I don’t really know what to do XP… I want to become a translator or maybe an interpreter in the French language. I know for sure I’m going to major in French but I don’t know if I should Double major that and International Business or minor in international business. Please Help!!!
It really depends on your school. In most cases, majors in French and majors in International Business are offered in different academic units of a university. So, one consideration is how easy a particular school makes it to major across two different academic units. Another consideration is that many business schools only allow a major or minor in international business if a student is also doing a major in one of the core business subfields (e.g., accounting, marketing, finance, management). A third consideration is that is is required (or, at least strongly recommended) for a French major and for your stated career plans that you study in a French-speaking country for an academic year. So, it depends whether you can complete both French courses and Business courses necessary for both programs (and whether credits for the courses taken abroad transfer to your home programs). A last consideration that comes to mind is that business majors and minors usually have core coursework requirements in each of the major business subfields. So, can you complete these requirements as well as the general education requirements for a BA?
While combining a French major with a major or minor in business gives you increased employment options, for a career in translation/interpretation the important factor is to have knowledge of the technical vocabulary and content of the field in which you do your language work as well as cultural understanding. Some French programs also offer a track in business French, which allows business courses without all the requirements that a regular business major or minor might need to complete.
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Note that TECHNICAL translation is recruiting, not really literary translation. So business French but also technical French would be a must, and as far as I know universities don’t offer technical French so you’d have to choose a program abroad that allows you to take that class or have a sort of internship where you’d develop the vocab.
Where are you going to college?
What’s your current level?
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Consider McGill University in Montreal. You can study in English at a university well recognized in the US while living in a French speaking environment. Although to major in French at McGill you need to be pretty fluent to start.
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