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What language other than Spanish?

 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
23 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
Tyrion101
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3672 days ago

153 posts - 174 votes 
Speaks: French

 
 Message 17 of 23
05 August 2015 at 6:09pm | IP Logged 
I'm not overly thrilled at spending my career as an engineer translating books. I'm not a writer, nor do I want to be one, nor is it why I like learning languages. I want to meet people, and use the language in a conversational setting. If I can't do that, I may as well not bother with any sort of attempt at a degree in a language.
1 person has voted this message useful



moopie
Diglot
Newbie
Germany
Joined 3179 days ago

1 posts - 2 votes
Speaks: Hungarian, German*
Studies: French, Spanish

 
 Message 18 of 23
05 August 2015 at 6:54pm | IP Logged 
International technical sales and distribution might be the right thing for you then. Or technical consulting or project
management for engineering projects in a big international company, where they work in multicultural teams.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4768 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 19 of 23
05 August 2015 at 7:29pm | IP Logged 
Well, you don't need a degree in a language to use it in conversational setting. Unless you want to become a translator of literature or interpreter, a linguist or something like that, than degrees in languages are highly overrated. People either do them for those careers or to get an easy degree. If you still like engineering and just want a language to meet people in your field and elsewhere, than I cannot see why you consider switching to a language degree.
3 persons have voted this message useful



aokoye
Diglot
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5300 days ago

235 posts - 453 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese

 
 Message 20 of 23
05 August 2015 at 7:46pm | IP Logged 
Tyrion101 wrote:
I'm not overly thrilled at spending my career as an engineer translating books.
I'm not a writer, nor do I want to be one, nor is it why I like learning languages. I want to meet people,
and use the language in a conversational setting. If I can't do that, I may as well not bother with any
sort of attempt at a degree in a language.


Then don't get a degree in a language if you don't want to do translating or interpreting. Continue
with your EE degree, perhaps think about something involving international distribution/sales like
moopie mentioned.

Like Cavesa said, you don't need a degree to use a language in a conversational setting.
1 person has voted this message useful



jtdotto
Diglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 4988 days ago

73 posts - 172 votes 
Speaks: English*, Korean
Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, German

 
 Message 21 of 23
05 August 2015 at 8:10pm | IP Logged 
Tyrion, my girlfriend is a mechanical engineer. She is Brazilian, has studied in France for a number of years and has
a master's from one of the top Engineering schools in Paris, and thus speaks very fluent French, and found work in
the US because she always studied English in Brazil and and so speaks quite well (obviously she's gotten better with
me). She enjoys engineering to a certain extent, especially when she can direct her own project, and she gets to use
her languages all the time. French clients or colleagues, Brazilian compatriots in the field, and obviously Americans
all around. Her languages aren't used for translating or interpreting in the professional sense, though I'm sure she
does some of that stuff from time to time for a colleague and what not.

The idea is having a language (or two.. or even more) only serves to bolster your own toolbox and helps you stand
out among the crowd. Some people specialize in languages, and they take the work that comes to them (and if
they're really good and have a name, they can even turn some work down that doesn't interest them). But taking the
attitude that you don't want to do a certain kind of work, such as translating engineering text, and that you want to
get paid to meet people and be conversational in other languages is not doing you any favors. Hell, I bet everybody
on this forum wants to get paid to meet people and speak foreign languages!

We all study languages because we love them, and we all try to meet as many people as possible to practice
conversing in our languages. That's just a part of the lifestyle here at HTLAL. To make a career solely out of foreign
languages, you either need some mixture of multilingual parents / childhood, an unquenchable drive to perfect your
knowledge and skill, incredibly smart study routines that take into account the short and long term, absolutely some
kind of professional training and accreditation, and a real love for languages and words. I'm guessing you're like me
and you didn't have the multilingual parents / childhood, so you're going to need all of the components. I studied in
Korea through a university program for a one year, and worked my butt off all the time I was back in the States
making friends, doing extra reading beyond my homework, watching films and studying one on one with visiting
professors and other native Koreans, etc. I believe I reached about the highest level one could in 3 years of study,
having only lived there for one year (my professor pretty much told me that was the case). I moved to Korea after
graduating to teach English and better my Korean, and I was on track to eventually doing some real translating and
interpreting.

But I realized there was something else that was a higher priority, and now Korean is just a language I use everyday
with friends and one of my bosses, a student here or there, and on the internet and in books. It's great, I love it, and
I don't really make much money on it. But that's cool, I'm okay with that.

It sounds like you're having a bit of a crisis of confidence with your major, and you're thinking of other things to
study. That's perfectly fine, and languages are great to study, with or without a career in them. I think one thing
universities market too much is the idea that your career is what you study. Not so much - your career is what you
make it, based on all the tools your have in your toolbox. College can give you a strong specialization in a specific
field, and can also help you find your passion (what it is you love to do, even if you don't make much money on it).
Ideally, you want those all to line up on the same thing, but it's not always the case. If you love meeting new people
and talking in French or other languages, study them at uni. If you're concerned about having a highly paid skill,
continue studying engineering as well. If you want to travel and use your languages as you see the world, study
education and specifically ESL and go teach English in Korea, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Vietnam, etc etc.
6 persons have voted this message useful



Tyrion101
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3672 days ago

153 posts - 174 votes 
Speaks: French

 
 Message 22 of 23
10 August 2015 at 12:42am | IP Logged 
Thanks for the replies, translator is a no, interpreting yes, but I'm going to try my classes a bit longer to see if
I like them. Part of the language learning for me was to set myself apart, and of course to have fun. I kind of
want a job outside the US.
1 person has voted this message useful



cathrynm
Senior Member
United States
junglevision.co
Joined 5884 days ago

910 posts - 1232 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Finnish

 
 Message 23 of 23
10 August 2015 at 5:57am | IP Logged 
Hey, my major was electrical engineering too. Really, the money you'll make from engineering-related skills is going to be much greater than what you'll get from language skills unless you are world-class talented at this. As for jobs, I have met guys with programming jobs in Japan at American branches of Japanese companies. I think it is doable with the right skills and a little luck. Japanese companies are okay, but they are kind of cheap compared to US companies, so you may take some pay cut for the privilege.   The only other case I know of is Finland, where the job market just seems desperately bad. Finland would be a great place to go to college, but for jobs? I hear nothing but pain out there unless you are totally fluent and have very special skills.   (Though I am in the game industry, and the game industry in Finland is the one thing that seems to be doing well. Hmm.)

Honestly, I'd just pick the one that 'seems the most cool.' Just keep up with that engineering homework.


1 person has voted this message useful



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