I very recently CODO’d into linguistics, and I will be able to study another “less commonly taught” language in addition to Spanish, which I am already studying for my minor. Any recommendations? I had wanted to take Arabic, but it sounds like at universities usually MSA is taught, which by itself isn’t useful…? (I don’t actually know). I’m also very interested in Russian. Other possibilities that aren’t as high on my list are: Mandarin, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, ASL, Greek, and Latin.
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Depends on how hard you want to work, your facility with languages and willingness to learn language structure. Japanese would give you a run for your money. I suppose Russian would, too.
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Pick a language used in a country you’d actually want to visit or a language you’re likely to need.
Unless you’ve got some greek or hebrew heritage, those 2 languages are geopolitically irrelevant.
Yeah I really want to study Arabic, but MSA isn’t useful by itself. I suppose it’s a stepping stone to begin learning a dialect, if nothing else. That is what I would most likely prefer to have proficiency in, as I don’t actually foresee myself using Russian that much. Thanks for the advice!
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Taking GMT’s point on relevance into consideration, look at your acquisition of language as ever-ongoing and ever-expansive, and not constrained to the time you spend in university. This is the way most linguists understand their duty to best serve the long term academic study they’ve put in.
Like the old folks say (Am I allowed to say that? I do say it with a heart full of love), never stop learning until you die.
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Definitely! I would love to learn many, many more languages. But I want to make a wise decision in college because, while I don’t know what I’ll be doing after I get my undergrad, I need to think about job prospects in case I don’t go on to get a masters right away or at all.