A New Foreign Language?

Most schools around the country (both at the primary level and in higher education) offer some type of foreign language class. The foreign language(s) offered in a typical primary school usually depends on what foreign language(s) is predominantly used in the school district community and/or the country. Colleges and Universities on the other hand offer foreign language courses based on student interest, languages predominantly used in the US and the most commonly used languages in the world. But what about languages that aren’t exactly foreign and not necessarily human either?

Technology is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. About every month or so a news site will list the top five career opportunities available or the five most needed professions or even the five top college degrees, and those lists always list at the very least one career or degree that involves working with technology.

So with technology as prevalent as it is, why don’t more people learn its language? A recent article in the New York Times announced that people are learning the language. Classes on computer code are filled with people wanting to learn the language of technology. Some of these people are taking these classes in order to make a future career move. Careers working with technology are plentiful and will most likely still be needed several decades in the future. In fact, if technology keeps expanding there will probably be more technology fields popping up in the near future. However, many of the people in these classes are there to help improve their technology skills so they can succeed at the jobs they already have. Considering it is a rarity for a business to not have a website, blog, or social network page it is definitely a good idea for people to become more acquainted with the technology they use every day.

With such a need for computer courses these days it is no wonder that colleges and businesses are offering up free or cheap courses. Even most libraries have staff members that will happily teach you about technology. However, many it is important to know what you will be learning before you enroll in a course. Many programs want to make sure students are more than proficient using a specific piece of technology while other programs teach the basics of several aspects of technology. The important thing to remember though is that if you want to learn more there is most definitely a course out there for you. For more information on this topic read the New York Times article “A Surge in Learning the Language of the Internet,” by Jenna Wortham.



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