Just Jane Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 My 11yo dd has a STEM focus, she loves science and math. I'm wondering what a good foreign language would help her in the career later on. She's fluent in french because we are a bilingual family. She's also had some exposure to Latin, Greek and Spanish but hasn't retained much. Thanks! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I am a physicist, and the only language that was every useful for me (and all my friends) was English. All publications are in English, all important conferences are in English (even if they are in Germany or Italy or Spain), everybody is proficient. It is similar in other hard sciences. For engineering, if she might be interested in working for an international company, these days I might go with Chinese. I would not choose a European language, as the European business partners would most likely be fluent in English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 My brother is a scientist and has met others in the same field from around the world. They all speak English. At conferences, they use English to present their findings. If she were to go into a medical field, then maybe Spanish or Chinese. My physician friends all speak a second language, but they all happen to work in large cities and grew up bilingual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nandmsmom Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 The only one that may be specific to STEM, would probably be Latin. I'm an RN and my 4 years of high school latin helped me to figure out the origin of the multitude of medical terms. Other than that, it probably would just be helpful to be well versed in one particular language of her choice. It's always nice to have a translator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southcarolinamom Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 The only one that may be specific to STEM, would probably be Latin. I'm an RN and my 4 years of high school latin helped me to figure out the origin of the multitude of medical terms. Other than that, it probably would just be helpful to be well versed in one particular language of her choice. It's always nice to have a translator. :iagree: My son is a sophomore in nursing. Taking high school Latin helped him in his science classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jane Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 Thanks. I think we're going to do some more latin. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 It's amusing, because I am (as in, right now) working on a translation into English of a book written in German a while ago, that was a requirement for my STEM phd. The languages I could have chosen to translate from were all European, so I chose the one I had some background in. I will add, though, that with the increasing levels of English proficiency around the globe, such requirements are in general being phased out. Frankly I would do a language your daughter is interested in, if possible, rather than choosing based on potential career goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jane Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 It's amusing, because I am (as in, right now) working on a translation into English of a book written in German a while ago, that was a requirement for my STEM phd. The languages I could have chosen to translate from were all European, so I chose the one I had some background in. I will add, though, that with the increasing levels of English proficiency around the globe, such requirements are in general being phased out. Frankly I would do a language your daughter is interested in, if possible, rather than choosing based on potential career goals. She actually doesn't want to study another language so I was looking for something that may help her in the future and possibly give her a little motivation for a reason to study it. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 She actually doesn't want to study another language so I was looking for something that may help her in the future and possibly give her a little motivation for a reason to study it. :001_smile: Ah -- in that case, yeah, I'd go with Latin. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 (edited) She needs to be proficient in Math. :001_smile: That's the language of STEM majors. ;) Seriously, if she's proficient in French, you are going to breeze through high school French. Most STEM programs couldn't care less if your kid has studied a foreign language. Some of the top-schools want to see a well-rounded kid who has studied a foreign language; if you want to cover your bases and make sure that she has the transcript/courses to get into one of those top programs you can wait until high school to breeze through several credits of high school French (Don't bother doing it early; they only want to see high school accomplishments on the transcript. She could study and take an AP French test in ninth grade and call it done.) Let her focus on STEM subjects. Take a Coursera course. Study robotics or electronics or computer programming. Let her pick something that looks interesting. Kids become different people when they are allowed to follow their interests. Unless she enjoys languages, I wouldn't make her learn a third language. There are so many other wonderful things a STEM student can accomplish. Peace, Janice Edited October 26, 2012 by Janice in NJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.