Hey just found the subreddit and wanted to make my first post. I’m considering studying a bachelors degree in Language&Linguistics, majoring in Japanese, but wonder what the possible career options from there could be. I already have an undergrad in music but have since wanted to change my career path slightly, however would like to continue to working in the arts field (no education please). So what could my potential options be? Apologies if this has already been answered
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>I’m considering studying a bachelors degree in Language&Linguistics, majoring in Japanese, but wonder what the possible career options from there could be.
Careers where?
In Japan? A degree in Japanese is not particularly useful at all. All it indicates is that you speak Japanese. Possibly not even particularly well, depending on your program. Speaking Japanese is not a particularly sought-after skill in Japan since, well… All the natives speak it better.
Usually the recommendation is a minor in Japanese + a major in a more practical subject. Music is unfortunately not something that can be considered “practical” in this context. While it’s certainly *possible* to build a career as a foreign musician in Japan (A *very* few people have done it) it’s not a high demand field and depends more on luck and networking than any language skills or even musical talent.
The carrier paths for linguists that actually pay are
1. Translator
2. Video game localizer
3. Language tech (ASR/Big data)
If you don’t like any of them you should go for computer science. Tbh studying just Japanese won’t get you far in your life. Asian linguistics? Absolutely. Just Japanese? There are a plenty of perfectly bilingual people here already so no. I don’t recommend it unless you already are a polyglot.