association for the corporate sector. as an american citizen with a thick german accent and an irish last name, i feel especially motivated to speak to you today how the shortage of language resources puts our economic security at risk. let me give you some context first. u.s. businesses exported about $1.5 trillion in goods and $600 billion in services last year. all of which depended on language services to sell and market to audiences whose native language is not english. news, statements, websites, movies, product literatures, software, safety information, labeling, digital games, and customer support are all translated today in over 500 major language pairs. the outsource language services industry represented 15.5

billion of activity and 190,000 jobs in north america last year. this does not account for the vastly larger pool of part-time and freelance linguists in the u.s., let alone the jobs that the language industry has indirectly created such as for the american people who have marketed, sell, deliver, and support u.s.-made products worldwide. languages and the business that they enable may be the most powerful force in job creation in the united states today. without languages, u.s. businesses would be missing $2.1 trillion in gross income. as u.s. companies target multilingual audiences at home and abroad, they create a rapidly growing need for language services and a workforce that can deliver in settings. if you sell products in germany,

your customers support team needs to be ready. to stay relevant and to continue to successfully compete in the global marketplace, u.s. companies must build language capabilities. acquiring language skills takes time, repeated exposure, and practice to develop. not acting immediately on these development needs have dire consequences on the economy. we are seeing a chronic shortfall of qualified language specialists and stagnant productivity. as a result, corporations are relying on low-quality machine translations. all of which are rendering the products less competitive in the global marketplace. the american workforce needs more key competencies and disciplines such as translation, localization, terminology, localization technologies, engineering, and multimedia. these skills are in high demand and will continue to be sought

after. u.s. businesses and government agencies are addressing the need for language competence, but we need more corporations between private sector government and academia. for example, investing in start-up and existing language technology companies, promoting research and develop language activity in key areas such as emerging markets, homeland security and cybercrime. expanding the educational and career opportunities for citizens in language-related fields. and last, but not least, training specialized workers such as law enforcement officers and the intelligence community and targeted skills. as an association, gala is committed to educating our member companies and advancing our industry to alleviate the looming crisis. but we cannot do it all on our own. we will need the close collaboration between translation service companies, technology providers, the biocommunity, government and academia.

gala would welcome the opportunity to expand on this testimony and our recommendations in more detail. and we also appreciate the invitations from the previous panel to collaborate with the private sector. and we are definitely open for that. and that conversation -- and thank you for the opportunity to testify, and i'm happy to answer any question that you may have. >> thank you very much, mr. lawless. dr. goodman, will you please proceed with your statement? >> thank you, mr. chairman. it was an honor to receive the call from this committee to present some testimony. it's a privilege to serve as president of the institute of international education on behalf of the department of state and the department of defense. but what really captured my attention for this hearing was participation in the council on foreign relations task force.

it was chaired by secretary condoleezza rice and former chancellor of the new york city public school system joel klein. it was a very bipartisan and very mixed group. but for higher educator, what really was to me the heart of the recommendation was the call for a national readiness audit. which would help us understand the very things your statement and your questions and this committee have been asking about for a long time. how prepared is the nation and at what levels are we teaching all of our citizens to have proficiency in another language? now, it's easy for us in higher ed and international education to forget just how many of our citizens aren't connected to the world and don't get the chance to study it. 70% of americans today don't have a passport. and that's about the same percentage of americans with a college education that can't

find indonesia on a map, can't find iran on a map, and believe that south sudan, the newest country in the world, is either in southeast asia or in south america. most americans who do study abroad go to a relatively few number of countries, many also english speaking. and they study abroad for a very short period of time. the other thing that we tend to forget, except for you and this committee, is that foreign language learning in our country may be at the lowest level in our nation's history. certainly for college students today with about, as secretary ochoa said, only 8% studying a foreign language. that's half of what it was in 1965. yet the need for as you've noted and many times the need for much more proficiency in foreign language is where the future ought to be. the federal programs that this committee has supported are

quite strategic, therefore, in my view. they're global. they get our citizens to more than 150 different countries. they're very diverse. not only in terms of where students go, but the students from our society that go more than half are from minority groups in our society. much different portfolio and profile than is the normal study abroad profile of americans going abroad. they go for longer periods of time. and that is conducive to language study. so i think this congress has repeatedly made very strategic investments in these programs, and we're grateful. but to move the needle, i'm not going to ask for more money. to move the needle, what has to happen is american higher education has to reinstitute foreign language proficiency as a graduation for every undergraduate going through our system.

100 years ago that was true in every college in america from technical schools to liberal arts schools to research universities, and today i don't think it's true for more than a dozen or two dozen in our whole country. that's the only thing that's going to change the pipeline and assure that the panel we just heard from is going to have the future language speakers that we need to protect our country. in concluding, i wanted to depart from my written statement just a little bit because your committee is focused also on the district of columbia. 20 blocks from here my daughter runs a clinic, a pediatric clinic under a federally qualified health clinic. they've had over 600,000 patient visits last year, and 95% of her patients' language is mainly spanish. when she went to medical school she realized what she needed more than learning chemistry and

biology and physics if she was going to be an effective doctor was to be able to speak to american patients in their own language and, in this case it was their first language, spanish. i agree that more language for diplomacy and national security will help make our world a less dangerous place, but i also think sometimes learning another language helps our citizens right here at home to live in a safer and more secure world. thank you very much for your support for both programs. >> thank you very much. dr. davidson, please proceed with your statement. >> thank you very much, senator akaka for the opportunity to appear before you today. it's been my thorn serve as the elected president of the joint committee of language for the last four years. the foreign language profession is in a strong position to address the needs that have been

so articulately and eloquently spoken today by our colleagues from dod, odni, state, justice, education, the foreign ark fairs community and american business. if we are to meet the demands of keeping the peace around the globe as called for by secretary panetta of engaging audiences and institutions around the world and not just their english-speaking elites as envisioned by president obama and secretary clinton. and also detecting the intentions and preventing the actions of those who would do us harm as the nsa director has stated, then what is needed is a citizenry and government workforce that includes substantial numbers of persons professionally fluent and culturally literate in the major languages and cultures of the world. research shows that professional level knowledge of language is highly sensitive to cultural signals and cues of understanding not only what people say but also how they use

language to communicate, to modulate, meaning to conceal values or communicate intentions in their aspirations. to build rapport with one another, to persuade, to negotiate, to establish trust or fail to establish trust as the case may be. information transferred by the kwa, something machines are fairly good at is a minor part of communication as you look at the documents we have. the cultural component is what is essential. it's specific to each language, not something generically global. here i defer a bit from one of the comments made earlier today. it's specific to each language. it can be very hard to discern, especially if you've never set foot outside a greenhouse or a classroom in this country. we in the foreign language field therefore salute yours and the u.s. government's decision to raise the bar for language designated positions across agencies to level three. but the real answer for scaling up the system and delivering

speakers, readers, and analysts of major world languages and cultures to the new level required by the government is to begin that training as far upstream as we can take it as you have said today. with an extended sequence of k-12 in the system, periodic opportunities for full immersion in the target culture continue advanced and content-oriented study in the university and a strong language maintenance strategy for the federal and civilian work corps employees. thanks to the ndea, half century ago the u.s. has been able to maintain a core capacity for foreign language and area studies for most world areas through title 6 and fullbright hayes, both of which have been unfortunately reduced by 40% over the past two years alongside the outright elimination which you have commented on. this is movement in the wrong direction, which we hope can be addressed by the administration and the congress as soon as possible.

on a more positive note, in the post 9/11 era, initiatives are rising from the defense foreign affairs and intelligence commune iitcommuni notably national security language initiative which build on title 9 and fullbright hayes, specifically aim at helping address the new mandate for high-level language and culture across sectors of the economy. and here i simply want to mention programs that are making a big difference in the foreign language field right now on the ground. the star talk program funded by nsa is running high-quality stateside summer programs for 159 different programs in ten languages and 48 states and the district of columbia. it's making a big difference even though it's not been out there very long. the state department is investing more than $30 million a year in the cls and related teacher programs supporting critical language study for more than 1,500 american university, college, and high school students a year. that program, for example, is open to any student in the

country and has a remarkable level of language achievement even for the short period it worked. similarly the cls program has done the same thing for the undergraduate students. the final point i want to make is the national security education program's flagship program because while it has some very promising k-12 pilots in place, it has totally reinvented the way that foreign languages are taught today in our universities setting three as the logical outcome for a series of programs and training models that don't even require the undergraduate learner to be a major in that field. together the nestle group and those supported by title 6 and fullbright hayes are low-cost, high-quality proven models that we believe are scalable. they're working in a few places right now that could work in a lot of places with the same level of success. thank you for the opportunity to comment. >> thank you very much for your statement. mr. lawless. >> yes?

>> what are some of the barriers u.s. companies face when attempting to enter overseas markets? and how does the process of localization assist companies in succeeding in these markets? >> right, so there is a difference between translation and localization, and localization is the adaption of product or services to the target country. give you an example, buy a japanese car, you buy in the u.s., you sit on the left. even though they're produced in japan, so where they have on the right, have left in traffic. so you need to adapt your user manual, adhere to local

laws and regulations. so that's the -- it goes far beyond just translation, although translation is the most important parts of localization. the question that you asked us, what are the key challenges for u.s. companies to enter markets? and that really depends on the organization. it starts with very often they don't know how to put a document into translation. but most likely and that resinates with what was said by the previous panel, it is lack of executive awareness. and if more executives understood that almost 50% of the -- the income comes from overseas, they would pay more attention. i give an example of apple computer.

apple computer last year, of the $108 billion of revenue, 60% of that was generated abroad. facebook's international revenue grew from 33% in 2010 to 44% in 2011. walmart's international sales in the last quarter of last year rose by almost 9% whereas the u.s. business slipped by 0.5%. if more executives understood that language is the key enabler for their success and for the ability to survive, a lot of middle managers that struggle as they get the budget. thank you. >> thank you, mr. lawless. dr. godman? as you mention in your testimony, you served on a council of foreign relations staff on u.s. education reform

and national security which concluded that shortfalls in u.s. education raise national security issues. will you please explain how the task force came to that conclusion? >> thank you, mr. chairman. we began with the horrifying statistic which was 75% of our young people today are unqualified or disqualified from military service. that was a number that shocked really all of us. some are unqualified because of their educational background. some because of persistent health problems, and some because of obesity, which we know is a major problem in america. so we tried to zero in on the part of that population that at least we could fix. and that was through education.

and what we tried to get agreement on and got a substantial amount of agreement was that america needs a core curriculum as about 20 states and 20 governors have now accepted. what surprised me the most is i thought i'd have to fight very hard for a foreign language requirement to be considered essential and to be considered core. i didn't have to at all. people on the task force really realized that that is our key to understanding the world we share, to preparing americans for global life and global work and getting ready to enter national service whether it's in the security or diplomatic areas. we believe in core curriculum, we believe in foreign language, and we also believe in a readiness audit that helps establish the dialogue and then the coordination that you're concerned about among academia, the private sector and also government. so when we know where the gaps

are, we can fix them. >> yes. mr. lawless and dr. godman, the task force's report discussed the reality of cyberespionage against business and government information systems. would you explain why foreign language is so important to cyber security? >> right now with the explosion of languages on the internet, only 20% of that content is in english. so the rest is, i guess, not english. and there's -- there's also a huge increase in what we call user-generated content through blogs and other social media sites.

so if you want to analyze what's out there, if you want to understand what other people say about you as a company or about us as a nation, then speaking those languages but also understanding that language in the current context and the context of the culture is absolutely crucial. >> dr. godman? >> thank you, senator. dan mentioned in his testimony that language conveys values and sometimes it conceals intentions. and we need people skilled at understanding both. to me the same is true in the cybersecurity areas. the internet is an english-speaking world, a lot not exclusively, and it's being used by people with many different values and many different intentions. and so i think part of our recommendation in the task force to focus on this is to try to

understand those people who are speaking english using the internet and have intentions that are very different than the ones we associate with simply sharing more information. >> thank you. dr. davidson, your testimony notes that there is a general lack of knowledge of how to develop and implement language training from early childhood, and you recommended using the k through 12 flagship model to build a pipeline of proficient language speakers. what key elements from this program can be emulated by schools across the nation? >> thank you, mr. chairman, for that question.

i think the lessons of flagship are that best practices are out there in the field. flagship did not sort of create a bunch of mystical new ways of learning language, but rather it mobilized the best thinking in the field and stood back with a certain perspective and said, how can we do all of this better and in a consistent way. i think in terms of the federal role in the flagship model, it's a very clever one in the sense it doesn't attempt to purchase a turnkey shop of some kind, but looks at the limited points of leverage along the way where a federal boost can make the difference in whether a program survives or a student is motivated or the progress in learning that language is suitably advanced. for example, never to forget the importance of a teacher. the investment in the teacher, it's maybe not as sassy as a

headline. but the teacher is critical to this process. another really strong lesson we've learned is that the overseas study piece or the summer intensive study piece can fit into a curriculum without doing damage to everything else. in fact, if you do it well, then you can actually pursue part of the major requirements later on harking back to allan's point about requirements. those requirements can actually be continued overseas in the setting in a direct enrollment model. so i think the key to flagship really is mobilizing the best practices, which are out there now, the standards, the outcomes, the field has its act together in that sense. and then looking at those points of leverage like the summer, like the capstone where a little boost from an external funder can make it all come together. >> thank you very much, dr. davidson.

my next question is for the panel. i would like to give you all an opportunity to provide any final statements or comments you'd like to make on this. i know you have lots to say about foreign languages. let me call on mr. loveless first on again any final statements or comments you'd like to make. >> yes, well, thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to testify to you and the subcommittee. we are, as an industry association, we represent the majority of people that actually produce that work that generates $2.1 trillion. i have to think about $2.1 trillion in revenue. and we would really welcome the

opportunity to cooperate with the previous panel and this panel because our channels -- we have all the same challenges and at this point, we are not really talking. and so, again, thanks again for the invitation and i'm looking forward to more conversation here after. thank you. >> thank you. dr. godman? >> thank you, senator. i simply hope that this subcommittee in its exercise of government oversight will continue to focus on the very issues that you have identified since 9/11. the need for our country to be able to speak other languages to operate effectively in the world, the role that academia plays in that, the role that the private sector plays in it and the role the government plays in that. i hope the spirit of these hearings will very much continue. thank you. >> thank you very much.

dr. davidson? >> mr. chairman, i would like to second what allan just said about the importance of these hearings and the way you've been able to focus public attention over time to this very, very important need inside our government. i think the good news is that models are there, that we can make a difference and those models are scaleable. so that we've mentioned title 6, the state department programs, and the flagship and star talk. these are excellent models that don't have to be reinvented. and they're operating in 150 places or in 12 places or in 24 places. it would take so little to double that number. marginal difference in the cost would enable those models to be generalized and disseminated more broadly in the country. thank you. >> thank you. i want to thank you so much for your responses and, of course, your statements.

it will be helpful to this subcommittee. we look upon you as those who have been with this problem that we -- we're facing and together. we can use our information to try to improve it for our country. because we're a diverse country. we have the languages here. we just have to use it well and be sure we train our people well to serve in that capacity. so thank you very much. we appreciate your presence. >> thank you.

i want to welcome the third panel. i want to welcome shawna kaplan. shawna, a fifth grade student at providence elementary school in fairfax county, virginia. ms. paula patrick, the coordinator of world languages for fairfax county public schools. michelle dresdner, the 2010