Pursuing foreign language study in college can benefit all undergraduate students — and not just foreign language majors.
Roughly 25,000 jobs were expected to open up for language interpreters and translators between 2010 and 2020, according to the United States Department of Labor.
William J. Thompson, chair of the department of Foreign Languages and Literature at the University of Memphis, said foreign language study would be an asset to any undergraduate student who aspires to have a successful career post-graduation.
"Generally, learning a foreign language enhances the development of critical and analytical skills, since one experiences different ways of conceiving one's surroundings and the world overall," Thompson said. "This worldliness will help in today's world of sparse employment opportunities for some graduates."
Thompson said over the course of time, language and other humanities majors earn excellent salaries in a broad range of fields.
"We have had students and graduates working in a wide range of areas including teaching, library science, fundraising, non-profit management, international marketing professional writing and more," Thompson said.
Thompson said the expectations foreign language majors have for their future careers vary from freshman year to graduation, but there is reassurance in the fact that the field can be professionally versatile.
"I would advocate for any student to learn a foreign language, even if you're majoring in a field such as engineering," Thompson said. "What is interesting is that in many European countries, engineering students are required to study abroad as part of their training — this indicates to me that some value is placed on understanding different fields from different cultural perspectives," Thompson said.
Lan Zang, associate professor of Chinese at the U of M, said learning another language is an ideal pursuit for any undergraduate who is looking for immediate employment after college.
"I consider exposure to any foreign language to be beneficial for students post-graduation, but pursuing Chinese is especially relevant for American college students," Zang said. "Many of my foreign language students have leveraged their study to apply for study abroad opportunities and to move into career paths that combine a knowledge of Chinese with their major."
Zang said that the increase in United States-Chinese diplomatic relations make pursuing Chinese an obvious choice for undergraduates seeking job security.
"China's rise as a world power makes it essential that more Americans have the ability to speak Chinese, as the country's business, artistic and other relationships go," Zang said. "I think there is great potential career opportunities for U of M students who study Chinese as part of their degree program."
Hsiang-te Kung is a professor of geography and the director of the Confucius Institute at the U of M, a non-profit, public institute with the goal of promoting Chinese language and culture both locally and internationally through affiliated institutes around the world. He said foreign language study and getting out of one's own element in a cultural sense heavily complements academic efforts during and after college.
"It is important for students to acquire more foreign language knowledge not just as students, but in their future lives," Kung said. "Knowing a foreign language not only gives more opportunity for career development and progression, but it's becoming more and more important to know and understand why we are all different and similar in various ways."
