During the January interims at the college and in cooperation with banks in the Twin Cities, executive German majors may gain practical experience and firsthand knowledge of overseas transactions or credit and finance terms. In the process the students discover a range of careers and gain a friendly network. Because exporters deal with scores of countries and increasingly trade with nontraditional partners for the United States, I promote a bilingual approach with English in executive German and not an immersion in a single language. Majoring in one foreign language while having command of English allows the college graduate to participate in domestic as well as overseas opportunities in an unpredictable world economy. The enormity of the American market also attracts a variety of foreign enterprises, notably German investments.
German products are more popular here than the study of the German language.
It may be preferable to await travel overseas as a corporate representative than to devote a year of college to study abroad. In addition to programs such as my own, vocational training institutions can provide training for a career in international trade. Founded by exporters and operated in close cooperation with them, the Anoka program contributes to their work force twice a year. The curriculum consists of courses in geography and foreign-market analysis, as well as in such specialized topics as cargo forwarding. A self-planned transition from personal to occupational objectives in the course of a liberal arts education is the wisdom of the director of the career services office on our campus.