<p>I took four years of spanish in high school, and I have recently developed an interest in pursuing foreign languages in college. However, I wasn't sure how valuable a language degree would be in this economy. My concern is that a degree in an easier language like spanish would be too common, and a degree in a more "critical" language like arabic or something would not get me to a fluent proficiency level after only four years of collegiate study. What do you guys think? Any opinions at this point are helpful.</p>
<p>Specialize. (if ur going the Spanish route) Like specilaize in translation, or buisiness writing. French is also used in Paris… and Paris beats Madrid ANY day.</p>
<p>To enhance the marketability of a language major, I would definitely recommend combining it with a second “more marketable” major, e.g., international business, economics, technical writing, communication, journalism, international studies, etc. Don’t forget that languages can give you an edge in hiring for technical fields, too. Also, consider whether you want to do a formal major in a language o just take courses to acquire proficiency. Another consideration is whether to major in a language or major in an area studies program (e.g., Latin American Studies), which might be easier to combine with another field. </p>
<p>An increasing number of language departments are offering coursework in commercial/business (e.g., business French), professional (e.g., legal Spanish, medical Spanish, and technical (e.g., technical Japanese) aspects of the languages they teach. Some offer joint programs with their business schools and internships in a country where the language is spoken. U Wisconsin ([French</a> Business Certificate | French and Italian](<a href=“http://frit.lss.wisc.edu/?q=node/80]French”>http://frit.lss.wisc.edu/?q=node/80)) and U Michigan ([French</a> Internship: Home](<a href=“Office of Budget and Planning”>Office of Budget and Planning)) are good examples of this.
If you’re interested in a critical language, check out the Language Flagship programs. These include study abroad and, depending on the program, foreign internships. They are designed to train language skills to a high level of proficiency and it is required to combine them with another major. [The</a> Language Flagship - Language Programs Overview](<a href=“http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/overview]The”>http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/overview)
Other schools offer special intensive language programs, e.g., Cornell’s China& Asia Pacific program: [CAPS</a> - China and Asia-Pacific Studies - About CAPS](<a href=“http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/caps/about/]CAPS”>http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/caps/about/)</p>
<p>Four years of high school language is ordinarily considered equivalent to two years of college courses, though this may vary depending on the school and your linguistic talents. In college, you could continue with Spanish to increase your proficiency, or you could start a new language. If you do Spanish, you might consider adding Portuguese, too, which would give you the two major languages in Latin America.</p>
<p>^ This but disagree about languages helping with technical fields. For EE all the employers I’ve talked to haven’t even bothered asking or noticing that I can speak spanish (it’s on my resume).</p>
<p>You can also do study abroad, or summer programs to gain proficiency in a language. I’ve also heard people say as long as you are fluent, the degree doesn’t matter as much. Meaning if you can speak and write Spanish fluently, having a major or minor in Spanish is not as significant.</p>
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<p>Isn’t Brazilian Portugese different from regular portugese?</p>
<p>Indiana University is actually a major recruiting school for the CIA in the language departments because it’s quite solid and extensive. IU has so many languages that is important to the CIA and a good number of language learners (including myself before I transferred to NYU).</p>
<p>Gotta agree with what zapfino said. You should strongly consider combining it with something else. If you’re interested in having the 2nd language just to be more marketable to employers then I suggest you choose another major and simply take a few more courses in the language. As long as you’re proficient in it no employer will care about wether or not you gained a degree in it.</p>
<p>^^^^^ Perhaps Spanish wasn’t relevant for the engineering position in which you work, but it could be in a company that does business in other countries. </p>
<p>Though the OP didn’t express an interest in technical fields, there are quite a few engineering degree programs now offer tracks in international engineering, including language skills and foreign internships. In related areas, e.g., technical writing, technical skills would certainly be useful, and I’m sure you’ve seen some of the absolutely terrible technical manuals from Chinese and Japanese companies (as far as their English is concerned).</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to major in a more “marketable” degree which interests you and pursue fluency via a double major or minor in a language, combined with living abroad in an immersion setting for at least a year. In today’s mobile society, it’s fairly easy to find people who are native speakers in many languages. You aren’t likely to be hired for that skill alone. And you are correct that merely studying a language in college for 4 years will not enable you to achieve fluency. However, fluency in another language will make you more marketable to many employers if you have the other skills or education they require. My bil, a native Spanish speaker, earned an engineering degree followed by an MBA and was often sent to work in South American by his employers due to his fluency in Spanish.</p>
<p>My sophomore year roommate is doing a double major in psychology and sociology with a minor in spanish. He studied abroad in spain this past semester, and did two summer internships working with people in a half way house who spoke primarily spanish.</p>
<p>you don’t need to major or minor in something to become conversant/fluent in it, though. i’m an econ major and i’m considering a linguistics minor but i’m conversant in German after 3 years in HS and 1 year (tested ahead) in university, and i’m planning to do an internship in Germany next summer.</p>
<p>This is a good idea, but make sure you have an ultimate goal regarding how you’re going to use this language. Will you teach? Work in business? Work for the government? Think about what skills you want to specialize in. Otherwise you’ll graduate being fluent in a language without knowing what to do with that language.</p>
<p>This has kind of been touched upon already, but to sum up: the language major is not going to be marketable (well, not any more than other artsci majors). However, the fluency in a language will indeed be marketable in some areas of the country/outside of the u.s.</p>
<p>How you reach fluency is up to you.</p>
<p>^This. A language degree isn’t a certificate of fluency or even proficiency in the language and I’m sure employers recognize this. It’d be good to get some experience actually using the language while you’re in college. A friend of mine, Spanish major, was an intern at this ESL school during undergrad and now has a decently well-paying job as an administrator at an ESL school in another city. She also spent a year in Colombia and is definitely fluent or almost fluent in the language.</p>