-Is it necessary, or would it be considered redundant to make your child minor in a language in which they are fluent in already? Can the student just say they are comfortable with the language enough to have a good conversation with clients?
No need for a minor (whose definition varies significantly between colleges), although a college may have useful advanced level courses in the language that even fluent users can benefit from. But job applicants claiming fluency may be tested on it by the employer having an existing employee fluent in the language interview the applicant in that language.
Why would you minor in a language in which you are already fluent? Have them take a CLEP exam to prove their competency…and maybe get some college credit.
So many people say they are fluent in a language and can barely speak it. Smart companies will conduct the interview in that language. Having it as a minor says the student was serious about learning how to write it and speak it. That said, I think the knowledge is the most important part. Many embassies or other organizations have certification which can be used to ascertain that someone really knows the language. Make sure they can write the language to a business level.
It depends on the type of fluency. Is the person fluent in a conversational street way or in a more formal academic way? And what will be the point of usage? If a person is fluent in a street talk way, then have them take at least a couple of classes in order to clean up the spoken word and make it more formal.
Also, fluent heritage speakers may need reading and writing instruction. Consider how much English course work fluent English speakers have to take in K-12 and college in the US.
Yes, but.
A typical minor in a language comes nowhere near guaranteeing any kind of fluency – street or formal, talking, reading or writing. A heritage language speaker who plans to use the language in a career should pay attention to all the issues mentioned above, but having a minor in the language doesn’t move the needle either way. Of course, if you need to address formal vocabulary, writing and reading fluency, etc., you could easily end up satisfying the requirements for a minor. But you shouldn’t make acquiring a minor your goal.
Why would the parent be doing this anyway?
On a resume your child can write something like Fluent in (Language) or Conversational Knowledge of (Language). No need or reason for a minor – he/she should used college courses to learn something new.
^^^ A young man I know indicates: English and French - native ability, Chinese - business fluency on his resume.
Fully agree that a “minor” proves nothing and that writing ability may not match spoken abilities for any second language.
I can tell you from my experience, a true native fluency in another language is very rare. However, you can be advanced level in other languages. Even the highest level of Mandarin language which is HSK Level 6 doesn’t really indicate your speaking and listening ability.
One reason my kid is attending Stanford is to improve his levels in several languages to advanced levels through their Language Centers while at the same time obtain a degree in another area he’s interested in. But in all likelihood, he won’t be minoring in languages.
One of my kids majored in a language and freely admits he’s not fluent. He just headed overseas to teach English and hopes to improve his fluency in his second language (and pick up a third while he’s at it).
Of course, fluency can cover a wide range of skill. A typical 8th grader in the US may be fluent in English… at the 8th grade level. While that may be sufficient to ask for directions, order food at a restaurant, or understand a politician’s speech ( https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2016/march/speechifying.html ), it may not be sufficient for complex academic or business discourse.
I had a non-biological “brother” who grew up a Chilean in Chile. Of course, he was fluent in Spanish, including reading and writing . . . as a 16 year-old. Later, when he started doing some business in Latin America, he had to go through a serious process of learning business Spanish. It wasn’t hard for him, but he didn’t show up at his first day of work in his first adult job ready to do business in his native language.
I had a year and half of college German, and one semester at a Goethe Institute. I was pretty comfortable in German, but not totally fluent. I got hired because the office where I would be working had a project to do some work on US Army bases. (It fell through, but they kept me.) I spent the first day at work asking what things were called - templates, drafting tape, scotch tape, tracing paper, blueprints. It was pretty funny. After four more years in Germany I got pregnant and discovered a whole new set of vocabulary I hadn’t been exposed to, despite reading the paper every day, watching German TV and reading lots of German novels, not to mention working 40+ hours a week in an office where no one ever said a word of English to me.
That said some language study in college is a great basis for building an immersion experience on. That’s what it will take for most people to achieve some level of fluency.
Some schools may offer classes for people who speak a language at home, but have relatively little experience with the written language.
My native language is Russian, and I don’t think I’m fluent in current Russian business terminology. I’ve also met quite a few people who told me they minored in Russian but couldn’t speak it past a few standard phrases. So as an employer I wouldn’t be impressed until I know the actual language skills of the person.
Look at what the minor entails. At some colleges, it means 3 language courses, 2 communication/reading courses, linguistics, and literature.
At others, it means lots of cultural content even in the lower level, some Civilization, some business in x language classes.
It is important for a fluent, native, or heritage speaker to have some sort of external validation because there are such huge differences between individuals depending on their background. A full minor may not be necessary as the student can list relevant classes under ‘relevant coursework’ depending on the position applied for as well as under Skills, but external assessment matters (organized by college departments and ACTFL, cultural centers, consulates, Confucius/Goethe institute, alliance Française…)
I was a course short of getting a minor in Spanish. After college, I was conversational. Now, I can barely speak it (but can still read and understand pretty well).
A minor is completely irrelevant. Just list the language and fluency level on resume.
Some universities have special language courses for heritage speakers slanted towards grammar, reading and writing. Both my heritage speakers considered them but eventually opted out. In my daughter’s university a Heritage Language course had classes every day for a year. Pretty intense but probably much better value than a generic minor geared towards beginners.
OP, you mentioned in another thread being interested in education as a career. Whereas in most careers you can just put your fluency languages on a resume, for education it may actually be useful to have a minor if your heritage language is one that would be useful as a bilingual teacher. There may be a salary bump for such certification.
You can look into whether there is a test you can take for certification in your state or whether coursework would be necessary. It may depend on whether you are fluent in spoken language or also in written composition.