<p>I am a strong math and sciences student who enjoys programming. Likely my primary major will be Computer Science. But my second strength and passion is learning new languages. I was brought up in dual-immersion Spanish schooling and I am completing AP Spanish this my Junior year. (Would have completed this earlier but skipped a year in HS to get started on Japanese.) Senior year I will complete AP Japanese having been given permission to skip fourth year regular track Japanese. And I will either be in fourth year or AP Chinese (going through placement process now) based on self study over the last eight months plus one summer course in beginning Chinese. It doesn't feel like work. It just comes naturally and it's fun. I think I'd like to learn Korean next. My question - is there a track in college that would allow me to pursue my love of languages? I thought about say second majoring in Chinese. But I don't think that is exactly what I'm looking for. It seems like those tracks get into examining ancient Confusian texts and Chinese culture and history. Those things are of some interest but I'm not drawn to them like the learning of a new language. In the end perhaps I should just major in CS and take a smorgasbord of language courses along the way. But perhaps someone on this forum has another thought. Thank you! </p>
<p>International relations has pretty strong language requirements. And if you are looking for a long term career, the foreign service or (ahem) the CIA might be good fits for someone with a great knack for languages.</p>
<p>I think the CS major + taking language courses of interests would probably be the best fit for you. Any language studies major will include a fair number of classes on the culture, history, and literature, and if that’s not where you’re real interest lies, then you might find yourself wasting the time that you could be using to learn a new language or develop your fluency. Even an international relations major will likely only require a certain number of courses or fluency in a particular language, which it sounds like you may either already be able to test out of or potentially complete in a couple of courses. I would say if you’re just interested in learning languages, then just carry on the way you’ve been going. Take classes that you’re interested in and look into studying abroad if that interests you. If you’re looking for some benefit from learning languages, if you can develop fluency in them, then that will be a great asset on your resume.</p>
<p>Computer Science + Linguistics (especially computational linguistics)
or
Computer Science + Technical Writing (especially if the OP can learn technical Japanese, etc.)</p>
<p>I second the thought of Linguistics and also would like to offer you the option of East Asian Studies. Since you already know Chinese and Japanese and want to learn Korean you’re well on your way towards it already, but it does have some pesky history/culture courses that you said you’re not interested in. Good luck!</p>
<p>Note that CS has applications in natural languages like automated translation (e.g. <a href=“http://translate.google.com”>http://translate.google.com</a> ) and analysis of written language evolution (e.g. <a href=“Google Ngram Viewer”>https://books.google.com/ngrams</a> ). Of course, there are government agencies with needs in both CS and knowledge of foreign languages.</p>