Is it possible to major or "minor" in Spanish or French?

[LOC4ME]

I would love to change my major to Spanish or French. Or even to have a "minor" or depth.

Is it possible to do this at any of the big 3? TIA

[irnbru]

I would love to change my major to Spanish or French. Or even to have a "minor" or depth.

Is it possible to do this at any of the big 3? TIA

Excelsior does have the option for an 'Area of Focus' which is 21 credits in a single subject, 6 of those 21 at upper level. I don't think you could achieve those 21 credits through exclusive study with EC. The AoF will be listed on the transcipt. EC doesn't show minors on the diploma and I don't believe TESC or COSC do either.

[bricabrac]

I would love to change my major to Spanish or French. Or even to have a "minor" or depth.

Is it possible to do this at any of the big 3? TIA

TESC has a BA, Foreign Language Thomas Edison State College | BA in Foreign Language Credit Distribution

"The Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree program in Foreign Language prepares adults for career change, advancement or graduate education, while providing personal enrichment. The program focuses on linguistic skills, literary appreciation, and understanding people and their culture. Students are required to select a specific language (such as French, German, Spanish, Italian, etc.) and develop a broad general knowledge of the traditional liberal arts disciplines while developing a greater depth of knowledge in the language they select."

[burbuja0512]

I was very interested in Spanish and looked into this at COSC. They do have an area of concentration in a foreign language, but you have to take the classes elsewhere. So this is NOT a degree you could obtain easily by testing.

Regarding foreign language, learning through software and online work to pass a Spanish or French CLEP is possible through hard work and study, but to know enough of a foreign language to have a minor in it? I'm just not sure that I would attempt that unless you were willing to put in some serious butt-in-seat time.

Language is so much fun and as someone who lived 6 years in Mexico and is currently in a bilingual MBA program, I can say that learning Spanish is my single most important and life-enhancing academic achievement. I hope to eventually learn other languages and would happily sit in classrooms if that's what I would have to do to learn.

So, I guess what I'm saying is LEARN the language, but don't expect to test quickly if you want to have a minor in a foreign language. However, what good would a minor really do you anyway? If you have to speak a language for a job, they'll just test you. Minor or no minor, if you can't speak it, you don't get the job. If you speak another language, you can include it on your resume regardless of whether or not you actually studied it. My resume has said bilingual English/Spanish for years and I have no formal post-high school Spanish classes. (well until I started graduate school in Spanish a few weeks ago lol)

I'm not trying to dissuade you from the minor. If you were planning on spending a lot of time in a B&M school anyway, you might as well do something that you're interested in. However, if you stop testing to go sit in the classroom, you really won't see a return on your investment if you're looking to enhance your career prospects.

[ryoder]

Warning, hijack approaching...

I applaud your conviction to better yourself Burbuja, but what is it about learning another language that is so important to you? And why Spanish in particular?

I know there are people who really really like to learn other languages but I think it is based on their personality type.

Holland's Six Personality Types

Take a look at these and see if you fall into the social type. Thats what I think you may be.

I am obviously the realistic type:

Realistic
Likes to work with animals, tools, or machines; generally avoids social activities like teaching, healing, and informing others;
Has good skills in working with tools, mechanical or electrical drawings, machines, or plants and animals;
Values practical things you can see, touch, and use like plants and animals, tools, equipment, or machines; and
Sees self as practical, mechanical, and realistic.


Social
Likes to do things to help people -- like, teaching, nursing, or giving first aid, providing information; generally avoids using machines, tools, or animals to achieve a goal;
Is good at teaching, counseling, nursing, or giving information;
Values helping people and solving social problems; and
Sees self as helpful, friendly, and trustworthy

[burbuja0512]

LOL Ryoder... my DH says that I am the only one he's ever met that wants to "learn as many languages as possible." I just assumed that everyone wanted to before he told me that.

I started off with Spanish because through many twists of life and through some surprisingly good decision-making when I was 20, I ended up living in Mexico. My career started there and really took off. I was director-level when I was in my very early 20's, not through much skill of my own but probably because they thought that a cute gringa would be good at sales. Well, the career fit my personality because as you suggest, I am very social.

I came back to the US and having international business experience has helped my resume significantly. I would probably be a little further ahead than I am now if I hadn't slowed down a little bit to have kids.

So what does my career success have to do with language? EVERYTHING! I enjoy communicating and it's so much harder to do with Google translate than it is in person. I'm not hung up on Spanish, but I already know it so it's a good starting place. In the very little free time that I have, I am working on Portuguese and then Italian and French will follow. No real reason for that order, and I may change that if business needs dictate otherwise.

Why do I think everyone should learn a language or two or three? Globalization gives you a significant leg up if you're able to communicate with other countries and cultures. In the IT world, it may not matter a lot, but the fact that I can personally do a presentation in another language makes me so much more valuable to an organization that's trying to do business in the languages I speak. Through my help in our Latin American markets, my company is doing better than anticipated in the markets I've worked in. (Can't go into detail on that, but let's just say that some major clients that I have presented to are very close to buying)

I also feel strongly about the fact that my language skills have assisted me in better cultural understanding for even simple things. It seems like many of my friends think that if people at the grocery store or at the mall are engaged in a conversation in another language, that they are trying to hide something. I have eavesdropped on countless conversations in Spanish and I can attest to the fact that most people aren't saying anything exciting.

Any other topic that you study in school can be interesting, but a language can open doors that you never imagined that enrich your life far beyond the classroom. Want to go on a vacation, but be able to go off the beaten path and meet the locals? If you speak the language it can happen. What about new music, art, cinema and theater? Also much easier with another language. You can even learn English better through learning another language. I mean would anyone really know what the subjunctive mood is in English if they hadn't learned about it in Spanish?

I could go on and on, but yes, it has absolutely shaped my life and I really do consider it a valuable asset that (in my opinion, not trying to start a debate) will be much more useful than almost any other elective class you can take.

[ryoder]

Well said.
I work with a bunch of people who speak different languages and I have seen language as a reason for people to segregate themselves as well. Take Indians for example. They speak many languages but the people from the same regions tend to hang out together and speak in their local languages.
I think this is probably typical of first generation immigrants in a new country. Their children who are born in the US will probably feel much more comfortable speaking in English than a regional dialect from south India.

I learned in human cultural geography that there are hundreds of languages in some countries. India has 30 very popular languages spoken by millions. So it is really hard to pick a language.

I think as globalization continues the world will end up with about 10 languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Hindi, Arabic, German are the ones I think will dominate. French is on its way out as the French birth rate is very low. Who the heck knows.

This is why I am not super excited to learn one language when ultimately English will be the language of basic global commerce.

That being said, I did take 2 years of Spanish and I did like it.

I also speak Java, C++, C#, SQL, JavaScript, VisualBasic, ADA, Assembly Language and some others

[sanantone]

I am going to start studying Persian/Farsi because I'm interested in going into intelligence and it's a critical needs language. After doing a little research, I figured it would be the easiest critical needs language to learn for an English speaker since it's an Indo-European language with simple grammar and few irregulars.

I know there has to be some online programs for French, German, and Spanish. National University has an online certificate program for Arabic language and culture. Spanish would serve me well for regionally focused jobs in South Texas, but it, along with German and French, wouldn't give someone an edge with federal employment. There are too many native Spanish speakers in the U.S. for any Spanish speaking applicants to stand out. As far as Texas goes, there were about a dozen jobs I could not apply for so far because I'm not fluent in Spanish and I've been studying it off and on for years. I guess learning another language just doesn't come easy to me.

[Yenisei]

ryoder, South Korea, Germany, Austria and Switzerland all have lower birth rates than France. Furthermore, there are a lot of former French colonies or protectorates where the language is either official or heavily used in education, commerce and often everyday life. It's also prominent in international bodies like the UN.

I'd agree that Hindi has a great future, along with Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish, Indonesian and Russian. Farsi will become exponentionally more useful to Americans if the country ever has a rapproachment with the US, and I'd put it in that group.

Korean and Japanese are currently very useful, particularly because of their high tech and manufacturing prowess, but I am not sure that will be the case 40 years from now.

[ryoder]

I meant to mention Farsi too. I forgot about Iran.