<p>So I like learning languages, I learn them easily. I consider myself to be hardworking individual, and I have a couple questions regarding college and careers (currently a HS Junior):
1. Is it more impressive to have 2 years of 3 different languages (French, Spanish, Latin) or to have 3 years of 2 languages in the eyes of a college?</p>
<p>I plan on majoring in French, and I want to go into the area of foreign relations (maybe diplomat translator, or something like that, I'm not sure at this point). What would you consider to be more advantageous in terms of any career:
2a. Double major of French and Business/or Politics
2b. Major in French, minor in Spanish
2c. Major in French, minor in business/ or politics</p>
<p>In other words, which would open the largest amount of career options?</p>
<p>As a junior in college (Major in economics, minor in Spanish (studied abroad in Spain for a year)), I can tell you that from what I’ve seen at various job fairs, more means more to employers. Go for the double major if you can, but also think about a few things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>With the school that I will be going to, will a double major in French and business/politics really allow me to become a diplomat or translator? Figure our the specifics before you declare your major.</p></li>
<li><p>What other things should i be looking at? Extracurriculars in college could be very important for networking. Choose an academic based organization rather than some ultimate frisbee club if you have to choose.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If I were you I would personally go for something involved in engineering/science. The market for engineers and scientists is huge, and if you could double major in French and some sort of engineering/science field, then I’m sure oversees research could be a possibility. I think I am about to learn in a couple years the hard way that the job market is a rough place for a liberal arts majors.</p>
<p>I’d try to specialize in a specific language to the point you’re fluent in it instead of learning a little bit of a bunch. I imagine it would be more impressive to a recruiter to say you studied abroad, took a semester in the local language, and did well versus taking a two or three classes in a handful of languages back at your home college.</p>
<p>(For the record, one of my friends is very gifted in languages, and I know he’s fluent in both German and Russian, and studied in Russia for a few months. When he was looking for a job during the summer while in law school he was able to get a job with the district attorney covering the Eastern European-heavy part of the city.)</p>
<p>At my DD’s school, you can not have a major or minor without having much more than a few courses in a language. I assume this is true at most. In her case she had studied 3 prior to college and placed out of the first 5 or so classes in each.</p>