Anyone have friends in the State Department?

[Balt]

Also, anyone here IN the State Department?

I'm currently planning on majoring in International Affairs, which requires a foreign language. The only problem is I don't really know what the "hot sector" is international relations.

Any recommendations?

 

[cavingjan]

No FRIENDS in the state department but a call over there usually determines whether I go on teh assignment or one of the younger guys takes the trip.
The important question should be: what culture are you interested in? Learning a language is one thing but if you don't understand the culture or don't like the culture, you're going to be bored when you are working around it 60+ hours a week. Go with something you like.
hey multiple languages are a bonus too.

 

[Balt]

Thanks, that actually helps me out quite a bit. Now... just have to decide....

This could take a while.

 

[Locutus of Board]

Better question to ask around here is:

Anyone have friends?

 

[THELAIR]

Asian/sino relations and culture would be a good one, but alot of people in america can allready speak chineese

India/pakistan is a hot bed, might be worth looking into those areas.

 

[Balt]

THELAIR, very good suggestion. There's a lot of tension between Pakistan and India.

Seems like those would be exceptionally hard languages to learn, though. Anyone have experience with them?

 

[THELAIR]

If you really wanna know what to look at, go to the job listings boards for the CIA and other depts. If htey are looking for linguists, try and find out what language. It was always the defacto russian language studies that would get you the job during the cold war, but now that is old and you need somthing newer.

Im not east indian but the Hindi language isnt really any harder than say German.

Any sort of Slavik language skills would probably be an asset as well.

 

[cavingjan]

If you look at pure volume of people speaking languages, Chinese is the most spoken language out there. Spanish and English round on the top three.

 

[Double Trouble]

It's not a matter of what language you learn, its more a matter of understanding a people and a region, and understanding their history and background. Languages can always be learned..... You have to pick something that you're really interested in, because if the state department decides they don't need your services, you're gonna have to apply those skills somewhere.

 

[Nutcase99]

Hey I'm from Pakistan! Well I lived there for about 5 years! Pakistan is the most fun place you can like EVER go to

 

[abracadabra1]

contact your state senator

 

[Balt]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll keep all this in mind when I make my final decision.

A lot of implications are of course involved.