Which Foreign Language Should Be Taught in the Albanian Education System?

Abstract

Until the 60s in the XX century, in Europe, foreign languages were a privilege aimed just for the rich, the educated and some other people who had specific crafts. Today in Europe and Albania, the foreign languages are part of the daily activities of lots of people. These languages enable getting and using a variety of information and nowadays this process is becoming easier and easier thanks to the increasing number of people who know one or even more foreign languages. Everybody knows and expresses the fact that foreign languages are a “must”. The question which arises immediately after that is which of these languages we should learn. While attempting to answer the first one, there arises the second question, the third one and so on. What is communication like today? What will it be like in the future? Starting from the moment we think and dream about a future, there are still concrete opportunities to be analyzed so as to how we can get there. Along this article, we will reflect on communication today and we will describe the challenges that teaching foreign languages in Albanian schools should face. According to the statistics of the Eurobarometer in Europe (Special Eurobarometer 243. 2006) the biggest part of Europeans (65 percent) first get in touch with the foreign languages at school. It is school which enables the longest contact with the foreign languages. This fact makes school the most important and the most critical element to be studied compared to the supportive policies of multilingualism in communication.