University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: September 8, 2005

Mark Ashwill is director of the World Languages Program and Fulbright Program advisor. Visit his homepage at http:// wings.buffalo.edu/world-languages/maa.htm.

What is the World Languages Program?
The World Languages Program (WLP), formerly the World Languages Institute, is a section of the Department of Linguistics, College of Arts and Sciences, that offers language and culture instruction in eight less commonly taught languages, including American Sign Language, Arabic, modern Greek, Hindi, Irish, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian. It also promotes global awareness and intercultural sensitivity on campus and in the community, and provides various services to Western New York's import/export-oriented private sector.

How do you determine what languages to offer?
Ideally, we offer courses based on student demand and the availability of a qualified instructor and suitable materials. Of course, there are also political and budgetary factors that come into play. In the days of the World Languages Institute, when we had more autonomy, the process was less bureaucratic, more transparent and faster.

In the wake of 9/11, why is it more important that ever to study other languages and cultures?
An interesting but little-known fact is that ethnocentrism among college students actually spiked in the year following the 9/11 attacks, according to self-administered surveys. As we all know, most Americans, including many UB students, are woefully ignorant about the rest of the world, not to mention their own country. According to the latest Modern Language Association (MLA) statistics, more college students than ever are studying a foreign language and the variety of languages is steadily increasing. That's the good news. The bad news is that the overall percentage in U.S. higher education is an anemic 8.5 percent, and nearly 80 percent of the enrollments are in the "big three" of Spanish, French and German. As I mentioned in an article I wrote for International Educator magazine last year (http://www.nafsa.org/content/ ProfessionalandEducationalResources/Publications/IE/vol2004-2.htm), while it is commendable that more students are studying foreign languages, the depressing reality is that precious few ever achieve functional proficiency. In the article I pose this question: What about the majority who neither studies a foreign language nor studies abroad? I recommend that we focus more attention and effort on helping students to develop intercultural sensitivity and competence. This can be achieved though language and non-language courses, as well as other forms of education and training.

You recently authored a book, "Vietnam Today: A Guide to a Nation at the Crossroads," that's been called "the seminal work for understanding Vietnam today." What's it about?
"Vietnam Today" was conceived as an introductory yet substantive cultural guide for business people, employees of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), government officials, tourists and travelers, students and professors, teachers, returning veterans and others with an interest in Vietnam. Since its publication, other groups have emerged, including adoptees and their parents. I'm pleased that the book has been well-received, including a "highly recommended" rating from Choice, the reviewing journal of the American Library Association. The information we present in this book is based on research, and interviews and surveys with expatriates who have worked in Vietnam and Vietnamese who have worked with foreigners for many years. In a sense, my co-contributor, Thai Ngoc Diep (who has worked extensively with Americans and other foreigners, and earned a master's degree in international trade from UB), and I are messengers, but also each with his and her own perceptions, experiences and stories to tell. We paint a broad picture of Vietnam, past and present, and explore today's defining issues, including the transition to a market economy. We want our readers to learn how a 2,000-year history of foreign invasion, occupation and war, including the Chinese, French and the U.S., has deeply influenced the Vietnamese character. "Vietnam Today" reveals the most prominent characteristics of the Vietnamese: their energy and drive, the dominance of group over individual and the paramount importance of maintaining harmony. One chapter entitled "How the Vietnamese See Westerners" consists of Vietnamese impressions, likes, dislikes and advice for foreigners. We conclude with some speculation and predictions about Vietnam's future.

What's the one thing that's absolutely essential to know before traveling to Vietnam?
The most important thing to know is that Vietnam, like other Asian cultures, places a high value on the group and tends to see individuals in terms of their membership in, and obligation to, groups. Vietnam is a relationship-based society in which developing a relationship is always a prelude to doing business, whatever that "business" may entail. Lady Borton, an American who has devoted much of her career and life to Vietnam, has pointed out that relationships are not as formalized in Vietnam as they are in other Asian cultures—they do not constitute a vertical line of hierarchical power but rather what she refers to as "a complicated web of shared stories, favors, obligations, rights and points of accountability that form the basis for interdependence at all levels of society."

Why Vietnam? What is it about this country that has captured your interest and affection?
In the "To the Reader" section of "Vietnam Today," I state that I have had the opportunity and privilege to become acquainted with two countries that shared the world stage in the 20th century and whose fates have been interwoven—for better and for worse—with that of my country, the United States: Germany and Vietnam. I have been interested in Vietnam since I was a child growing during what the Vietnamese know as the American War. After my first trip there in 1996 to set up a summer study-abroad program on behalf of UB, the country cast its spell on me. I have been back many times since, including as a Fulbright senior specialist in 2003, and look forward to devoting much of the rest of my career and life to Vietnam and to improving U.S.-Vietnam relations.

You're also the campus adviser to the Fulbright Program. What is it, and how successful have UB faculty and students been in obtaining awards?
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's premier scholarship program, enabling U.S. students, scholars, artists and others to benefit from unique resources in every corner of the world. If you use the number of awards as a benchmark for success, we have done exceedingly well in recent years. I'm grateful to my colleagues from around the university, including the Office of International Education, who help me to promote this great program. One of the rewards of being the Fulbright adviser (http://wings.buffalo.edu/fulbright) is that I get to work with and learn from so many bright and talented students and colleagues. I think of the Fulbright program as one of the U.S. government's most noble and worthwhile enterprises. Indeed, it represents the antithesis of the prevailing neoconservative ideology that finds its most tragic expression in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

What question do you wish I had asked, and how would you have answered it?
I wish you had asked about the third "hat" I wear at UB. I am an adjunct instructor in the General Education Program and currently teach American Pluralism (UGC 211), which examines the multicultural and multiethnic nature of American society by exploring five important and often intersecting areas of American experience and culture: race, gender, ethnicity, social class and religious sectarianism. Since my background is in education, both domestic and international, the impact of education on our lives and on society, the role of social class as a predictor and determinant of life chances and views of the U.S. from abroad are focal points of the course. Another overarching theme is the "American Dream" as part cultural mythology, part reality. While the course is challenging because of the ideological nature of its content and the fact that it is required, UGC 211 is also immensely rewarding and, I think, beneficial to students.