Emphasizing the core role of language in social development is a reflection of national and ethnic identity, as well as a manifestation of a country's soft power. Foreign language education is crucial for promoting international communication and enhancing individual and national competitiveness. In the face of challenges such as globalization and technological progress, foreign language education needs to undergo strategic adjustments and innovations.

1. Change in demand: from learning for exams to learning for use

Emphasis was placed on the importance and transformative needs of foreign language education in the new era. With the development of the economy and society and the adjustment of national strategies, foreign language education needs to adapt to changes and improve the quality of talent cultivation. In history, foreign language education has undergone a transformation from the "Russian fever" and "English fever" to the "multilingual fever", reflecting national demands and globalization trends. Currently, the tendency towards exam oriented education has led to the problems of "learning for the sake of exams" and "certificate oriented" foreign language learning, resulting in students lacking practical application abilities. Foreign language teaching should focus on cultivating students' practical application abilities, especially cross-cultural skills, and follow the concept of "learning how language is used" to achieve the integration of learning and application. Foreign language learning should consider the input-output ratio and meet the needs of different learners. As an internationally recognized language, the importance of English is self-evident, but the demand for foreign languages at the individual and national levels should also be met. Foreign language education bears the responsibility of spreading Chinese culture and promoting cultural exchange in the new era. In the face of the misconception that foreign languages are useless, foreign language education should shift from learning for the sake of exams to learning for practical use, in order to achieve personalized and efficient learning.

2. The transformation of supply: from standardized training to personalized learning

Explored the transformation of foreign language education supply, pointing out that school education, as a supplier, is facing multiple factors such as market demand, technological progress, cost, policies, and globalization trends. Although the traditional standardized training model is efficient and cost-effective, it lacks flexibility and is difficult to meet different needs, resulting in homogenization of talent cultivation and a surplus of majors. The "National Standards" and "Guidelines" issued by the Ministry of Education provide basic principles and action routes for the cultivation of foreign language professionals, emphasizing the need to serve national strategies, optimize professional layout, strengthen connotation construction, and take the path of diversified development. Foreign language majors should adhere to serving diverse needs, explore new models of personalized talent cultivation, and achieve differentiated development and classified excellence. Universities need to innovate in talent cultivation goals, resource allocation, curriculum design, teaching methods, and other aspects to adapt to social needs and personalized development of students. Although small class teaching can provide personalized learning experience, the cost is relatively high. Artificial intelligence technology provides opportunities for personalized foreign language learning, with the characteristics of low cost, high efficiency, and strong autonomy, and is an important disruptive force in the field of foreign language education. Foreign language education should actively embrace the changes brought about by artificial intelligence and become a leader in these changes. At the same time, artificial intelligence cannot replace the role of human teachers in emotional interaction, cultural understanding, and creative thinking guidance. Foreign language education should highlight the cultural value of language, enhance its foundation and value. The future of foreign language education will be characterized by human-machine collaboration, promoting the common development of language education and language intelligence. Foreign language colleges need to change their mindset, innovate educational and teaching concepts, develop usage guidelines, empower teachers and students with artificial intelligence, and improve the efficiency and quality of talent cultivation.

3. Market Transformation: From Language Education to Language Services

Explored the development process of foreign language education under the background of globalization and its key role in national modernization construction. China's foreign language education has undergone significant improvements in both scale and quality. English education has been popularized in the basic education stage, and foreign language majors in higher education have trained a large number of talents. However, the foreign language industry is facing problems such as insufficient resources, the need to improve service levels, and a shortage of high-end foreign language talents. The mismatch between market supply and demand, as well as the information asymmetry between education supply and market demand, have led to incomplete development of the language service market. The article emphasizes the importance of transitioning from language education to language services, and proposes to promote the development of the language industry through national planning, improving the quality of universities, and allocating market resources. The global language service platform established by Beijing Foreign Studies University aims to achieve precise matching of language service supply and demand, and provide language support for the global development of various industries.

4. Strategic Transformation: Language as the Foundation of National Soft Power 1

In depth exploration of the core role of language in national development and international influence, emphasizing the importance of national language proficiency as a support for both soft and hard power. The article points out that the country needs to develop a top-level language strategy to consciously cultivate and promote its own language and enhance its soft power. Through historical examples such as the promotion of Latin in Rome, the profound impact of language strategy on national governance and social unity is demonstrated. At the same time, two pillars of the national language strategy were proposed: internal language strategy and external language strategy. The internal language strategy includes the construction of a national lingua franca and the protection of ethnic languages, while the external language strategy involves the international dissemination of the national language and the learning and education of foreign languages. The article also emphasizes the importance of rational planning of foreign language education in the context of globalization, as well as the potential for regional and national studies of language to become a new research hotspot in the future.

5. The Transformation of Universities: The Future of Foreign Language Education

The importance of foreign language education in national strategy was emphasized, and it was pointed out that foreign language universities need to reshape their strategic value to cope with multiple challenges. It is proposed that foreign language education should shift from traditional language teaching to cultivating "three-way" talents with knowledge, ability, and literacy, namely foreign language proficiency, foreign language proficiency, domain proficiency, and global proficiency. At the same time, foreign language universities should achieve transformation through more humanistic, technological, strategic, and open paths, with language intelligence as an important field, actively integrating into national strategies and the world's changing landscape. Taking the global development strategy towards 2050 as an example, Beijing Foreign Studies University demonstrates how to facilitate communication and understanding between China and the world, and build a world-class university.