On the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama was asked about foreign-language education. He responded emphatically, calling it "embarrassing" that most Americans are monolingual. Being able to speak a foreign language makes you "so much more employable," he said. "We should be emphasizing foreign languages in our schools from an early age."

With predictions that more than half of the world’s language will disappear by the end of the decade, and the seemingly ubiquitous takeover by English showing no signs of stopping, many in the Middle East are starting to worry about the future of Arabic.

A private organization has invited Italian college students to Japan in an attempt to foster cultural exchange between the two countries...The organization, which had mainly offered Italian language and cultural courses for Japanese people, invited the Italian students in a bid to promote bilateral cultural exchange.

It was in the book of Exodus, in the King James Version of the Bible, that Moses first called himself a “stranger in a strange land.” From then on up through Robert A. Heinlein’s 1961 novel of the same phrase, the “stranger in a strange land” genre has been (and remains) a staple of song, film, and literature. It seems that a sense of cultural disconnect has long plagued – and fascinated – humankind.

In Beirut, Lebanon, mock 'murder scenes' raise awareness that Arabic is ceasing to be a working language here. An Arabic-language festival wants to help change that.

Every year for the past two decades, legions of young Americans have descended upon Japan to teach English. This government-sponsored charm offensive was launched to counter anti-Japan sentiment in the United States and has since grown into one of the country's most successful displays of soft power.

The global spread of English, with its sometimes corrosive effects on local languages, has caused much hand-wringing in many non-English-speaking corners of the world. But the implications may be more far-reaching in Indonesia...

Over 40 million people are learning the Chinese language and interest keeps growing as Beijing’s international influence expands world wide according to Xu Lin, Director of the Institute to promote the language overseas and head of the Confucius Institute.