Resume Holes?

[AbbandonZK]

Outside Japan, Japan experience is viewed as a resume hole.

I'm starting Japanese 101 next semester at college. I've already completed JAP085 with a B grade. I only took it because i was told that Japanese is a class 3 language based on difficultly for English speakers to learn. So I said what the heck lets get some extra practice in. But when i read this post it got me wondering if learning Japanese as a second language would really be beneficial.

Japanese beat out Russian, Norwegian and Chinese as i judged second languages by culture, job pay, potential to actually learn the language and ease of obtaining a visa. I am planning for a career in IT/Systems Administration basically computers. The requirements for the degree that i am perusing is 2 year of a second language. At this stage I'm still not fully locked into Japanese 101 as i haven't paid yet and Chinese 101 is not full yet.

I would like to get an opinion of the value as Japanese as a second language as i would like to avoid any resume holes it may bring. Or if the hole concept is the same for all second languages learned.

Thank you for your time

[GomiGirl]

Learning another language is awesome and should always be seen as a positive.

The danger is that you ignore gaining other skills that make you employable. So what if you can speak another language if you can't be useful in anything else.

You have to decide what is your core competency and get skills and qualifications and experience in that. Then you use the extra language skills to be more attractive than another person who doesn't have the language skills.

But language skills on their own doesn't really lead to much unless you want to be a translator or an interpretor. And those jobs are hard to get as you need to also be articulate in two langauges.

[Coligny]

Learning another language is awesome and should always be seen as a positive.

The danger is that you ignore gaining other skills that make you employable. So what if you can speak another language if you can't be useful in anything else.

You have to decide what is your core competency and get skills and qualifications and experience in that. Then you use the extra language skills to be more attractive than another person who doesn't have the language skills.

But language skills on their own doesn't really lead to much unless you want to be a translator or an interpretor. And those jobs are hard to get as you need to also be articulate in two langauges.

Follow the money...

I'd bet more on Chinese or Russian than soon to be extinct language like japanese...

[AbbandonZK]

Follow the money...

I'd bet more on Chinese or Russian than soon to be extinct language like japanese...

Whats happening to Japanese to cause its decline?

[FG Lurker]

It's a tough call. Japan as a country is in economic decline -- or at the very least, stagnation. There are however lots of Japanese companies that still have very large market share and these companies aren't going anywhere soon. Even stagnating Japan will also remain a large economy (top 5) for quite some time to come.

However other countries have a lot of potential for international growth over the coming years. There aren't a huge number of Chinese multinationals at this time, but you can bet that they're coming. Learning Chinese could put you in a good position as that growth happens.

Likewise there is a lot of growth coming from India, and a lot of IT work is being outsourced there. Speaking Hindi could present some interesting opportunities as India's economy grows. (A good percentage of highly educated Indians speak very good English though.)

[Mulboyne]

You also want to think about whether your actual aim is to have a functioning second language. I don't think that necessarily ought to be the goal of all language study but, if you are thinking of employment opportunities, you want to be clear about your objectives.

For an English speaker, it's much easier to achieve fluency in a language like Spanish, French or German than in Arabic, Chinese or Japanese. That raises the scarcity value of the latter but there are also a lot of people who end up studying Japanese for a couple of years only to let it slip when they don't really get anywhere. Put the same amount of effort into Spanish and you may not end up fluent but you would likely have sufficient skills to put on a resume.

If you are prepared to put the effort into something like Japanese, then all power to you.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

AbandonZK, speaking as someone whose only skill is Japanese language proficiency, I'd advise you to focus on something more practical, like marketing or something.
Japan is in a downward spiral that is going to take decades to get out of. Aging society, low birthrate, enormous public debt and few positives on the horizon.
It does have four seasons, though.