Vision 2020 English - ICHN Position Statement

The Instituto Chileno Norteamericano seeks to foster mutual appreciation between the people of the United States and Chile. This appreciation is being built upon a growing understanding of the manifold expressions of each country’s culture. Societies form complex and dynamic systems. Multiple perspectives make up a diversity that is not easily depicted as a single culture. Understanding a people means being aware of the complexities and refraining from oversimplifying and generalizing issues. This begins on the threshold of interpersonal communication. Nations whose people can communicate with each other can hope to reach a mutual and sophisticated appreciation of each other. Consequently, we consider the overcoming of the linguistic hurdle to be essential. The gap can be bridged either way. Chile has adopted a proactive language policy promoting the learning of English. We applaud this effort. But beyond that we welcome the fact that Spanish is the most widely studied second language in the United States. This expresses our desire to emphasize a two way approach to cultural exchange. We value and fully support Chile’s role in the Spanish speaking world, and make it part of our mission to draw the attention of a wider U.S. audience to Chile’s contribution to this world.

Chile has been pursuing an ambitious language policy promoting the learning of English. We need to act based on what has been accomplished so far being fully aware of the magnitude of the challenge ahead of us.

As a bi-national center we embrace the vision of becoming a bilingual country. The implications are far reaching and everybody is affected. This needs discussion, and everybody should have access to the debate. The ICHN VISION 2020 provides a space for this to take place.

VISION 2020 will provide an opportunity to voice opinions, share ideas, and create innovative contributions that further Chile’s aim of becoming a bilingual country. The Instituto Chileno Norteamericano invites the public to participate in a number of ways, such as live debates, round table discussions, talks, presentations, etc. throughout the year. Events will address relevant issues.