Indiana and World Languages
World language learning advances the economy, security, and health of our state. Indiana already has strong ties to world languages, as demonstrated below.
Indiana & World Languages
According to census data, 8.4% of Indiana residents speak a language other than English at home, including: Spanish (4.6%); Indo-European Languages (2.1%); Asian and Pacific Island Languages (1.3%); and more (0.4%) (American Community Survey).
191,000Hoosiers are employed by more than 800 foreign-owned businesses as of 2015 (Select USA).
Many Hoosier companies expect international business to play a growing role in their future success. Half of respondents to a 2017 survey expect international sales will account for a larger share of their total revenue by 2025. Over sixty percent of respondents believe that staff with stronger international expertise would have a positive impact on their sales. (Succeeding in International Markets report 2017)
85%of Indiana public school educators considered the study of World Languages as Important or Very Important. 50 Indiana districts would like to add courses in Chinese, and Japanese and Spanish were the second and third most popular responses (The State of Global Learning report 2014).
Reports
Recently published reports and resources that have helped to guide the Indiana Language Roadmap Project are included below.