By this I mean, I am sometimes hesitant in telling others about my major which is French, many people put me down and downgrade me in what I’ll do with that.
Makes me feel vulnerable.
With that I would like to go into education, law, international relations, translations at the U.N, work in French Canada, etc.
French is what makes me wake up everyday and keep going, I am smitten with French.
I always end up saying that my major is a humanities discipline or anthropology
French is a great major! And so nice to see you have a passion! When people ask you what are you going to do with that tell them “speak French, maybe write some French and read great French literature.” “Perhaps, spend some time of your life living on the French Riveria.” Never let anyone make you feel bad about what you like.
By the way, some people look down on humanities majors. Some people look down on biology majors. Some people just like to look down at other people. Stay away from those people.
@nadav17 There will always be people who are all too happy to make others feel bad, whether it’s about their choice of major, hair color, favorite music genre, or what have you. Stay away from these toxic people, as @BearHouse suggested. If you’re stuck interacting with them, give them a patronizing smile, and breezily say, “I love the language of love!” or some other witty quip. 
I was a humanities major (English), and also was often asked why I chose it. (The implication was that I’d make no money from being a humanities major.) I just said that I loved to read and write, and since there was a major that actually let me do what I loved, well heck, – sign me up!
The cool thing about growing up is that you care less and less about what people think of your choices.
It’s great preparation for the day when you become a parent, and the world has opinions on everything from your child’s name to how warmly he should be dressed. You learn quickly to do what you know is right for you and yours.
You’re majoring in French. Great. Don’t give a moment’s thought to anyone else’s opinion-- why on earth should their opinion on your life choices matter more than yours?
Say it loud and say it proud! Majors aren’t better or worse just different.
French has long been the “aspirational” foreign language in the US. Basically it’s long been the language you took if you were upper class or aspired to be. Lately this has been switched to Chinese but there’s a reason there are so many expensive private preschools offering French, or how you can use the health of the French department as a proxy only below phi beta kappa for recognition among those with social/cultural capital.
Its symbolic status is strong among people in the know, even if random people may think it fluff.
You’ll actually be pretty employable if 1) you study abroad 2)learn a lot about the culture (it can be France, Canada, or Western Africa BTW) 3) add one statistics class, 1intercutural communication, and 1-2 business/management.
List the culture classes, stats, intercultural com and the intro to business classes under ‘relevant coursework’ on your resume and you’re better off than an international business major.
For translation expect to go through a master’s.
Keep in mind master’s in France are free tuition.
You can also apply to be a language assistant for a year -12 hours of work a week for a stipend.
Just do you! I’m majoring in engineering and have gotten crap about it from physics majors so there will always be naysayers around no matter what!
“I am looking into International Relations and am majoring in French”
@snowfairy137 Are you Howard Wolowicz?
@booper nah! I didn’t even get into MIT