kb0671

@charlieschm- For international affairs majors it is actually better if you are fluent or as close to fluent in one language than just having a small knowledge of many. Many times employers like to hire "experts" on an area or subject rather than a person with good general knowledge. Plus, if an employer wants you to get a start in a new language, they can simply give you Rosetta Stone or send you to a few classes; however, most employers won't pay for the time and effort that it takes to become fluent in a language.

Also, if you're looking at careers in government, some agencies will actually pay you more and will be more willing to hire you if you have at least a professional knowledge of a language (at least a score of 3 on a language exam out of 5- 5 being a native speaker, 4 being fluent). Now this can obviously differ if you're looking more into the private sector, but it's important to consider.

Finally, go with your gut on which language and region you want to focus on. I love Arabic and have always wanted to take it; however it requires a LOT of work- usually over 2 hours a night 4 days a week, not including extra time studying for exams. I know a lot of people in Arabic first semester who did not continue on the second semester because they had just chosen Arabic because it seemed like a good career move so they didn't have the drive and motivation to put the time required into the language.

Good luck on your decision and your future studies in IR! (btw I only took French in high school and I did fine)

jwwrox

@TracyJackson-- Does learning French significantly benefit a native English speaker if he/she is planning to do diplomacy work for NATO, UN, etc?

Part of my issue is that I wouldn't have to take nearly as many classes in French as I would in Chinese or Russian.

@MD Mom-- I'm not that interested in Russian culture, but in isolated peoples. (I also have a strange fascination with Northern Canada.) The problem is that I'm not legitimately considering spending my life in those regions, while I would consider living and working in China.

Here's an outline:

French--5 classes
Chinese--7 classes
Russian--7 classes

And the 4 of the 7 classes that I would have to take in either Chinese or Russian are the dreaded "intro" classes (5 days a week). (I'd only have to take two of that sort for French.)

By the way, I am more interested in working for the U.S. government, NATO, or the UN than I am in working for a private company. Since a lot of the world speaks English anyway, I just wonder if my efforts will be unnecessary if I choose to take Chinese. Also, I worry about the massive commitment. (I don't want to take a semester or a year of Chinese and then wimp out, especially because I would still have a lot of French to take.)

I do plan to study abroad no matter which language I choose. My school, William and Mary, has supposedly excellent study abroad options at both Tsinghua and Peking. But I'm worried about how my intensive language study will affect my performance in explicitly IR-related classes. IR is considered challenging at W&M, to begin with. When I think about taking French, however, I don't get excited like I do when I think about taking an "exotic" language.

Given my situation, do the pros of taking Chinese outweigh the cons? How much does fluency in Chinese really help an IR graduate? And how helpful is it to be fluent in French, really, given that so many U.S. graduates speak it anyway?

Thanks for the help, everyone. Does anyone else have a suggestion?

jwwrox

bump 10char

Nin10dude317

It definitely depends on a couple of things;

- Concentration. Someone going into economics would learn Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Business might consider Spanish or Hindi. Diplomacy would use Arabic, French, and Russian. History would look at Latin, Greek, and French. Law might touch with French and Latin.

- Attraction. Do you enjoy French/Latin/Japanese/etc culture? Are you related to any countries? These ties might influence you. After all, the more you enjoy a language, the more you will find ways to use it. If you're Uzbek, or Filipino, or Norwegian, you might end up finding a use for them.

For IR, I suggest learning a language to fluency before moving on. Start with Spanish, Chinese, or French. Stick to the UN languages unless you have a specific need to learn a lesser used one.