Introduction

Five years ago, General Secretary Xi Jinping wrote a heartfelt reply to an elderly professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, expressing his hopes for foreign language institutions to deepen international exchanges, enhance friendships among nations, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. He clearly stated the need to cultivate compound talents with a sense of national pride, global vision, and professional skills. This letter has injected ideological inspiration and pointed the way for the reform and development of foreign language education in the new era.

The Resilience and Transformation of Foreign Language Education in the AI Era

Artificial intelligence is profoundly changing the ecology of language education, services, and research. Breakthroughs in generative AI have made machine translation, intelligent writing, and voice interaction increasingly common. In the face of this transformation, there are voices claiming that the value of foreign language disciplines is being diminished by technology, and the notion of “foreign languages being useless” is often heard.

However, such views misunderstand the essence of foreign language disciplines. The core significance of foreign language and literature studies extends beyond mere skills training in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation. It encompasses five major fields: language studies, literature studies, translation studies, comparative literature and cross-cultural studies, and area studies. Language is the starting point, but not the endpoint. Through language, we explore the mysteries of human thought, delve into the nuances of literature and art, communicate the wisdom of different civilizations, and grasp the changes in the world order.

As Einstein warned, “Caring for humanity should always be the primary goal of all technological endeavors.” This statement profoundly reveals the humanistic dimension of technological development. If technology is the “engine,” then humanity is the “steering wheel”—only through the guidance of humanistic spirit can technology truly benefit humanity. When machines can accurately translate words, only the human heart can perceive the warmth behind the language; when algorithms can quickly generate text, only human value judgments can safeguard the underlying stance of discourse. Foreign language institutions must proactively adapt to changes, exploring new paradigms for talent cultivation that unify technological empowerment and humanistic adherence. The core of this paradigm shift is not a denial of traditional foreign language disciplines but an intelligent era’s new expansion of the connotation of “based on language, transcending language.”

The Profound Connotation of Compound Talent in the AI Era

In the AI era, the standard for cultivating compound talents with a sense of national pride, global vision, and professional skills has been endowed with deeper connotations. The more powerful the technology, the deeper the wisdom required to harness it.

A sense of national pride requires foreign language talents to elevate from being “cultural disseminators” to “value leaders.” In international exchanges, they must possess keen value judgment abilities, discern the stances and intentions behind AI-generated information, uphold the position of Chinese culture, and tell the Chinese story well. This necessitates transforming the value concepts of excellent traditional Chinese culture into a communicable and dialogic discourse system through language studies, translation studies, comparative literature, and cross-cultural studies. As Mencius said, “The difference between humans and animals is minimal; if the common people abandon it, the gentlemen will preserve it.” Machines lack such moral sensibilities, but through insights and accumulations from the humanities, we can transform ethical consensus such as “benevolence is to love others” and “do not impose on others what you do not desire” into core concepts of cross-cultural communication, giving technology a moral foundation and infusing soul into communication.

A global vision requires a deepening understanding of the world from merely “knowing the world” to “understanding the world.” AI has broken down information barriers but has also brought about “information cocoons” and “algorithmic biases.” A true global vision is no longer just about mastering a few foreign languages or knowing a few countries; it involves penetrating the algorithmic fog in a complex and diverse information environment and deeply understanding the value concepts and thinking patterns of different civilizations. This requires deep support from area studies—not only understanding a country’s language but also its historical context, political logic, and socio-cultural psychology. In the homogenized information of algorithmic recommendations, only those with deep regional knowledge can maintain independent thinking and provide intellectual support for building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Professional skills require foreign language talents to evolve from mastering “language skills” to possessing a collaborative ability that deeply integrates “language + AI.” In the AI era, the connotation of “professional skills” has undergone a qualitative change. Traditional skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation remain foundational but no longer constitute the core of competitiveness. True professional skills represent an organic unity of “language ability + technical literacy + humanistic foundation.” This requires foreign language talents to not only master language skills and knowledge of linguistics, literature, translation studies, cross-cultural studies, and area studies but also to understand algorithmic logic, use AI tools, and handle language data. They must transition from traditional language service providers to language intelligence navigators with technical thinking and strategic vision, as well as cross-cultural dialogue facilitators. As Marx stated, “Humans affirm themselves in the object world not only through thinking but also through all their senses.” In the AI era, the “all senses” of foreign language talents need to expand to include the perception, mastery, and reflection of technology, establishing their irreplaceable value at the intersection of technology and humanity.

Constructing a New Paradigm for Cultivating Language + AI Compound Talents

To cultivate “language + AI” compound talents, foreign language institutions need to undergo systematic reforms in educational philosophy, curriculum systems, teaching models, and collaborative mechanisms.

Restructuring Knowledge Systems

We must break down traditional barriers in foreign language disciplines and build a curriculum matrix driven by dual cores of “language ability + technical literacy.” Language research needs the support of computational linguistics methods, literature research requires an expansion of digital humanities perspectives, translation research necessitates collaboration with machine translation technology, cross-cultural studies need the empowerment of multimodal analysis tools, and area studies require the enhancement of big data mining capabilities. The five major research fields of foreign language disciplines are deeply integrating with artificial intelligence, forming new academic growth points. Foreign language institutions should proactively layout and promote the interdisciplinary integration of foreign language studies with computer science, data science, and cognitive science to cultivate compound talents who understand both language and technology. It can be said that the future of foreign language disciplines will no longer be a one-way extension of the humanities but a fusion of innovation through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Transforming Teaching Models

The future foreign language classroom will transition from a binary structure of “teacher-student” to a trinary structure of “teacher-machine-student.” AI is not a replacement for teachers but an empowerment tool. Teachers will shift from being knowledge transmitters to becoming learning designers, value guides, and emotional connectors. Through smart MOOCs, virtual teachers, and intelligent assessments, we can achieve personalized learning and precise teaching, allowing technology to truly serve the comprehensive development of individuals. In this process, we must pay attention to the “degree” of technology use, ensuring that technology always serves the fundamental task of moral education. Technology can change how we teach but cannot shake the reasons why we teach.

Expanding Capability Boundaries

Talent cultivation cannot be confined to the campus. We must align with national strategic needs, focusing on key areas such as international communication, area studies, and language intelligence, and build practical platforms in collaboration with industry enterprises. Beijing Foreign Studies University relies on the virtual digital teacher system (LingTutor) and global language service platforms to bring teaching scenarios into both virtual and real spaces, allowing students to enhance their “language + AI” compound abilities by solving practical problems, achieving significant results. At the same time, we should strengthen cooperation with AI enterprises to promote the integration of industry and education, as well as science and education, providing students with real “AI + language” practical scenarios. Only in problem-solving environments can compound abilities take root.

In the AI era, the mission of foreign language education is not diminished but endowed with new connotations. As algorithms reshape knowledge landscapes and intelligence redefines language ecologies, foreign language institutions must stand at the forefront, courageously advancing reforms and steadfastly upholding humanistic foundations, contributing wisdom and strength to the construction of a strong educational nation and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.