Other Foreign Language

Types of Degrees Other Foreign Language Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many foreign language, literature & linguistics (other) graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	212
Basic Certificate	158
Undergraduate Certificate	75
Associate Degree	23
Graduate Certificate	22
Doctor’s Degree	20
Master’s Degree	10

What Other Foreign Language Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, other foreign language majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Other Foreign Language Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in other foreign language should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.

Skills for Other Foreign Language Majors

other foreign language majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Other Foreign Language Majors

As you progress with your other foreign language degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a Other Foreign Language Major?

People with a other foreign language degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Foreign Language and Literature Professors	11.7%	$67,640
Interpreters and Translators	17.7%	$49,930

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Other Foreign Language?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 249 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in foreign language, literature & linguistics (other) in 2021, making it rank #242 in popularity. This major is dominated by women with about 64% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of other foreign language majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	22
Black or African American	19
Hispanic or Latino	36
White	107
International Students	5
Other Races/Ethnicities	23

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Other Foreign Language, too. About 2.4% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Other Foreign Language

Some degrees associated with other foreign language may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for other foreign language careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	0.5%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	0.5%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	5.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	30.1%
Master’s Degree	21.7%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	4.3%
Doctoral Degree	37.8%

Online Other Foreign Language Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	2	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	1
Associate’s Degree	8	0
Bachelor’s Degree	4	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	6	0
Post-Master’s	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	5	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Other Foreign Language

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to other foreign language.

Major	Number of Grads
Romance Languages	13,043
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	7,681
American Sign Language	2,341
East Asian Languages	2,056
Classical Languages & Literature	1,484
Germanic Languages	1,098
Middle Eastern Semitic Languages	549
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	536
Second Language Learning	282
Southeast Asian & Pacific Languages	50
Native American Languages	48
South Asian Languages	26
African Languages	8
Iranian & Persian Languages	8
Greek Language & Literature	4
Celtic Language & Literature	3
Turkic & Central Asian Languages	1

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By John Stephen Dwyer under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.