College Majors

[Kateri89]

I'm considering going back to school and switching careers entirely and I need some help!  I went onto collegeboard.com and looked through their extensive list of majors and careers to see what stood out to me and I'm still not sure but something that I kept going back to was a Spanish major.  I imagine that being bilingual, particularly in Spanish and English, has to give people an edge when applying for jobs in the US. 

 

So I was thinking of possibly doing a double major or perhaps majoring in something like education and minoring in Spanish.  I've always wanted to be fluent in Spanish and speak it very slightly now.  Does anybody have experience with this or something similar? I know that people who major in elementary education have a difficult time getting jobs but would it be any easier if the applicant is also fluent in Spanish?  I'm sure it would help if I were applying for a job somewhere like Miami.  I just don't know if I would want to teach high school students or even middle school students.  I like kids though and would love to work with them.

 

Anyway, this is a lot of rambling and I'm still tossing ideas around.  Just hoping to get some input.  Regardless of what I end up doing, I also should mention that I'll be working full time while going back to school.  Obviously I'll have to be a part-time student and if I do choose education, I would probably have to quit my job during the student-teaching semester.  All of this is making my head spin so I'll stop typing and hope for some advice!

 

Thanks guys!

[NotreDame]

I would focus on the career first and the spanish second.  If you don't already speak Spanish or some other language then you might find it hard to get fluency (or even proficiency) solely from the classroom. 

 

If you are in the USA spanish would help for work in Miami or select jobs (like the teaching that you mentioned), but you need to be qualified for the job first and foremost, regardless of whether Spanish is helpful or not.

 

Also, the best way to learn seems to be immersion.  That was certainly my experience.  A few months in a foreign country can be more effective than years of college classes.  Ultimately, it won't matter if you've had college coursework, just whether you can speak it or not (there are also official testing agencies to gauge your language ability in case you wanted to make it official.)

[Basilisa Marie]

Learning Spanish will be a HUGE bonus, in almost any field you could go into. Even if you just take classes and learn that way. 

 

 

[i<3franciscans]

I am currently majoring in English Writing and minoring in Spanish. I am hoping for a job in a editing a publishing field once I graduate and I have been told that a minor in Spanish will help me stand out. Plus, I am toying with the idea of doing mission work in which case Spanish would be quite helpful.

[Luigi]

I agree with Notre Dame - focus primarily on the major that will get you employment. 

 

In terms of adding Spanish as a minor, ND is right again - it will be very difficult to develop fluency, or proficiency, or even competence in college courses. Five hours a week for sixteen weeks per semester, for four semesters, equals only 360 hours of time on task. A child gets that much in about 36 days. True, college students use more active learning than children acquiring language naturally, but you get the point - college courses can offer only extremely limited input.

 

The vast majority of college courses (and here I mean the whole rotation of Spanish I, Spanish II, Spanish III, and so forth) barely introduce students to a language. An apt student will have a solid knowledge of the language's basic (general) vocabulary, grammar (verb tenses, plurals, agreement), and syntax. But you would not have the specialized vocabulary necessary to work in a particular field in Spanish. That's because most college programs don't train interpreters. They teach language as an academic subject. So after Spanish IV, you start reading literature, focusing on writing style, learning about the historical periods in the various countries, looking at culture, and so forth. Additionally, Spanish is complicated the fact that there are so many dialects - which one will they teach in your classes - Castillian, Cuban, Mexican, Chilean? 

 

It is possible to get beyond that by immersing yourself to the greatest degree possible - and that means basically every waking moment - in Spanish by listening to Spanish-language radio, watching Spanish-language television, going to Spanish-speaking social events, eating lunch and dinner with native Spanish speakers. And certainly, total immersion in another country would do you a world of good. 

 

But even using all those extracurricular techniques, you should focus on the vocabulary of your profession. One of the questions that language programs seldom ask - and therefore, seldom answer - is, "On which topics will the graduates be fluent?" Suppose you successfully finish all the Spanish courses your minor (OR major) will allow, AND you immerse yourself in Spanish language outside the classroom; would you be able to discuss engineering, respiratory diseases, political philosophies, WIC benefits, applying for Social Security, or anything else technical? Not usually, unless you consciously apply yourself to those topics. 

 

My suggestion would be to study English as a Second Language, focus your research papers and practicum on Spanish-speaking children, minor in Spanish, spend every waking moment acquiring Spanish outside the classroom, and do a practicum abroad in a Spanish-speaking country. And if you can work in vacations to Spanish-speaking countries every summer, do that, too.