VISAKHAPATNAM: There is an increasing demand for foreign languages such as German, French, Japanese and Spanish in the city and Andhra University department of Foreign Languages gets good response. While there are people who learn a foreign language just for the love of it, it plays a vital role when it comes to youngsters who aim to pursue higher studies in foreign countries.
Though there was no such craze earlier for the foreign languages, AU’s six-month certified courses in German, French and Japanese created interest among people. Each language has the maximum intake of 40 students.
“There is good demand for all the three foreign languages in the university and as the course has come to an end, we are expecting good number of students for the next batch,” said Foreign Languages HoD Prof DVR Murthy.
Each language has its own importance. While German language is mostly for technical, science and engineering sectors, French is learnt since it is the most spoken language after English and Japanese language is set to bring more job opportunities for the youngsters.
“There is an increasing number of youngsters in Vizag taking up foreign languages, mainly because they need to go abroad or are keen on employment in the IT sector and students who wanted to,” said M Namitha, German language faculty.
“Foreign languages are in boom now and it is mostly by word of mouth publicity that more students are keen on learning,” she added. Namitha also teaches Spanish for the Business Management students in GITAM.
Talking to Express, Japanese faculty Akanksha Savant said: “Expecting foreign investments from Japan, students especially from Engineering and Pharmacy branches wanted to have this language as an added qualification.”
In Japan, people are more in need of translators. Introducing the course for the first time, it gave a chance for the people, especially the youngsters, to be professional translators which is growing trend now. “French is a creative language for many years and is mostly taught as second language in degree colleges. Hotel Management students opt for this language for learning various French cuisines,” said M Sridevi, a French faculty member. Also parents who want to improve their children’s language skills who had French language in their schools are learning French and in turn making it their hobby. “I have plans to pursue my higher studies in Germany. I opted for this language which will help to communicate better,” said E Varun, Engineering student of Gayatri Vidhya Parishad.