Career Opportunities

Department of Spanish & Portuguese
Spanish Language Curriculum

always changing ... ... always up-to-date!

Careers in Foreign Languages

Students majoring in the Humanities are particularly well-prepared for careers in all fields in which analysis, judgment, and argument are important. Humanities students have moved into business, the law, education, politics, public policy, academia, and journalism. Employers in all sectors are placing increasing emphasis on the recruitment of college graduates who can write and think. These skills are ultimately more important to many employers than a specific form of technical training, and it is these skills that are imparted most effectively in the School of Humanities. For students who leave the School with a solid grounding in critical analysis, research, and communication, the sky is the limit.

The study of foreign languages and the associated fields of linguistics, literature, and civilization studies provide an excellent preparation for advanced study and for careers in many fields which now function on a global basis. While learning another language, students also learn much about the cultures in which that language is spoken, their history, their arts and crafts, their food and fashion, their rituals and forms of community, and their behavioral norms. Language and culture study goes hand-in-hand with many other disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, such as the arts, history, philosophy, anthropology, economics and politics. It leads directly to careers in secondary teaching in the public schools or at colleges and universities. Language study can also profitably be combined with other studies leading to graduate work in law, management and administration, with the assurance that the student will be able to enter into skilled discourse with colleagues in non-English-speaking areas of the world. More generally, the skills of careful reading and close analysis of texts that are acquired through the study of literature are instrumental in the practice of law, business, teaching, and many other careers. With careful planning, a major or minor program taken in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese may be easily combined with any other field of study, including a degree in business, a pre-med course, or a program in engineering, to enhance a student's career profile.

Here are some of the jobs/careers where the study of a foreign language will come in especially helpful, -even though it may not be an explicit requirement:

EDUCATION:

	textbook authors or editors
	elementary teachers for bilingual programs
	high school and special teachers for bilingual educational programs
	educators in special commercial language schools (e.g. Berlitz)
	university comparative literature departments
	university foreign language departments
	university linguistics departments
	university schools of education
	university teaching of English as a Second Language
	university foreign study offices
	overseas teaching for private corporations and diplomats' families

TRAVEL SERVICES:

	hotel and resort staff and management
	restaurant staff and management
	travel agents
	airline flight attendants
	airport personnel
	foreign travel advisors
	tourist guides

COMMUNICATIONS:

	international teletype operators
	international telephone operators
	foreign news correspondents
	foreign news photographers
	"Voice of America" writers and editors
	translators of books, articles, and reviews
	advertising for ethnic or foreign markets
	film production and entertainment media
	simultaneous interpreters
	editors for university and other presses

BUSINESS:

	Receptionists, secretaries, and sales personnel
	fashion buyers
	personnel managers
	public relations experts
	textbook representatives and salespeople
	business executives
	U.S. representatives for foreign companies
	international banking and finance
	international lawyers and patent attorneys
	income tax consultants and accountants in ethnic communities
	specialists for import/export firms

GOVERNMENT SERVICES:

	Peace Corps workers, VISTA volunteers
	diplomatic corps
	court interpreters, U.S. translators and interpreters
	bilingual staff in Federal Agencies (e.g. Social Security, Red Cross, etc.)
	U.S. Postal Service
	U.S. Customs agents
	U.S. Naturalization Service agents

SOCIAL SERVICES:

	nursing in ethnic communities
	law enforcement officers
	public assistance interviewers
	health services
	fire fighters
	multilingual defense attorneys

INFORMATION SERVICES:

	translators of foreign publications in private and public libraries
	classifiers of foreign documents
	research librarians, library acquisition specialists

SCIENCE:

	scientific research and translating
	technical liaison for U.S. businesses operating in a foreign country
	archaeology
	museum studies
	nursing and medicine in ethnic communities
	hospital management
	studying or practicing medicine overseas

Department of Spanish & Portuguese Spanish Language Curriculum

always changing ... ... always up-to-date!

Careers in Foreign Languages

Department of Spanish & Portuguese
Spanish Language Curriculum