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East Asian Languages

Types of Degrees East Asian Languages Majors Are Earning

Students pursuing East Asian Languages may pursue degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Certificate	36
Associate’s Degree	220
Bachelor’s Degree	1,316
Master’s Degree	460
Doctor’s Degree	63

What East Asian Languages Majors Need to Know

Coursework for East Asian Languages build a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that East Asian Languages graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

This major prepares you for careers needing East Asian Languages emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• English Language — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 5.1 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Foreign Language — Importance 3.9 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.
• Customer and Personal Service — Importance 3.1 / 5; level 3.7 / 7.
• Administrative — Importance 3.0 / 5; level 3.3 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

The skill set built by a East Asian Languages program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.
• Writing — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.
• Instructing — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 3.8 / 7.

Abilities

Innate abilities most relevant to East Asian Languages careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Speech Clarity — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.
• Oral Expression — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Written Expression — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, East Asian Languages graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Training and Teaching Others	4.3 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.1 / 7
Thinking Creatively	4.0 / 7
Getting Information	4.0 / 7
Working with Computers	4.0 / 7
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others	4.0 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	4.0 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	3.9 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	3.9 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	3.8 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by East Asian Languages professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Email software	Electronic mail software	—
Moodle	Computer based training software	—
Blackboard software	Data base user interface and query software	—
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	—
Sakai CLE	Computer based training software	—
Image scanning software	Optical character reader OCR or scanning software	—
Calendar and scheduling software	Calendar and scheduling software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for East Asian Languages graduates include:

• Language Teacher
• Language Instructor
• Language Arts Teacher
• French Teacher
• Teacher
• Hebrew Teacher
• ESL Instructor (English as a Second Language Instructor)
• Spanish Teacher
• Bilingual Teacher
• German Instructor
• Swahili Teacher
• Spanish Literature Professor
• Adjunct Instructor
• Arabic Instructor
• Japanese Professor

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to East Asian Languages graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Bachelor’s degree	43.2%
Doctoral degree	30.0%
Master’s degree	15.8%
Post-master’s certificate	3.5%
Post-baccalaureate certificate	2.5%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	2.5%
High school diploma or equivalent	2.1%
Postsecondary certificate	0.3%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in East Asian Languages?

Gender Distribution

This field has a relatively balanced gender distribution: 56.3% women and 43.7% men among East Asian Languages graduates.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	1,188	56.3%
Men	923	43.7%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of East Asian Languages graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	804	38.1%
Asian	546	25.9%
Hispanic or Latino	204	9.7%
Black or African American	97	4.6%
American Indian / Alaska Native	7	0.3%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander	5	0.2%
Two or More Races	214	10.1%
Race Unknown	45	2.1%
International Students	189	9.0%

^{See minority definition below.}

How Much Do East Asian Languages Graduates Earn?

The U.S. Department of Education tracks median earnings of East Asian Languages graduates 1, 4, and 5 years after completion. Wages typically rise steadily as graduates gain experience and move into mid-career roles.

Years Out	Median Earnings
1 year	$27,756
4 years	$45,953
5 years	$53,377

By year 5 out, median earnings rise to $53,377 — roughly 92% above the 1-year mark.

^{Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings tracker.}

Online East Asian Languages Programs

Online study is reported by IPEDS for East Asian Languages. The table below shows how many graduates earned at least some of their coursework online (Distance-Ed Available) versus completing the entire program online (Distance-Ed Only).

Award Level	Distance-Ed Available	Distance-Ed Only
Associate’s	2	4

^{Distance-Ed Only = degrees completed entirely online; Distance-Ed Available = degrees including at least some online coursework. Source: IPEDS Completions by Distance Education status.}

Is a Degree in East Asian Languages Worth It?

Looking purely at the federal earnings tracker, East Asian Languages graduates earn a median of $45,953 four years after completion — roughly 21% above the national median for workers with only a high school diploma (~$38,000).

^{ROI estimate compares the program’s 4-yr median earnings against the 2023 BLS CPS median earnings for high-school-only workers. Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard + BLS Current Population Survey.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	CIP Code
Foreign Languages Linguistics	16
African Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.02
American Indian/Native American Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.10
American Sign Language	16.16
Armenian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.18
Celtic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.13
Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.12
Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other	16.99
FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS	16.00
Germanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.05
Iranian/Persian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.08
Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services	16.01

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.