Career Opportunities

Knowledge of a language other than one’s own is the main entrée into another culture and is essential for full and active participation in the global community on a variety of levels. Understanding another language and culture is an asset in every field of endeavor as well as a requirement for advanced study in many disciplines. Students who link their major in a particular field with a major or a minor in a second language will strengthen their employment potential. Some of the careers utilizing foreign languages are the following:

Education: bilingual education, foreign languages in elementary and secondary schools, college teaching, as well as teaching English and/or other academic subjects abroad.

Government: Defense, Department of State, Foreign Service, FBI & CIA, US Information Agency, Immigration, Customs, International Development, Narcotics, Commerce, U.S. Travel Service, United Nations.

Special Vocations: international relations, law, film industry, foreign correspondent, publishing, librarian, anthropologist, social work, nurse, museum work, art dealer, travel & tourism.

World Trade: international banking, marketing, management, sales representative for divisions of industries such as high-tech, auto, appliances, food, cosmetics, clothing, biotechnology & pharmaceuticals.

Guides to Language Careers

1. Arnold, Edwin and Theodore Huebener. Opportunities in Foreign Language Careers. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook, 1986.
2. Careers in International Affairs. Ed. Maria Pinto Carland and Lisa A. Gihring. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2003.
3. Guide to Careers in World Affairs, by the Editors of the Foreign Policy Association. 1982. New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1993.
4. Halloran, Edward J. Careers in International Business. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook, 1995