What can I do with a major in German aside from teaching, interpreting, and or metal-band vocalist?
Philosophy& History are up there as strengths and interests as well but, German is definitely leading the charge. You gotta go with what you’re good at and what interests you but, I foresee a bleak future career wise, lol! Thanks!
You wrote: "…but I foresee a bleak future, career wise."
As do I… maybe.
That said…
You could also translate (specifically, written things), which is technically different than interpreting. Learn, also, all about computers (or something else technical), and technical writing, and you can get paid quite well to translate user manuals, for example, from English to German… or vice versa. You could pick-up all the computer and technical writing knowledge you’d need via non-credit distance learning for as low as $90(US) per course via what many colleges and universities offer via the "Ed2Go" system.
But don’t poo-poo interpreting, generally. Depending on where you’re doing it, and for whom, it can be a real kick…
…or do you REALLY think the interpretor sitting immediately next to some important government figure is not having a good time? And/or isn’t well paid?
If you become court certified, you can interpret at trials… standing right up next to the witness stand, in the thick of it… maybe even on TV if the CourTV cameras are there!
And what about UN interpretors? They think their careers are just fine… and they’re paid well, to boot.
When I worked for a newspaper, years ago, I reported on, and was, therefore, allowed to be on the set of a movie in the making…
…and one of the film’s advisors didn’t speak a word of English. The female interpretor permanently assigned to her by the production company for the six months or so that the movie was being shot (in about four different places around the world, I might add) was having the time of her life. She told me, in fact, that it was the most fun she had ever had with her clothes on, to be candid (and, to be equally candid, I wish I could say that when she so told, she had her clothes off, but, alas, I was, as a young and single bachelor, not able to parlay the encounter into anything quite that interesting). She added, however, that she was making money for those six months HAND OVER FIST! And she got her name on the credits at the end of the movie, too… which she’ll proudly be able to point out to her grandchildren (which she would be old enough, by now, to have, I should add).
There may also be no end of ways in which you could somehow combine your philosophy and history strengths with your German expertise… or were you (likely mistakenly) thinking that everyone at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, for example, speaks and/or reads all the German, and/or at the level, at which they need to so do in order to best do their jobs?
I could go on and on. We haven’t even scratched the surface, yet… or considered your living and working in Germany for a while, and translating and/or interpreting in zillions of areas, potentially, there.
You, in my opinion, need to do some research…
…and not make quite so many bleak assumptions (though, that being your default approach will probably make you fit-in perfectly, were you to go to Germany). [grin]
Hope that helps. Good luck.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:26 am
The government uses a lot of language experts for translation and analysis.
References :
January 29th, 2010 at 1:40 am
You can work for Bosch in the US. It’s a type of interpreting, but they may help you get another degree in a field they need. It’s hard for them to find good employees in the US.
References :
January 29th, 2010 at 2:06 am
You wrote: "…but I foresee a bleak future, career wise."
As do I… maybe.
That said…
You could also translate (specifically, written things), which is technically different than interpreting. Learn, also, all about computers (or something else technical), and technical writing, and you can get paid quite well to translate user manuals, for example, from English to German… or vice versa. You could pick-up all the computer and technical writing knowledge you’d need via non-credit distance learning for as low as $90(US) per course via what many colleges and universities offer via the "Ed2Go" system.
But don’t poo-poo interpreting, generally. Depending on where you’re doing it, and for whom, it can be a real kick…
…or do you REALLY think the interpretor sitting immediately next to some important government figure is not having a good time? And/or isn’t well paid?
If you become court certified, you can interpret at trials… standing right up next to the witness stand, in the thick of it… maybe even on TV if the CourTV cameras are there!
And what about UN interpretors? They think their careers are just fine… and they’re paid well, to boot.
When I worked for a newspaper, years ago, I reported on, and was, therefore, allowed to be on the set of a movie in the making…
…and one of the film’s advisors didn’t speak a word of English. The female interpretor permanently assigned to her by the production company for the six months or so that the movie was being shot (in about four different places around the world, I might add) was having the time of her life. She told me, in fact, that it was the most fun she had ever had with her clothes on, to be candid (and, to be equally candid, I wish I could say that when she so told, she had her clothes off, but, alas, I was, as a young and single bachelor, not able to parlay the encounter into anything quite that interesting). She added, however, that she was making money for those six months HAND OVER FIST! And she got her name on the credits at the end of the movie, too… which she’ll proudly be able to point out to her grandchildren (which she would be old enough, by now, to have, I should add).
There may also be no end of ways in which you could somehow combine your philosophy and history strengths with your German expertise… or were you (likely mistakenly) thinking that everyone at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, for example, speaks and/or reads all the German, and/or at the level, at which they need to so do in order to best do their jobs?
I could go on and on. We haven’t even scratched the surface, yet… or considered your living and working in Germany for a while, and translating and/or interpreting in zillions of areas, potentially, there.
You, in my opinion, need to do some research…
…and not make quite so many bleak assumptions (though, that being your default approach will probably make you fit-in perfectly, were you to go to Germany). [grin]
Hope that helps. Good luck.
References :