<p>I'd love to study a language, as I've become quite fond of learning new ones, and would like to learn Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or Arabic, but I've heard that majoring in a language is a bad idea. Does anyone have any insight on this? What jobs can you get, how is the starting salary, did you find a job fairly quick after college, etc? </p>
<p>Would it be better to major in something like International Relations or International Finance and minor in a language?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I disagree with the statement that foreign language majors are useless. However, once you reach an advanced intermediate level, most of the focus in your language classes will be on the literature and history of countries in which the language is spoken, and the material you learn in those classes won't be directly applicable to a job.</p>
<p>At my college an international relations major might in fact be a good alternative. The reason is that an international relations major requires 8 consecutive semesters of a single foreign language, but substitutes many of the "useless" higher-level literature classes with more practical classes in political science and economics. But international relations at your college might have different requirements, so this rationale may not apply.</p>
<p>In the end it comes down to what you want to do. Do you care about foreign literature and want to major in a foreign language? Then go for it! If you pick a somewhat relevant language and reach near-native fluency by the time you graduate (which almost requires a year abroad), there will definitely be jobs for you.</p>
<p>I don't have a problem delving into foreign literature, but I'm more concerned of how job placement is, what kind of job I can get, and so forth. I do plan to spend at least a semester abroad in a country that natively speaks the language I aspire to fluently learn, so I'm hoping my college has study abroad programs to accommodate my needs. International relations is something that I'm interested in, and I feel like it holds more weight as far as jobs go, especially at a top 50 school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, b@r!um, it is very much appreciated. I certainly have a lot of time to decide (just a rising junior in high school, lolz), but I feel I've found a few majors that I'm very much interested in.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>What kind of career do you plan on having after college?</p>
<p>I don't really know. I don't want to teach a foreign language, that's for sure. Maybe act as a translator for the government, or use an international relations degree, coupled with fluency in a foreign langauge, to go into foreign politics or something.</p>
<p>You're looking at Critical Languages which are very much needed - I think people who say language majors aren't that useful are talking about traditional majors like French/Spanish (saying this as a French Major.) I think if you were to become skilled with Arabic or Chinese especially you would have little trouble finding a job in Government or Business. Japanese less so. Russian maybe in the middle.</p>
<p>Learning a language is a good idea, majoring in one really isn't, if you can find something else to study in addition to the language.</p>
<p>Question:</p>
<p>Realistically, do foreign language majors typically find a job that makes a considerable amount of money? I'm not looking to become a millionaire or anything like that, but I wouldn't mind driving an imported car and having nice clothes or watches. Perhaps a degree in International Business with a minor in a language would be a good idea? The thing is, I'm trying to avoid the "Office Space" kind of job as much as possible, which doesn't seem easy with a degree in business...</p>
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Perhaps a degree in International Business with a minor in a language would be a good idea?
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<p>Certainly this would be a better plan if you are looking to make money. Knowing a language, in and of itself, isn't a highly paid skill. You need to couple it with something else to make it lucrative.</p>
<p>If you want to work for the government (agencies such as UN, FBI, CIA) or multinational corporations, they are in dire need for people who are fluent in foreign languages (Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Russian especially).</p>
<p>I really want to major in foreign language also, korean lit language , and my job that I’m aiming for would be going to korea and being an elementary english teacher. I love the culture language etc so thats me. What you need to figure out is what exact language are you aiming to learn and why. Do you like that culture? Would mind living out of USA? Or of course you can be an ambassador everyone tells me thats a good job for a learning a foreign language. ^ ^</p>
<p>:-h That thread is 6 years old. I don’t think they need your advice any longer since they have likely graduated. Look at the date before posting to an old thread. </p>
<p>I can’t discourage anyone enough not to study a “foreign” language as their sole undergraduate degree. Do NOT make the same mistake I did. If you do, you will forever be stuck in $10-15/hr jobs for the rest of your life. </p>
<p>A language that is “critical to national security” would be more useful than say, Spanish. But you should combine it with something else like international relations or economics or something.</p>
Okay, so the experience I bring to the table is that I am a Linguist in the military, and received my associates in my target language through the language school. I am planning to major in Spanish for my undergrad degree and here is why. I like learning languages and frankly Spanish is really good to know for a cop which is what I just got hired as. You will never be hired as a translator, because the ridiculous number of bilinguals out there is nuts and they are all native unlike you. I will add this though for employment purposes and take it from me, it DOES NOT matter what your major is if you want to do government work, regardless local or federal especially federal. So if that is what you want to do than I would major in something fun or something that you feel like the intangible knowledge will be beneficial which is why I am choosing Spanish, because one it is fun and will be a cool skill I will have for the rest of my life, two being able to speak Spanish will get me more work as a cop and make myself valuable to the team, and three I am going to save the boring yet sounds good major title for civilian job employment purposes for my masters degree anyway so it really doesn’t matter what my undergrad is in anyway.
This thread is 7 years old.