Professor Dongdong Chen Interviewed by The Economist

Dongdong Chen, Ph.D., of the Asian Studies program with the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, was quoted in The Economist on the challenges currently faced by language departments in the United States. In a recent article in the journal’s China section titled "How do you say, ‘not interested’?", Chen, along with a professor from Harvard, confirmed to the prestigious British journal the noticeable downward trend in students’ interest in learning a second language.

In both the United States and England, university enrollments have dropped significantly in language courses. A 2016 enrollment report from The Modern Languages Association calculated that the "9.2% decline in enrollments between fall 2013 and fall 2016 was the second largest decline in the history of the census.". The Economist article supports this, pointing to the marked and unfortunate decline of students taking Mandarin courses. It also notes the incongruency between that and one of the common reasons students cite for wanting to study Mandarin: to improve their employment opportunities. As a result and despite this stated purpose of improved marketability, bilingual Chinese professionals are taking the jobs instead.

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Seton Hall University aims to buck the downward trends in language study by continuing to offer highly effective instruction in Mandarin Chinese as well as a more focused Asian Studies curriculum. In addition to Chinese, the Department provides between 110–120 sections of languages, world literatures, and cultural courses every semester in 10 languages, three focused studies (Asian, Italian, and Latin American), and two certificate programs for Middle East and North African Studies (MENAC) and Russian and East European Studies (REESP).

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