative month of spring but also a month for performances. A profuse amount of performances storm into students in April, just before the middle exam. Generally, performs of the main subjects pass by first, then foreign language tests progress. Every test is important for CSIA students, but students get more trouble with Second Language tests. The test format is similar to other subjects, maybe it just requires memorization, but why do students concern themselves more with this subject? Reasons can be different from person to person, put simply it’s hard because it challenges both mind and time. The grammar and syntax are remarkably different with English, students get confused a lot (even English and 3rd Language are both Foreign Language). Also, students tend to consider English as a common language but think of other languages as another assignment. This can work both as an advantage and disadvantage, but it is a fact that the spoken frequency of ‘Second Language’ in daily life is significantly low compared to English utilization. Anyway, 8th graders learn it 3 hours a week, 2 hours for 9th graders (starts from 8th grade). It takes on with other main subjects, which are generally learned 2 hours in a week on average. This demonstrates that CSIA views learning a Second Language as significant for middle schoolers. It is not an exception for high schoolers, they learn Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese likewise. So, if a student majors in the same language for 5 years, she/he can show proficiency in it through a deepened process. Moreover, each of the three languages naturally appears differently. To examine the difficulty rate, Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese are ordered successively. Sometimes, the few students learning Chinese in CSIA seem to be very fluent; there are the most native students in Chinese class relative to Spanish and Japanese. It’s one of the reasons why Chinese is rated 1st place in difficulty. Then to compare the remaining two languages, Spanish comes first and Japanese rated the easiest. Perhaps, students’ perceptions of the difficulties they have with each language’s teachers matter. The question types, how they teach the language, the class atmosphere, and so many variables that each teacher owns affect students a lot. Nevertheless, the innate difference among languages exists, and that might be the strongest reason why preference disparity happens.
Having the ability to speak multiple languages connects students to a whole new group of people and their culture. Especially for growing students, being able to speak languages of foreign culture would be a great opportunity to experience a broader world indirectly. Since CSIA carries the meaning ‘international academy’, the Second Language class must be an essential subject it should contain. Beginning in the 8th grade, CSIA students should select a language that is suitable for them, taking into account a variety of conditions. Effectively studying to be bilingual will ultimately promote creative minds and global leadership (ACG) by opening students’ worlds to multiple perspectives.
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