I visited India last year. In ten days, I traveled in several cities – New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai. I was amazed by the country’s incredible culture: wherever I was, people are happy and welcoming. But I was troubled by the underdevelopment and I started to wonder: where is the “next global powerhouse” that we have been talking about? Especially in the U.S., people have been talking for 30 years about India as the “next global powerhouse.” But even in Mumbai, the nation’s wealthiest city, the deprived living standards were shocking.

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We live in a time when everything seems to be in English: web addresses, flight numbers and programming languages. It is tempting to not see that there are other languages being used in the world, let alone be motivated to learn a second language. It is no wonder that less than 1% of American adults have learned a non-English language and can speak that language “very well”. [1]

I am an English language enthusiast. When I first started to learn English, I considered it a school requirement. But now, I take true pleasure studying it. Behind this transition was my realization in the deeper purpose of learning a second language.

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Fall 2008 is when I first came to study in the United States. Joined with other college students at a small town in Indiana, together we witnessed the election of the first African American President. We believed the wheel of history, that of the United States and that of the world, had moved forward. Watching such a progressive social movement was a euphoric experience for many of us.

This year, it was different. After an unprecedented divisive campaign, 60 million American voters spent the night watching the election unfold in horror. Yet at the same time another 60 million voters were elated and thrilled. When I woke up the second day, I felt an unusual quietness in the classroom, disbelief in the air, as if students and professors were in mourning. What had just happened, in many people’s minds, was a move backward.

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