Good news for language students -- universities are hiring more professors to teach non-traditional languages such as Chinese or Arabic, according to a recent study.

An insidehighered.com study said while the job market for language professors is growing slowly, the variety of jobs available is increasing so that non-traditional languages are becoming more common in a university setting.

The information, released by the Modern Language Association, used job postings in its Job Information List for the analysis.

Although positions in Spanish still comprise the largest numbers of positions, jobs available in French and German increased, as did positions in traditionally less popular languages, such as Arabic and Chinese.

Penn State is working on establishing a minor in Arabic, according to Inas Messiha, a lecturer in Arabic and French.

Currently, students can study Arabic and earn a minor in Middle Eastern Studies.

Messiha said the number of students taking Arabic classes has also jumped. In the 1996 fall semester, 15 students took Arabic; last fall, 124 students registered for the class. She said she thinks once the Arabic minor exists that the language will be become more popular to study.

"The trigger, unfortunately, was 9/11 and the war in Iraq," Messiha said. "But we are seeing more and more interest right now, and it's not just because of the political situation. Twenty-two countries in the world speak Arabic. Learning the language allows people to know all of these."

A Chinese minor is already available, along with an internship program, study abroad and Chinese cultural events, according to the Penn State Chinese Program Web site.

Jake Goerl (freshman-engineering) said he hopes to minor in Chinese because he's interested in the culture and because of the possibility of using it in business.

Despite the differences between English and Chinese, he said that his Chinese 001 (Elementary Chinese I) class wasn't overwhelming.

"They take it pretty slow," Goerl said.

Jenn Perttu (senior-hotel, restaurant, and institutional management) cited business reasons as a reason for studying Chinese.

Perttu took a semester of Chinese and said she may work in Hong Kong after graduation.

"There's also a growing awareness in this country of the importance of languages," said Thomas Hale, the head of the Department of French and Francophone studies.

For example, he said, Penn State now has 50 students majoring in Japanese.

"We didn't have that five years ago," he said.