As language enrollment drops at Bates, professors combat anxieties by emphasizing the value of language acquisition and studying other cultures.

Professor of German Jakub Kazecki says that the lower enrollments make him nervous. While 14 students enrolled in Introduction to German Language and Culture I this fall, there are only four students in Elementary Russian I.

“I don’t know what the future will bring, and that makes me worried,” Kazecki said. “At the same time, I’m less worried if I think about what we actually offer students, what benefits students have by taking language.”

This past May, the Defense Department cut 13 language programs at universities after changes in congressional funding. The year prior, Forbes reported that enrollment in foreign languages dropped 16.6% from fall 2016 to fall 2021. 

This holds true at Bates as enrollment in beginning language courses is down overall by 6% when comparing the periods 2009-2016 and 2017-2024. Japanese and French are up by 61% and 15% respectively, while Chinese and Russian are down by 56% and 42% respectively. Notably, in the three years since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, enrollment in beginning Russian dropped to an average of three students after averaging 8.1 students in the ten years prior, although it is steadily rising. 

Data collected from course registration data on Garnet Gateway. Hispanic Studies and Greek are not included because data is unavailable prior to 2020.

Professor of French and Francophone Studies Alexandre Dauge-Roth is worried about how languages are valued among incoming/prospective students and parents.

“Bates is going to have plenty of applicants,” Dauge-Roth said. “We are down now to a 13% acceptance rate. So you know, it’s not that we are in a situation that is dire in terms of the quality of the applicants. So then there is also something to be said about, who do you admit?”

When told that Admissions doesn’t consider “declared major” when admitted students, Dauge-Roth responded: “Maybe they should. I mean, they are an institution who has institutional priorities.”

This sentiment resonates with German major Elise Hepburn ‘27 who sees the value in presserving even the smallest language departments. 

“I think it’s really important to have a Russian department, because it’s the same thing with German, a lot of schools don’t offer it,” Hepburn said. “I think it’s important to have languages. I think it can draw people to the school as well.”

For Hepburn, the existence of a German department was a big factor in why she chose Bates. Now that she’s here, she really likes the way it is taught by professors. 

“In most classes, you’re speaking German, but while you’re speaking German, you’re learning about the history and the culture. And I think that’s very important, because it’s a massive part of a language,” Hepburn said. 

Wes DeOreo ‘25 agrees with Hepburn, highlighting how much care the German professors put into the department. He remembers how Raluca Cernahoschi, professor of German, could tell he was checking out after his first semester and asked to talk to him after class. He recalls her saying to him, “‘Look, I’m just a professor who wants you to actually enjoy learning this. What can I do to help motivate you to learn that?’”

Dauge-Roth believes that part of the reason for low enrollments is that learning languages to fluency can take years. But Kazecki emphasized that perfection isn’t the only goal.

“Since I started speaking and learning English in my 20s, I’m never going to shake that accent that you hear right now,” Kazecki said. “I’m never going to be seen as a native speaker, although I speak well, I have to say. But that’s not the goal. The goal is that you actually enjoy speaking German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian.”

Professor of Hispanic Studies Claudia Aburto Guzmán agrees with that point, saying, “having an accent, committing mistakes when you’re speaking in a language, it’s really human, and it teaches you humility.”

Despite not being completely fluent, DeOreo says that learning German allowed him to speak with his family in Germany for the first time while studying abroad. 

“Being able to sit down and have an hour-long conversation, pretty much entirely in German, was like—, it really helped with my language learning confidence and ability to speak,” DeOreo said. “And then my family came out later, once my study abroad was over, and being able to work somewhat as a translator between them and my family was really, really cool.”

The language departments have begun emphasizing other learning goals like cultural proficiency, analysis, communication, culture and equity.

Guzmán highlights this with the words of philosopher Umberto Eco. “He used to say that language is culture, and he would give an example of how just you could trace the changes in a culture by just looking at one word and how that word has either lost traction or has evolved into something other,” she said.

She adds that, “Pragmatically speaking, the world is getting smaller, and we are constantly being pressured. And that stress and that pressure is diminishing the capacity of our imagination because we have to go so fast. I think that to engage in other languages is to engage your imagination and that physically and intellectually expands your brain.”