Newsgroups: bit.listserv.slart-l
Date:         Sun, 8 Nov 1992 08:46:31 CST
From:         "Fred Davidson, DEIL, UIUC" <DAVIDSON@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU>
Subject:      Here is the FL career list from Barbara Lafford

[Note: please respond to Barbara Lafford: atbal@asuacad.bitnet
for any further information.  Thanks! -FD.]

Here it is, finally!  Thank you so much for offering to send
this out in an edited form.  Could you add the following as a
preface?:
Thank you all for your interest in the career list.  There were so
many requests Fred Davidson offered to put the entire list on the
listserve.  This list comes with two caveats:  first, I do not
claim to be an expert in the field of foreign language applications
in different careers, so if there is any inaccurate information
that needs to be changed or updated, please let me know and I
will edit the document accordingly.  Second, this list is
fairly particular to Arizona, so feel free to edit it and
make it more appropriate to your own university's situation.
This list was created as a response to several inquiries our
office received last summer by students who were about to
declare majors and wanted to know how they could use their
foreign languages in their chosen field.  The list is not
meant to be exhaustive, but is to serve as a list of
suggestions for students who want to use their foreign
languages in their chosen profession.  I have included
a short list of books on this subject (but I am sure you
agree that they should be updated--I only had access to
the editions cited).  Feel free to copy this list and
distribute it to your students.  However, I assume no
one would publish it without giving ASU due credit
for its creation.  Thank you all again for your interest
in this list.

Department of Foreign Languages                     August 1992
Arizona State University                           B.A. Lafford

               CAREERS USING FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS

     The following list of possible careers for students with
foreign language experience is not meant to be exhaustive.  Its
purpose is to make students aware of several uses of foreign
language skills in many diverse types of careers.  The level of
listening, oral, reading and written proficiency in the target
language varies with the particular job type listed.  However, we
strongly feel that Advanced or Superior level productive skills
in the language and an extended period of time (1-2 years) in the
target culture would be a prerequisite for people in jobs which
require high-level negotiations of business contracts and
continuous client social and business interaction in the target
language.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AS A PRIMARY SKILL

I.  TEACHING: call school districts; ASU and some districts have
a phone recording stating what openings there are in the public
schools; community colleges often have such a "job line";
university jobs are advertized in the MLA job list and the
Chronicle of Higher Education; call the Arizona State
Certification Office (602-542-4368) if you have any questions on
certification requirements for teaching in the public schools.

     A. FLES, Bilingual Education and ESL in the Elementary
School
          1. part-time substitute teacher
          Requirements: any four-year degree allows you to
substitute up to 90 days a year; you also must apply for a
substitute teacher certificate.

          2. full-time teacher
          Requirements: see attached pages for requirements for
Bilingual Education and ESL endorsements to your regular teaching
certificate; soon FLES certification or endorsement to teach
foreign languages in the elementary school will be developed in
order to comply with the Arizona Board of Education's mandate for
foreign languages in the elementary schools K-12 by the year
2000. In addition, these teachers should be able to communicate
basic ideas to the parents of the non-English speaking children
in their class in that family's native language (if feasible).

     B.  Foreign Language, ESL and EFS (English for Foreign
Students) in the High School

          1. part-time substitute teacher
          Requirements: any four-year degree allows you to
substitute up to 90 days a year; you also must apply for a
substitute teacher certificate.

          2. full-time teacher
          Requirements: needs Arizona State certification (see
sheets [available in the Department of Foreign Languages Office]
for Department of Education requirements for temporary and
permanent certification to teach foreign languages 7-12).

     C.  Foreign Languages or ESL in the Community Colleges (part
time)
          Part- or full-time
          Requirements: M.A. completed in some field and 24
upper-division or graduate hours in the language to be taught are
required for provisional certification; the Arizona Community
College course must be completed within two years to obtain
regular certification.

     D.  Foreign Language College or University

          1.  part-time
          Requirements:  M.A. to be a faculty associate

          2.  full-time
          Requirements: M.A. to be a Lecturer; Ph.D. for a tenure
track position to teach languages

     E. Foreign Language Tutoring (private lessons): you should
advertize in the student newspaper or on bulletin boards; you may
also sign up to be a paid tutor with the Educational Support
Program (third floor of the Student Services Building-SSV A361);
you may also give your name to the departmental secretaries to be
added to the rolodex of possible tutors.

     F. Bilingual (English-Spanish, Japanese, etc.) educational
aids in the elementary schools are always needed. Unfortunately
the pay is usually low or sometimes non-existent, but the need is
there to help non-English speaking children into the public
school system in the United States.

     G. Foreign schools (usually private secondary schools that
prefer English as the medium of instruction) and binational
centers hire native speakers of English to teach English as a
Second (of Foreign) Language to their students.

II.  TRANSLATION/INTERPRETATION (check want-ads for jobs with
corporations, the Linguistics/Translation job bulletin board in
ASU's Foreign Language Department, electronic bulletin board for
translators, etc.)

     A.  Professional translators:in addition to the national
government, many private companies and public services that deal
with foreign clients need people who can translate important
documents (business contracts, legal documents, medical forms,
computer manuals, etc.) into several languages.  Arizona State
University offers a Certificate in Translation program and a
Masters degree in Applied Linguistics (with a concentration in
translation). In order to be nationally certified as a
translator, one must take the American Translator's Association
(ATA) exam.  Those seriously interested in a translation career
should attend the ATA convention each year to acquaint themselves
with new advances in their field.

     B.  Professional interpreters: many companies, government
agencies, international organizations (United Nations) and the
court systems need people who can simultaneously or sequentially
interpret speeches or dialogue for foreign clients or immigrants
who do not speak English well.  A few MA  degrees are offered in
interpretation around the country (e.g., Monterey Institute and
Georgetown University). Many fine schools that teach
interpretation and translation may also be found in Canada or
Europe: France (Paris-Sorbonne), Germany (Mainz [Germasheim],
Heidelberg) and Austria (Vienna).

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AS A SECONDARY SKILL

I.  CORPORATIONS (bilingual employees, salespeople, secretaries,
etc.); look at want-ads, bulletin boards (electronic and other)
and try to "network" with people you already know in your chosen
field who can introduce you to the people who hire.  Joining a
"temp" service is sometimes an excellent way to get to know a
company (and for them to get to know you) before you actually
apply for a position with them.

     A. Travel and tourism careers

     1. Airlines employ people to answer phones for customers who
speak various foreign languages (Spanish, French, Japanese, etc.)
e.g., America West and Alaska airlines have both hired our former
graduate students in Spanish for such positions. Flight attendant
positions usually require a foreign language for international
routes.

     2. Travel agencies (AMEX-American Express and others) hire
people who speak foreign languages to answer phones and deal with
customers from other countries. One of our graduate students is
currently working with AMEX at their Phoenix headquarters; the
opportunities for foreign travel with airlines and travel agency
jobs are outstanding.

     3. The International Visitors Information Service works in
international airports to aid overseas travellers.

     4. The Hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, resorts,
etc.) needs multilingual people to cater to foreign clients and
draw up and negotiate contracts, do sales presentations in
foreign languages, etc.

     B. Other corporations

     1. Multinational corporations (IBM. Xerox. etc.) need people
who can negotiate and draw up contracts in other languages and
deal with foreign clients here and abroad (sales presentations,
etc.). For this reason, people hoping to use a foreign language
in their work should spend at least a year or two living in the
target culture (hopefully with a family in order to understand
the dynamics of communication in that particular culture). For
instance, some international companies (Honda and others) with
factories and distributors in the Midwest are desperately looking
for students who speak Japanese to help deal with communication
from the "home" office in Japan. An undergraduate background in
economics, science, finance and engineering (as well as fluent
foreign language skills) would be a great asset when seeking
translation/interpretation jobs with these corporations. Some
corporations also hire people to teach English as a Foreign
Language to their local employees.

     2. Advertising agencies who need to market their clients'
products abroad need employees who speak several languages.

     3. Book publishers need sales representatives who speak
foreign languages in order to more effectively present their
foreign language texts to prospective clients at the university
and secondary levels. Positions as editor, editorial assistants,
copywriter, etc. very often require foreign language skills.

     4. Computer companies need people to translate software and
its documentation into the languages spoken by their
international clients.

     5. Banks often need people to deal with customers who speak
foreign languages. Often people with good translation/
interpretation skills are placed in offices overseas while they
work for American banks and other companies (earning dollars, not
the local currency--sometimes an advantage).

II. RESEARCH CAREERS

     A. University professors in Music, Art History, History,
Political Science, and Sociology should be literate in several
languages in order to read source material for their courses in
the original language and do research in foreign countries.
Science professors are often required to learn German to be able
to read scientific documents.

     B. Librarians with foreign language reading skills are
invaluable for doing research, communicating with foreign
libraries and evaluating books and journals for possible
adoption. Local and university libraries, as well as the Library
of Congress in Washington, D.C. employ librarians with foreign
language skills.

III. MEDIA AND THE ARTS

     A. The print and broadcast media (newspapers, magazines, TV
and radio stations) need correspondents and journalists who can
speak foreign languages and do interviews in those languages with
important international figures. A person's listening skills in
that target language will make him/her a much more effective
gatherer and synthesizer of information while living in the
target culture.

     B. Professional classical musicians (opera singers,
conductors of choirs and orchestras) must be able to read and
speak several European languages (Italian, French, German, etc.)
in order to preserve the integrity of the text they will
interpret.

     C. Art and Natural History museums hire multilingual
curators and assistants to work with ancient or foreign texts and
negotiate with foreign museums for acquisitions.

     D. The entertainment industry (filmmaking, the recording
industry, etc.) needs people with foreign language skills to help
market their products abroad and aid in the creation process with
projects "on location" in foreign countries.

IV. SERVICE CAREERS

     A. State, county and municipal social service agencies
(welfare offices, immigration, etc.) need social workers and
staff who can speak several languages (Spanish, Haitian Creole,
Korean, Vietnamese, etc.) in various parts of the USA in order to
serve clients more efficiently.

     B. Medical services (doctors, nurses, emergency room
personnel, ambulance drivers, etc.) need to be able to speak the
languages of their community. Pharmacologists and pharmacists can
always use a background in Latin in order to read medical
prescriptions. Pharmaceutical sales representatives who speak a
foreign language (French, Dutch, German) are often given
opportunities to work in the "home office" of multinational
companies.

     C. Legal services (lawyers, paralegals, etc.) need to be
able to speak the language of their clients in order to serve
their needs more effectively.

     D. Local police and fire fighters need to be able to speak
the languages spoken by the people in their districts in order to
save lives and fight crime more effectively in their community.

     E. Phone companies need multilingual operators for overseas
and 911 emergency calls.

     F. Clergymen in bilingual neighborhoods and missionaries
need to speak the language(s) of their parish in order to
minister to the needs of their parishioners. Latin and Greek are
also helpful in seminary studies.

     G. Politicians (public servants such as mayors, senators,
representatives, etc.) should be able to speak the language(s) of
their constituents in order to serve them more effectively.

V.  GOVERNMENT AGENCIES (inquire about possibilities with the
Departments of State and Defense and your local armed forces
recruiter)

     A.  The State Department trains people in the armed forces
or other government jobs who will serve overseas (diplomats,
cultural attaches, etc.) to speak foreign languages at the
Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA (not to be confused
with the Monterey Institute of International Studies).  The
critical languages needed now are those spoken in the Pacific Rim
(Japanese), the Mideast (Arabic) and eastern Europe (Russian,
Latvian, Estonian, Ukrainian, etc.); Spanish, Portuguese and
French are also in demand.

     B.  The Peace Corps trains its volunteers to speak the
language of the country in which they will serve before they are
sent into the field.

     C.  In addition to intelligence gathering in foreign
countries, the Intelligence Agencies (FBI, CIA, etc.) pay people
to read foreign newspapers to keep abreast of the image of the US
in other countries and to summarize the findings.

     D. The Department of Defense (Army, Navy, Air Force and
National Security Agency) trains people to speak foreign
languages at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey,
California so they may work more effectively wherever they are
stationed in the world.

     E. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) needs people who speak
one or more foreign languages in order to help the agency enforce
the nation's drug laws.

     F. The United States Information Agency hires multilingual
people in offices around the world and operates the Voice of
America, a radio station that broadcasts news, educational,
entertainment and other programs in various languages to
different countries.  This agency also runs the Binational
Centers in many countries which offer classes in English (and the
language of the country) for interested parties.


Books on careers in foreign languages:

Bourgoin, Edward. 1978. Foreign Languages and Your Career.
     Washington, D.C.: Columbia Language Services.

Huebener, Theodore.  1981.  Opportunities in Foreign Language
     Careers.  Skokie, Ill.: National Textbook Company.

Sherif, June L. 1975.  Careers in Foreign Languages: a handbook.
     Second edition.  New York: Regents Publishing Company, Inc.
=======================================================================
ADDENDUM:  Just a note to clarify the role of the three sources
listed in the creation of our career list.  Most of the
information on the list was gathered last summer by calling the
various "powers that be" in the AZ Dept. of Education, the
Community College system, etc., by talking to experts in the
field of translation and interpretation (Mr. Harry Obst of the
State Dept., head of translation/interpretation for that body)
and by brainstorming with colleagues in the department.
Therefore, the information on critical languages needed in the
translation/interpretation field is quite up-to-date.  The three
books listed at the end were only used last week to confirm that
the information we had already put together was fairly
comprehensive in scope.  However, I would be very interested in
finding out what up-to-date books on this subject are currently
being consulted.  Thanks.

Barbara A. Lafford
965-4648/6281
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU