Employment Guide: Foreign language fluency offers edge on government jobs

Experts say knowing a second language can help students find jobs in an unsteady… Experts say knowing a second language can help students find jobs in an unsteady economy.

Cheryl Finlay, the director of Student Employment and Placement Assistance, said knowing a foreign language can benefit students, especially if they want to work for government agencies, which have hired more than 1,000 language analysts and linguists since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“Being fluent in a foreign language can only increase the opportunities available to you and your chances of obtaining positions over other candidates who are not fluent in another language,” Finlay said.

Alan Juffs, a linguistics professor at Pitt, said people who are fluent in French, Chinese and Arabic dialects might have a higher chance of getting key jobs in government offices, especially the FBI or the CIA.

“Japanese is also a good bet,” Juffs added. “But every language is obviously valuable. It just depends on what you want to do.”

Juffs said Americans can benefit from learning Spanish because of the large number of Hispanic people are immigrating to the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website, Hispanics made up roughly 15 percent of the U.S. population in 2007 and will make up an estimated 25 percent of its population in 2050.

Pitt senior Haley Stutz majored in Spanish partially for that reason.

“I wanted to major in Spanish not only because I love the language but because I knew it would be extremely valuable in the long run,” Stutz said. “It’s definitely not the only foreign language spoken here, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s one of the most practical ones to learn if you’re staying in the U.S.”

She also hopes to use her Spanish in Peru, where she’d like to work with Doctors Without Borders one day.

“I’ve been to Peru a few times and I fell in love with it down there,” Stutz said. “I would love to be able to help down there as a doctor once I establish myself up here. That’s one of the reasons I decided to double major in chemistry and Spanish, and hopefully it’ll help me find job security up here, too.”

Juffs said students could also use foreign languages to help them teach English to others. Juffs said knowing a foreign language and having insight into other cultures can help if students choose to teach English abroad or volunteer for organizations like the Peace Corps.

“It’s important to know the history, literature and customs of other cultures,” Juffs said. “As you become more immersed in a culture’s literature, you can appreciate what the writers are talking about as well as improve your own vocabulary in that country’s language. Then, in turn, you’ll be able to have more of an understanding when teaching English to others.”

And if students want to further their understanding of the structures of language rather than the vocabulary only, Juffs suggests studying linguistics, too.

“Graduate schools and employers look at linguistics very seriously because it is more of a quantitative kind of training and deals more with the psychology behind language,” he said. “Linguistics and modern languages complement each other well.”