From what I've seen on this forum so far, I get the feeling that a lot of us tend to fall into a certain academic category. But I'm not completely sure.

So, I'm interested in what your focus of study is. If it's relevant, feel free to share your college major, profession, or anything else that relates to your academic field of interest. Also, maybe give a few words about why you like that subject and why it might have sparked your interest in Japanese.

My area of study is international management. No, I don't like the subject, and no, it did nothing to spark my interest in Japanese, except for perhaps exacerbating the feelings of isolation and depression that lead me to take up learning Japanese. However, I did enjoy learning about Japan's economic system, corporate culture and business practices, and I am looking into ways of connecting my future managerial career with Japan. That is, if my lack of interest in the subject does not eventually cause me to flunk it. In that case I might just start over with something I am actually passionate about - linguistics.

vonPeterhof, you could easily combine your interests and education. When I was working in Tokyo, I worked on projects in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Russia. We'd have jumped at the chance to hire someone with your background and language skills. (btw, I've enjoyed reading your posts on linguistics and thoughts on multi-cultural life.)
[removed other OT stuff...got a bit carried away.]

I'm an artist, studying art academically up to a masters degree... this kind of education involves a lot of the humanities in general so i guess I could say I also have an english degree from Me U.
When I was 13 I was living in this suburb of Chicago that had a really great video rental store, with an awesome (and very naughty) anime section. Movies like akira and vampire hunter D were so different from everything I had seen at that point in my life that they became really formative for my aesthetic sensibility later in life.
I always thought Japanese looked cool and sounded impenetrable, just consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel like a computer language... so I guess the compelling aesthetics of the language itself were relevant in my study... but the thing that is really the most rewarding was being able to watch those old movies in Japanese.
It's great... the writer of the 原作 is either the artist or someone chosen by the artist, whereas the writer for a dub is just some guy who knows both languages. Benjamin wrote that the job of the translator not just to copy over, but to recreate the magic of the original in the foreign environment. This is why poets keep retranslating Dante, and this is why most dubs suck... this is also why Kaneda is like a Marlin Brando in japanese, and just a A.C. Slater in english.

I guess you could say historical linguistics and Japanese religious literature were my focus points in university and what I would have done if I continued to grad school.

This has no relation to my career in automotive marketing though

Currently studying Biology and Chemistry for industrial laboratory work I will most likely study something else once I finish my program. I might head into trades, since the jobs and pay are all there(electrical work). To be honest, I'm not completely sure what I want to do (career-wise). It's hard to figure out what you really "want". Any advice?

I'm taking a bachelor's in chinese as major and japanese as minor. My japanese is much better than my chinese though.

I want to take a master's degree in Japan, still have no clue on what I want to study there. My dream job is to work for a company interpreting business. Any advices would be so helpful. International relations? Some business related masters? (what are my options?)

If I do get to go to Japan I'l obviously continue studying japanese. And will also start studying chinese the way I'm now doing with japanese.

I majored in music in college, and afterwards I quickly found out that I didn't want to do that for a living. I'm trying to go to grad school for Chinese history/historical linguistics, but I'm studying in Taiwan for ~2 years first. I may end up also studying in Japan for a year before I start grad school, since I'll be needing to learn Japanese for my field anyway. Meanwhile I'm studying a little Japanese in my spare time (which isn't turning out to be all that much) while in Taiwan.

Computer Information Systems. I'm a senior. Interested in databases, but not really sure what I specifically want to do. My university has a very broad program, so I've been exposed to a lot but haven't done much in depth.

It bears no relation to my interest in language. I chose it because I liked computers and it was more hopeful jobwise than either English or linguistics, which I wanted to major in, were.

It was to many years that past after I graduated to put the figure down here...

By profession I'm a software engineer but I always liked learning foreign languages. I attempted to pick up Japanese couple of times but only recently I managed to get enough motivation to actually do that in a way that would satisfy me. I hope that in the future I would be able to read Japanese prose with fluency equal to my English (which is my second language BTW).

I'm working on a PhD in Japanese; my topic is Kamakura and Edo-period commentaries on the Tale of Genji. I'm working on my dissertation now; no idea if I can find a job after I finish.

I'm my granny.

An astronomer by education (oh, so many years ago!).

Self-(un)employed, depends how I feel about it.

Have been learning languages on my own all my life, to read poetry, good literature and watch good movies. Sometimes I use a language or two to write a post.

@Thora, Thanks for the encouragement, looks like there are opportunities out there, even for me. Also, it's nice to know that at least someone found my ramblings interesting.

Just graduated with a degree in Computer Science, and another in Japanese Language and Literature.

Currently working at a company that focuses on helping mobilize businesses. There's a lot involved, but basically, I make cell phone applications.

Trying to see if I can't find a way to do this in Japan though... hrm...

I'm currently doing a double major in Japanese and Norwegian.
I haven't decided on a masters yet, but I'm leaning towards a masters in "Norwegian as a second language".

I'm currently doing a joint honours course in Philosophy and Communication and Society with a module of Japanese. I hate the Communications part though and I might try and swap it to Mandarin, but I'm not sure about learning another language and I'm not 100% sure they'll let me take that combination ):.

^^how about Linguistics Tykkylumi? It fits together quite well with the more analytic aspects of philosophy, and is pretty interesting too...

i studied philosophy, and spent a few months studying chimpanzees / animal behaviour / neuroscience in Japan.

Next i think i'm gonna try & write a fiction book, which'll mean taking some time off japanese...

IceCream Wrote:Next i think i'm gonna try & write a fiction book, which'll mean taking some time off japanese...

Write your book/s in Japanese.

i really did consider that for a while... there's so many aspects of Japanese that would make writing a book in Japanese incredibly enjoyable!!! I hope i can really write in Japanese one day!! But, for now, i just don't have the same kind of feel for Japanese as i do with english. And i'd like to write literary fiction rather than genre. Perhaps once it's written, i could translate it to Japanese with some help. That'd be good enough for me right now... but one day...

I graduated with a degree in Asian Literature and Cultures with emphasis on Japanese language, but I also studied a little bit of Chinese. I'm glad my degree doesn't emphasize the language aspect in its title because I would be screwed with the actual level of Japanese that I have. I can now unfortunately and fully attest that it is better to learn on your own when it comes to Japanese. So now I am here hoping to improve my Japanese on my own so I can truly live up to my degree. I'm also currently looking for jobs teaching English so I can fully immerse myself into the language environment. I am just starting the rtk method. I feel inspired after reading the forums on this site.

I'm about to start a double in Commerce majoring in Finance and Computer Science and maybe a Diploma of Languages in Japanese.

Taking courses in business administration because I can probably use Japanese with it. Would be better if I went into a more specific major, such as marketing (or whatever my interest is), but I have no idea what I want to do at all. I feel I'd love to major in something health-related and work at a hospital, but I don't know my chances of using Japanese with such a major.

Also I'm already 22 so if I keep bouncing around I'll never get my undergraduate degree. When I visit Japan next week maybe I'll try to stop by some companies and talk to people there. Yes I know that sounds completely crazy but I really just need something driving me in a certain direction.

computer science / mathematics

Mathematics focusing on probability and statistics with some analysis. Used to want to be a quantitative analyst but now I just want to be a career student...

[Zgarbas]

Majoring in Japanese-English, followed by (hopefully) a master's in Translations(English -Spanish).

Currently working as a corrector at a local publishing house. Basically I just want to work with books and translations is a pretty good way of getting that, once you get past the hyper-competitive environment. Maybe one day I can work with Japanese books, but that seems oh so far away.