[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2189-E2190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MONTEREY BAY AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

                                 ______


                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 15, 1995

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, on November 1, 1995, I had the honor of 
introducing a resolution heralding the Monterey Language Capital of the 
World initiative.

[[Page E2190]]

  H. Res. 266 commends the Monterey Bay public-private partnership for 
its recognition of the unique language resources that are located in 
the 17th Congressional District and its strong commitment to promoting 
language diversity.
  Monterey is directly involved with 25 percent of the Nation's 
postsecondary learning in languages other than English. What Research 
Triangle Park is to applied academics, what Silicon Valley is to high 
technology, Monterey Bay will be to language learning.
  California's central coast has a rich heritage of professional 
language resources, including: the Defense Language Institute, the U.S. 
Naval Postgraduate School, the AT&T Language Line Services, the 
Monterey Institute of International Studies, California State 
University at Monterey Bay, the University of California at Santa Cruz, 
Monterey Peninsula College, CTB McGraw-Hill, and American Global 
Studies Institute.
  One of my earliest initiatives after being elected in 1993 was to 
convene a higher education summit in the district. The participants--
CSUMB, USSC, Monterey Peninsula College, MIIS--all agreed to hammer out 
a language memorandum of understanding whereby the educational 
institutions agreed to share resources in language training.
  In order to make the Defense Language Institute a participant in the 
Language MOU, I secured passage of a provision in the fiscal year 1994 
defense bill which allows civilians to attend the DLI. With a faculty 
of 900 and a student body of 3,000, DLI is the largest language 
training institution in the world. It has been located in Monterey 
since 1946, and teaches foreign languages to other Federal agencies 
like the FBI, NASA, and the DEA. For instance, when an American 
astronaut participates in a joint United States-Russian space mission, 
he has been trained in Russian at the DLA so that he can talk to his 
mission counterpart.
  The U.S. Naval Postgraduate School provides professional, service-
oriented educational programs for the U.S. Armed Forces and foreign 
militaries, and has played host to students from more than 100 nations. 
While no foreign languages are taught at the NPGS, its students learn 
other languages at DLI and contribute to the multicultural fabric of 
Monterey.
  The AT&T Language Line Services, the largest provider of telephone-
based language services in the world, provides around the clock 
interpretation for business, emergency service providers, communities 
and institutions across the United States and Canada, and the United 
Kingdom in 140 languages.
  It was created from the vision of a former San Jose police officer 
who saw the critical need for law enforcement officers to be able to 
communicate with the people they served.
  AT&T bought the service in 1989. Eighty percent of major hospitals in 
the United States and more than 45 percent of all hospitals subscribe 
to the service, as do the INS, the U.S. Coast Guard, the SBA, and most 
major insurance companies and financial institutions throughout the 
United States. In fact, at my suggestion the attending physician of 
U.S. Congress subscribes to the service in order to be able to 
communicate with any foreign speaking tourists who may require medical 
treatment while visiting the U.S. Capital.
  The Monterey Institute of International Studies has an extensive 
graduate school curriculum that includes the only master's degree in 
translation and interpretation in the Western Hemisphere. It was 
established in 1955 to teach modern languages in their cultural 
context. The programs at the MIIS are designed to develop bilingual 
professionals, integrating advanced foreign language education into 
professional programs in business, public administration and policy 
studies.
  California State University at Monterey Bay will house the new Center 
for Intensive Language and Culture and an Institute of Collaborative 
Human Services that will provide non-emergency telephone help, like 
911, for non-English speakers.
  Working with the AT&T Language Line Services for simultaneous 
translation, CSUMB, which just opened this fall, will expand its basic 
language programs for teaching students enrolled overseas. It is these 
types of innovative, collaborative partnerships that reinforce 
Monterey's foundation as the language capital of the world.
  Monterey Peninsula College offers eight foreign languages, a 
significant number for a 2-year community college, including Arabic, 
Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. It is committed to maintaining 
a strong language department with emphasis on Pacific rim languages, in 
keeping with international economic trends for business and commerce.
  What is unique about this public-private initiative is that all the 
language resources interface with each other to create a seamless 
language web. For example, graduates of the MIIS work at the AT&T 
Language Line and at the DLI. CSUMB will enjoy employ faculty from the 
DLI and MIIS to teach language classes. Some NPGS students may be 
assigned to the DLI for specific language training classes.
  Moreover, there are very sound economic reasons to promote language 
diversity, particularly as they relate to the travel and tourism 
industry, the Nation's second largest employer which provides more than 
13 million jobs.
  For instance, did you know that: $58 billion in Federal, State and 
local tax revenues were generated through travel and tourism in 1994; 
the typical American household spends $3,900 per year on travel; the 
World Tourism Organization projects that in the year 2000, more than 
661 million people will travel internationally; and international 
visitor spending now accounts for over 14 percent of all travel 
expenditures in the United States, compared to five percent in 1983.
  What these statistics indicate to me is that we must compete 
aggressively for the international travel and tourism dollar and the 
international traveler--who is most likely multilingual. We can only do 
that by strengthening our commitment to language training and encourage 
language development in the citizenry of our own country.
  I encourage my colleagues to cosponsor H. Res. 266 and to support 
your local language resources to ensure continued U.S. global 
leadership and enhance U.S. economic competiveness.

                          ____________________