"It's a rare field/job that won't value someone with... language abilities, even if they aren't essential to the specific job you're going for."
Major(s) and Certificate(s): Political Science
Language(s): Spanish, French, Wolof, Indonesian
Graduation Year: 2002
What motivated you to study these languages?
The only “big picture” motivation I really had was a general curiosity, and interest in traveling/living outside the US and wanting to have basic language skills when I did so. Along the way, I realized I also just really enjoy learning new languages. It fascinates me to glimpse other ways of structuring language, capturing and thinking about the world, neat little terms or phrases that English just doesn’t have, etc.
The motivation for any specific language I’ve learned was more reactive. I started Spanish in middle school then spent a year in Bolivia after graduating high school and before starting at UW. (I grew up in Madison and had never left the country before that.) So while I wanted to try a new language, I also wanted to continue Spanish — and get my retro credits for testing into upper levels courses when I started. At first I considered taking Russian but it was too intensive with the other classes on my schedule my first semester so I (somewhat randomly) picked French. I kept it up after realizing I could apply it in study abroad to Senegal– which is also why I took a Wolof summer intensive program. I came back years later to do a SEASSI Indonesian course because I got a job in Indonesia after grad school but was home for a summer during that time and wanted to improve my OK Indonesian that I’d picked up from an intensive intro course and day to day use there.
What do you remember about your UW language classes? How were they different from other classes you took?
I don’t remember much about Spanish or French (I only did the former for 1 or 2 semesters to get my retro credits; for the latter, I was really mostly focused on meeting the requirement to go to Senegal). That said – I have friends to this day who I met in French 101, and I don’t think there was any other specific class like that for me. So the students must have been special! But also the fact that students interacted with each other to the extent we did is not typical, especially for freshman/sophomore level classes. I think the French instructors also stood out for their enthusiasm. Teaching intro languages is the most similar to “traditional” high school (or middle school) instruction you’d probably find at a university — without necessarily having the same background in or focus on pedagogy — so to be able to maintain energy and interest from students could not have always been easy.
My Wolof (and later, Indonesian) summer program experiences were extraordinary. The professors/instructors went truly above and beyond to make them engaging, and incredibly rigorous, experiences. They were demanding but highly creative in pushing us to not only learn the grammar and vocab but learn the deeper logic and patterns behind them, as well as how they reflected the broader cultures in which the languages were used. It was about as close to immersion as you could get without actually being in Senegal or Indonesia.
How valuable were your out-of-classroom experiences? How did they add to your undergraduate experience/coursework?
Yes, these experiences were invaluable.
My year abroad in Senegal was essential to my undergrad experience; I’m not sure I would have finished my degree at the time if I hadn’t been able to study abroad (and to go somewhere that wasn’t Europe). I earned my African Studies certificate mostly on the basis of that year abroad, and took some really great courses there that would have been difficult to access at the US (e.g. African linguistics & society; African political philosophy) but of course the experience goes far beyond coursework. In retrospect, it was a rare opportunity as an adult to have an “immersion” experience; once I started working, my work in other countries has depended on my English language abilities — my Indonesian skills, for example, were not essential or even important for me getting work there. So having the opportunity to live in the dorms with Senegalese roommates, socialize and study with Senegalese classmates, have my host family is Dakar to visit on holidays, etc is really special.
My “internship” was actually a research fellowship grant that I used to pay for a summer of research in Bolivia. I used the research as the basis of my senior honors thesis so it pretty significantly added to my undergraduate experience and coursework.
What have you done in a professional capacity since graduating from UW-Madison?
Peace Corps (in the Commonwealth of Dominica); graduate school; consultant for the World Bank and Australian Aid implementing organizations during five years in Indonesia; senior program officer at an international foundation with offices in DC (with work in Kenya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kyrgyzstan); freelance international development/nonprofit sector consultant; Program Director and now Chief Operating Officer at a small international development nonprofit (primary programs in Bangladesh and regionally in the Caribbean)
What are ways, either expected or unexpected, that your language study has benefited you in your career?
It’s hard to separate the study of the language from the lived experiences in the countries where I spoke those languages — but those have been invaluable for helping me to understand my position as an American, grasp intimately how to navigate cultural differences, and of course for my understanding of the places I was living. The same experiences would not have been possible without actively throwing myself into trying to learn the language.
Having a grounding in Spanish and French has been generally helpful in an international career; while my Spanish isn’t as strong as it could be anymore, I don’t require a translation for written materials in Spanish and can converse in informal professional settings.
In the case of Indonesian, while it was not a requirement of my jobs in Indonesia, it helped me do them much better. The fact I was trying meant a lot to the teams I worked with, which helped everyone’s work and cohesiveness. It also allowed me insights into the technical content I was working on that I couldn’t have gained in translation.
How have you maintained or improved your language(s) since graduation?
Spanish… I try to use it when I can, and have taken group or private lessons/conversation groups on and off over the years. My children are in immersion programs now as well.
French… I haven’t.
Wolof…. Tried to keep it up while I was living in New York City but never really managed to.
Indonesian…. N/a; started it after graduation. But I haven’t done a great job of maintaining it since leaving Indonesia beside the odd conversation with friends or when doing consulting work that had Indonesian components to them.
What advice do you have for students who are studying language(s) about how to incorporate their interests and skills into their future goals?
I think language study can and should be a liberal arts requirement because it makes you a more well-rounded person who is better able to operate as a citizen of the world instead of just the English speaking world; there are a lot of fields where they already see this and/or where this case can be made.
It’s a rare field/job that won’t value someone with foreign language abilities, even if they aren’t essential to the specific job you’re going for. It shows that you can think outside “the box” (especially if you have studied something less common). In some cases, it might even come in handy even if it’s not a requirement for the job.
That said — to really apply your language skills in a job, you’re going to have to get good enough at them that this is more valuable than your English skills. This means using them day to day in a country where that language surrounds you. — Study abroad! Take an internship somewhere! Do the Peace Corps! Or take a virtual entry level job that allows you work from anywhere and go be in that place. (Be mindful of visa requirements if you do this, though.)