Studying language in college?

I don't get this languages make you unemployable thing. I graduated not that long ago and I think everyone I know who studied languages have (good) jobs in a wide variety of industries, whilst plenty of people who graduated at the same time, with good degrees, are still looking.
Some of them did business as well as languages, but plenty of them only have languages as their formal university qualification.

Originally Posted by Teacher

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Gee, that's funny. I'm currently in administration and probably wouldn't have gotten a position with my company had I not studied a foreign language.

I'm just relaying my experiences as someone that studied math and science and learned a language. I have frequently been told to my face the very things I mentioned.

I wish I could find an employer that values these things.

Originally Posted by ysc

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I don't get this languages make you unemployable thing. I graduated not that long ago and I think everyone I know who studied languages have (good) jobs in a wide variety of industries, whilst plenty of people who graduated at the same time, with good degrees, are still looking.
Some of them did business as well as languages, but plenty of them only have languages as their formal university qualification.

languages good, major in Russian literature less good

It's odd the posts that assert that learning a language makes you unemployable while studying business somehow is more practical. It's a global world and language competency (or fluency) is one of the most practical skills you can have.

Also, what you're looking for, at the undergraduate level especially, is a good education. If it's a good Russian program and you'll be challenged to learn, then it's a good choice.

Originally Posted by globetrotter

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languages good, major in Russian literature less good

Originally Posted by spb_lady

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not for somebody seeking to enrich their spirit, but for somebody seeking to enrich their wallet.

Originally Posted by globetrotter

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not for somebody seeking to enrich their spirit, but for somebody seeking to enrich their wallet.
I'm from a weird country where enriching once spirit is valued much higher than enriching once wallet, and where high school has nothing in common with real life and business processes. That's why I studied philosophy and social sciences at the University in order to get good education and after started to work in the field I wanted without any idea how is it inside and what really my job will look like. And you know what? I'm doing pretty well. I'm just learning fast. My father was brilliant at science. He studied medicine and neurobiology, stayed at the university after he graduated, was teaching and doing science research. Being pretty happy till the Soviet Union died and he realized that he has a wife and 2 small children, but has no money and no place to live. It was a difficult choice for him, but he wanted to feed us sometimes, so he left science and started to study trading and finance. Himself. 3 years after he was invited to teach this at the university as well. He is now one of the best financial analysts in the country. What I'm saying here is that I do believe that smart and educated people can be successful in nearly any field they want (may be excluding some very specialized fields... though I have some examples as well). They just have enough learning skills and mental power for this. As to the people who specialized on the right nostril in order to get a job, I'm not so sure. Just an opinion.

Well yes, you are immensely competent as an individual in a range of areas that will hold you in good stead for the future, but at the same time, you are also starting threads about how you don't feel equipped to deal with the managerial challenges of your new role . Interestingly advice on those challenges seems to be coming from a couple of people who, in this thread, are recommending the OP study something a little more practical.

Now, you know better than anyone that I have no issue with learning languages and encouraging people to do so...but I am typically polytechnical in my approach to education, but there is a scale between practical and useless...trade schools sit at one end, but studying a language with almost zero likely potential relevance to any career path imaginable, nor application to any likely key area of the persons life (other than catch up on literature in its native tongue, which, as various others have pointed out upthread, in a few years at a few hours a week of study for a couple of years, he still won't be able to do anyhow) is pretty far to the other end. Well past political science, the social sciences, the humanities and the classics on that spectrum.

If he said Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, or even any language where he had a legitimate, focused, and practical reason to study it, then I am all for it. Even now, I basically don't care, but if he starts a thread that says 'do you think this is a good idea', I'm going to say no, and I am going to get lured into one of the three topics I always end up getting dragged into....(liberal arts educations, practical martial arts, can men and women be friends)

What is interesting also is that the staunch defenders of 'my liberal arts education taught me how to think for myself and employers want that' do tend to ignore the feedback of the people on this board who are employers, who say 'well ya, but then...I am less likely to hire you'. They then come back with 'and my friend did a BA in X and is now a partner at a law firm' (conveniently ignoring any other BA grad they know who is doing very little of note)...and then...ultimately, a few years on, find themselves starting threads on the forum about minimum starting salaries, as it turned out that it wasn't so easy to get a job with their brilliant critical thinking skills after all. Turns out the analysis of The Taming Of The Shrew didn't turn out to be all that sought after. Who knew?

Now, (other than a few snide jokes) no one is seriously saying that 'it is impossible to ever get anywhere with your liberal arts degree', it's not. It's just a bunch harder than having some kind of qualification with the same name as the job that you are applying for - especially when you are a faceless CV on a stack on some guy's desk with three hundred other faceless CVs. You can fuel all the general interests and passions you want later on...when you have a job.

Originally Posted by pseudonym

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but a minor in Spanish? Not likely. I'll sell out first.

Why?

Originally Posted by Matt

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Well yes, you are immensely competent as an individual in a range of areas that will hold you in good stead for the future, but at the same time, you are also starting threads about how you don't feel equipped to deal with the managerial challenges of your new role . Interestingly advice on those challenges seems to be coming from a couple of people who, in this thread, are recommending the OP study something a little more practical.

Are saying now that you learned how to manage people and processes at the university, not by years and years of practice in the companies?

Now, you know better than anyone that I have no issue with learning languages and encouraging people to do so...

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Aww... it was encouragement? I thought you just left me no choice

___

Jokes aside. I partly agree with you that if you know already what you want to do in your life, go and study it directly, not wasting time on some abstract subjects. But what if you are not sure what you want to do? How should you spend your time at the university then? Studying right nostril in order to get a job even if you don't really want that job?

Originally Posted by spb_lady

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Are saying now that you learned how to manage people and processes at the university, not by years and years of practice in the companies?
80 percent work 20 percent school. But I'm glad I had the schooling, and as a grad, I was glad my education was relevant to the career I wanted. Getting a foot in the door would have been much harder without it. My degree (after I transferred out of poli sci) was a double major in public relations and electronic business. I hold a degree that says Bachelor of Management (Marketing), but the above were my key study areas. If that sounds a little wordy and odd, it's because it is. I pretty much convinced my professors to let me build my own degree based on my own perceptions of my employability post graduation. It worked and I was employed within a few months of graduating. But included in there was a lot of managerial material, theories, HR and organisational psych, negotiating skills, related internships and - of course - a bunch of marketing stuff, that is almost exactly what you currently do for a living. Even then, I have always said I learned more in my first week in a real job than I learned in all my years at uni, but still, the uni gave me a decent practical knowledge base for the challenges that work life presented me with, the real world taught me which parts of that I need and which parts I don't.

Originally Posted by spb_lady

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Aww... it was encouragement? I thought you just left me no choice

you're welcome

Originally Posted by Matt

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you're welcome

can't wait to encourage you to study useless russian language

Can men and women be friends?

only if he's gay