I will likely double major in international relations and economics. I will need to study a language for my IR major. I am gearing for a think tank or government agency job, so language skills plus a background in economics will be helpful. I would like to hear ideas on whether Arabic or Chinese will be more useful for a foreign policy career spanning a large chunk of the 21st century. I’m sure Chinese would be a little more useful, but it seems extraordinarily difficult and intimidating. I’m not sure I am willing to learn a language with no alphabet like Chinese. Arabic on the other hand, while still difficult, seems to be a little more interesting to me. I’d love to study abroad in Morocco. Is Arabic going to still be a relevant language, or do you think it will go the way of Japanese and Russian in the late 20th century? If it will continue to be important for decades to come, I will choose Arabic. There is also the possibility of studying French, but I’m not sure if it’d be useful enough. I feel like people who study French are a dime a dozen.
Both China and the Middle East will continue to be important, so it really depends on which country/region most interests you. Based on your comments above, you seem more interested in the Middle East.
Of course, it seems like every other potential IR major is choosing either Chinese or Arabic, too. You might consider other critical languages. For East Asia, what about Korean? Korea is both strategically and economically important. For the Middle East, what about Turkish? Turkey is influential in both the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe with a large Muslim population. In addition, countries like Germany have large numbers of immigrant Turkish workers. Turkish also might be a pathway to other Turkic languages of the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union and in the western region of China (Uyghur). What about Persian, spoken in Iran? What about Urdu? It’s spoken in Pakistan, which will continue to be a world hotspot, and, if you know Urdu, you can learn Hindi, a major language of the increasingly important country of India.
I wouldn’t dismiss French or Russian, either. French is an important scholarly and media language for Middle Eastern and North African affairs due to the former French colonies in that region and the large number of Muslim immigrants in France. In addition, it is important for the former French colonial areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Though the study of Russian declined with the demise of the USSR, Russia remains an important player in international affairs. I’ve read that the US found itself with inadequate academic and policy expertise in Russian studies when our relations with Russia turned sour over recent events in Ukraine. BTW, Russian + Turkish or Russian + Persian would be awesome combinations.
You must have a foreign language from HS, don’t you?
Chinese is not difficult, and there are many scholarship to go to China, moreover it is cheap to go there if you have to pay out of pocket. Arabic sounds fun and all, but you will not be able to safely travel and live in an Arabic speaking country, or work there… maybe for many years or even in your lifetime with the chaos that is going on right now…
Are you planning on working for the NSA?
Turkish is an interesting option I have not considered. I could go that route too. I am actually in Italy right now and love the idea of learning Italian, but I feel that it will not be very useful at all except for personal travel. French and Italian are very interesting languages. I actually have to choose my language soon. Maybe I could start with a difficult language, and if it doesn’t work out, I could take an easier one? Also, am I correct in thinking studying Italian would not be useful? The idea of spending 6 weeks in Rome or Florence studying Italian sounds incredible. Not all IR people specialize in languages, since not all work relates to translation. This post looks like stream of consciousness, I know. So my options are:
- Study Arabic? (probably not Chinese)
- Study Turkish?
- Study Italian? (My personal favorite, but is it useful?)
- Study French? (Dime a dozen, but a fascinating language. Still a useful language.)
One thing I thought of: If I learn Italian, won’t that make learning Spanish and Portuguese a breeze? Could I possibly learn Italian, then learn those two languages, or at least one of them, since they’re both important languages?
Also, my language might not even matter. I’ve seen profiles of think tank fellows, and not all of them are fluent in a language, not even regional experts (unless I am mistaken).
Again, it depends on what region/country most interests and what level of language proficiency you need for your work. Do you need oral proficiency to conduct fieldwork or to conduct business with officials or is it sufficient to read media and scholarly literature or do you need to translate documents . It’s difficult to predict what needs you might have until you’re actually in a particular job.
If you entered one of the top graduate-level IR schools, most of your fellow students will have proficiency in one or more languages. Quite a few of these students will have native proficiency, having grown up in another country.
Italian would be useful for someone interested in European affairs (or Vatican affairs or Christian-Muslim relations in certain areas of the Middle East), of course. Since Italy has a significant number of North African immigrants and refugees, it could be useful for this aspect of European-N. African/Middle Eastern relations. Italian + Spanish might be useful for someone with an interest in certain areas of Latin America, e.g., Argentina. Italian also is spoken in certain Swiss cantons. The UN FAO is headquatered in Rome, if you have any interest in the many international issues addressed by that agency.
From what I understand, most language work would involve tracking media and translating documents. It is hard to know if I have not been in those jobs though. I would like to focus on Europe, but I’m not sure if European experts are needed as much as Middle Eastern/East Asian experts. I am looking on The Brookings Institution’s website and there is a good amount of European experts who know Italian & French. I can see myself going with that route. Learning a middle eastern language would probably lead more towards a government job, while European languages might lead more towards think tank jobs. If they are a useful combination, I might go with the Italian + French route. I know that’s different than my original plan of Arabic or Chinese, but my interests lie more in European languages. The real question is how useful they will be. French is certainly useful, and it looks like Italian could be for think tank work. In the future I could always add a Middle Eastern language if desired. I do have a lingering feeling that I might regret taking Italian in the future. Maybe there are less people in IR who pursue Italian due to its perceived uselessness in politically related jobs? Perhaps that could benefit me? And, of course, I could always land a job that doesn’t really involve language work. Who knows.
Or, I could always study two languages. Arabic + French/Italian, Italian + French, etc.
I see China becoming more of a world player than Middle East. Besides, as another poster stated, the ME is not the kind of place you want to go if you have a choice (especially if you are non-Arab) and the government isn’t going to send a Chinese speaking asset to become a walking target in Iran when they have hundreds of combat hardened Special Forces soldiers that can speak Arabic at a better level than you to do it.
By taking Chinese you eliminate most of the ex-military competition and you don’t have to deal with sand flies,sandstorms,deserts and angry people with guns if you get sent overseas.