Aijin Wrote:I'm not sure I understand that vein of thought. There are millions of programmers, engineers, people in the financial field, painters, authors, architects, chefs...everything. Why this fixation with uniqueness of the field itself? In my opinion happiness is derived not from the uniqueness of the field, but from one's skills in that field. There may be innumerable composers and authors, but there was only one Beethoven, only one Tolstoy. As long as one is passionate about what they do, and innately derives pleasure from it, then how prodigal they are even becomes trivial.
Language learning is a process that impacts those involved, altering their cultural awareness, giving them another lense through which to perceive reality, and more importantly and simply: it's ENJOYABLE.
Each degree has its own uses and applications, which is better is subjective to the individual. For someone impassioned about the Japanese language, with plans to enter academia, then a bachelor's in Japanese is perfectly practical as a first step. I know dozens of people who absolutely cherish their lifestyles as teachers of Japanese/those in the field of the language in general, and for them their degree was a perfect decision. Is a bachelor's in a foreign language alone going to open up career options? Not except in cases where simply having a degree itself is the important aspect. But for those interested in academia it is done on their way towards an MA or Ph.D. in Japanese Literature/linguistics/teaching Japanese as a foreign language etc.
リービ 英雄 was an instructor of Japanese literature at Stanford, who then used his training to move to Japan and become one of the first American authors of Japanese literature, winning many literary awards and prizes, and even earning a nomination for the Akutagawa Prize. There may be millions of native speakers, but very few could match those accomplishments even though it's their mother tongue and he had to learn it as a foreign language.
As long as one has passion, which in turn breeds skill, the sky is the limits regardless of your field as far as I am concerned.
Nice argument Aijin, but unfortunately it lacks at one crucial logical point. Actually I think you've just reinforced what I've meant to say: with a degree in a foreign language you have to be on the top of the field to make a decent living out of it. While on the other hand, for instance, no matter how many millions of engineers are there, apparently they are still not enough. So if you do a masters in engineering you don't have to be in the top 10, top 100, top x to get a job and make a living out of it. Of course enjoying what you are doing is important. But that alone can't be the determining factor. For instance I enjoyed astronomy, no, I WANTED to be an astronomist. I was reading books about it since I as 8.... did I go into that direction? Nope. Why? Because I wasn't skilled enough in maths, and phsyics, and it's not a job in high demand in the job market. If the demand is low, and the supply is high, the competition rises through the roof...that's it. The Op said, he has no money, nor job. I'm just suggesting that making a living he has a better CHANCE if he chooses some other field, which will be in demand in the next 10-20 years, and study japanese on the side. Or study it in japanese.....That's my opinion, although I admit I haven't read the latest statistics on eurostat. I might take a glimpse on them
Language is just a way to exchange information. It's a tool. That's how I think of it. Of the top of my head I can only think of 2+1 things one can do with a major in a foreign language: teaching and translating, or academic research. I guess the latter is only for a minority of the students, teaching is a good thing but to be a good teacher is a totally another thing regardless of the subject matter (what is being taught), and finally, translation. Translating is good, but you can't get much money out of it unless you specialize into a field: ex.: finance, or engineering, or programming. See? It's a closed circle
P.S.: You're the one out of the 2 persons on this forum whose' posts continuously contain english words unknown to me
So I enjoy reading your posts, I always learn a few new words, keep it up!
(The other one is of course Nest0r)
Edited: 2010-07-09, 8:30 pm
