<p>I am looking to major in Economics, but one of my goals is to be trilingual by the time I finish my undergrad. I feel like this is acheivable, but I'm not sure on how to come about it. By the time I graduate <em>highschool</em> I will have at least 5 (possibly 6) years of Spanish under my belt as well as 2 years of French. I am beyond willing to take a summer/semester abroad in different countries that speak these languages as well. So how should I do this? Do I double major? Double Minor?</p>
<p>If you just want to improve your language proficiency, you need not take an additional major or minor; you can do the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Take additional language courses in the languages, if necessary.</li>
<li>Practice speaking and listening with friends who are native or heritage speakers of the language (probably not hard to find for Spanish in many parts of the US; some parts of the US have decent populations of French speakers).</li>
<li>Read articles from newspapers and magazines in those languages (web pages of newspapers based on Spanish and French speaking places should be easily accessible).</li>
</ul>
<p>One thing to keep in mind as you look at colleges and consider different majors is that often times a Major in another language requires you to take many literature classes. If you like literature, that’s great. If not, you might want to pick a different major and then minor in the languages that interest you.</p>
<p>You can attend Middlebury 
where almost all students are interested in languages. </p>
<p>You don’t need to double minor or double major, although you certainly could. In college, 1/3 classes are entirely up to you: you could easily fill them with Spanish and French classes of your choice :). Majors and minors have required classes so it’s less flexible.
Language classes in college are much more intensive, so that 2 years in high school = 1 semester in college. So you’d start in Spanish 202 (or 301, depending on your IB/AP score and your university’s policy) and French 102.
No matter what, you should have one literature class, one “contemporary civilization” class, and one history class (which may be in the language dept or in the history dept - that last option allows you to fulfill another requirement :p; some colleges have “FLAC”, Foreign Language Accross the Curriculum, whereby a class that deals with a specific country or culture may have an extra language component added for those who are learning the language.) These classes will help you make sense of the countries whose language you’re studying, and which can’t be spoken in a vaccuum. Most reputable majors and minors will include these classes, but depending on the department there may then be more or less literature added and more or less choice of non-literature classes.</p>
<p>Try to get either IB HL Spanish, IB SL Spanish, or AP Spanish scores. It will help you for placement and to speed your work in college by allowing you to skip the lower level classes.</p>
<p>An easier way than a minor is a combination of freely-chosen classes + study abroad: you take all the prerequisite classes then spend a semester in France and a semester in Spain (/or any French speaking or Spanish speaking country), or a full year in either country + a summer in the other country. Then upon return, you’d only take whatever classes you feel like taking in order to keep up your fluency and knowledge.</p>
<p>To improve your French, you could attend the Concordia Language Village camp in the summer. If you’re a junior, it would allow to skip a full year of French and go right into the next level (so, for example, FrIII senior year). It looks like you’re already too advanced to do it in Spanish.</p>