<p>Lately I've been looking into possible majors that I would be really interested in and linguistics sounds like something I could go into. I realize that linguistics is not just studying about a bunch of different languages but more into the science of how language works.</p>
<p>I've found different career options but I'm not necessarily sure if I should just stick with one major or do a double major. Computational linguistics sounds interesting, but would it be better to do linguistics and a computer science major or take classes within the linguistics field. Because at certain colleges I see that the linguistic programs offer computational classes as well.</p>
<p>I'm also really into things with the government or international business. But for both categories, I'd rather go into more work as maybe an interpretor of sorts. Not exactly marketing but for example:</p>
<p>If a fellow worker is going to speak with a foreign client to try to make a business deal, I would go along and help interpret for them.</p>
<p>But for the business aspect of that, is there a specific career for what I want or none really and I just need to study business. I see myself as more of a office type person or a secretary of sorts, not really the marketing (or management, although I can handle it) type. What kind of major would help me with that besides linguistics?</p>
<p>I definitely plan on learning at least two more languages during my time in college like both Chinese and Japanese. Right now I have only basic understanding of Spanish with no fluency and a minor fluency in Vietnamese.</p>
<p>So I'm really just wondering if I should go into my possible career choices as a double or single major. Because if it really only requires me to be proficient in linguistics then I was considering doing East Asian studies as my other major. But I would definitely attempt to do maybe minors or extracurriculars in Chinese and Japanese. Because I would prefer to attain a fluency in both languages as high or better than my proficiency in English.</p>
<p>There is no way you can attain full fluency in two languages (or even one) in four years without extensive study in the countries where they are spoken.</p>
<p>Also, speaking as someone who is learning two languages while majoring in International Relations: if you want to major in something else, it will either be terribly difficult or impossible. Personally, my four-year plan includes space for only one class outside my major, my languages, and my general education requirements. If I want to minor in Linguistics (which I'm tempted to do), I would have to overload 5 of the next 7 semesters. That is no small feat.</p>
<p>Well if I cannot have full fluency, would I be fluent enough if I spent my undergrad years learning one language and my grad school years learning another? I plan on at least getting a masters in linguistics. I just need to know if I would be able to carry on in depth conversations with native speakers.</p>
<p>Also, what does International Relations do exactly. It sounds like it would fufill the interpretor criteria that I am interested in. </p>
<p>Oh, what languages are you learning right now? If it is any language like the main east Asian languages that uses characters, is it difficult to study both of them at the same time? Like learning both Chinese and Japanese?</p>
<p>And how many credit hours are you allowed a semester that allows you to learn two languages while attending classes dealing with your major? Because I have a cousin attending Arizona State University at the moment and she says that language courses consist of 5 credit hours and you are only allowed 17 credit hours a semester. Is this the same for all colleges or no?</p>
<p>Fluency is a tricky word. Linguistically speaking, it's defined by utilizing a language on a regular basis. For example I study/speak arabic on a regular basis, so technically I'm fluent, but considering the common application of the word I'm hardly conversational. As for achieving fluency in four years it depends on the person and the language. If you have a background in Spanish, you could probably be fluent in another romance language within that time period (especially if you study abroad). Chinese is pretty difficult, especially given the fact that you have to learn so many characters. Keep in mind that you can take time abroad in between college and grad school teaching english and working towards fluency in whatever language you choose to study. </p>
<p>I can't speak towards the overlap of Chinese and Japanese, but I've studied French and Italian together for a few years and haven't had too many issues. Once again, depends on the person as well as the languages.</p>
<p>As for double majoring, one thing to consider is that you may not have time to study abroad or engage in as many internships/extracurriculars. Of course this depends on the school and how many courses are required for each major, as well as the level of overlap between your majors (sometimes classes can count towards both). </p>
<p>Credit hours depends on the school. I've heard as high as 21, my school is only 5.5 because each class is only 1 credit hr.</p>
<p>These people don't know what they're talking about. If you put the work into it, you can learn 2 languages fluently in 4 years. (Unless these languages are like...Chinese and Arabic. Then I'd say it would take longer almost no matter what.</p>
<p>I don't mean to discourage you, but you need to rethink this a bit. Chinese and Japanese, along with Arabic, are arguably the most difficult languages for a native English speaker to learn. So to double major and attempt to become fluent in these two languages is basically impossible. And you could never become MORE fluent in these languages than English unless you exclusively spoke them for decades while living in the countries. Study one language at a time, unless they're closely related (Chinese and Japanese are not, despite their geographic proximity). As others have recommend, French might be a good idea since it's a lot easier and you have some experience in Spanish. I think Chinese and Japanese are wonderful choices from a business standpoint, but master one language at a time. I personally believe, since you want to be an interpreter, the best choice for you would be to major in ONE of these languages, and minor in Business. After you're fluent and comfortable in one, move on to the other. Good luck.</p>
<p>I am a native speaker of Chinese but I am much better in English imho. I can safely say that Chinese & Japanese aren’t even close… Maybe their characters look pretty similar to native English speakers but someone who knows Chinese will not have a clue about either reading, writing , listening or speaking Japanese and vice versa.</p>
<p>The OP might have ample opportunity to double major–it all depends on where you go to school since some have more flexibility.</p>
<p>wild-rose,
not trying to second guess what you have or have not looked into when it comes to linguistics, if you really are thinking about pursuing linguistics I recommend that you read “the Language Instinct” by Steven Pinker. It’s a pretty reader friendly book, full of comedy and wit, and a nice basis on understanding multiple fields of linguistics. A few chapters are a little rich and require a bit of analysis and patience, but all in all, the book is amazing (not to mention it was a NYtimes bestseller) and is what got me fired up and decided on majoring in linguistics.</p>
<p>Well I guess there are some shared characters, but they don’t always mean the same thing, and its almost impossible to figure out what is being written in either Chinese/Japanese if you only have knowledge of the other.</p>