<p>Hi! I was just wondering if it's worth it to major in international relations, and double minor in French and mandarin? I'm already comfortable with the French language (though I hesitate to call myself fluent), but I have almost no knowledge of mandarin. Would I achieve fluency by graduation if I studied abroad? </p>
<p>Just wondering because I would really like to work in international human rights, focusing in Africa and china. </p>
<p>It sounds like a plan, but in two different directions in terms of continents. Have you considered the possibility that you would increase fluency in spoken and written French in college and then let an employer pay for you to learn whatever other languages you need? Some exposure in college to Mandarin could not hurt, but you would likely quickly lose any gains unless you were sent to China right out of college. The US government is very interested in finding people good at picking up languages and training them in the languages it needs for its missions. </p>
<p>It sounds possible, but you will have to check with the school. International Relations is very interdisciplinary and often requires the student to take many different courses. Mandarin can be a difficult language to learn because of all the symbols it uses instead of a latin alphabet like many western countries. I would say it requires some serious dedication and outside work to become fluent. Learning all the characters can be tough, but I can’t imagine a study abroad session would hurt.</p>
<p>Awesome! Thank you!!!</p>
<p>Does anyone else have any advice?</p>
<p>Certain languages are highly valued by the US government for diplomatic purposes (Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Russian)</p>