Everybody knows that picking a major is part of the college experience, but very few students willingly declare a minor. Double major? Sure. We all know that crazy pre-med friend who really hates having free time and a social life. Many education majors, especially music ed, are double majors. Lots of students pick up a minor just by virtue of classes they have to take for their major, such as biology students who have to take chemistry, or anthropology majors who take sociology.
How many people have considered taking a minor in something completely unrelated to their major? Maybe that passion for math just isn’t a viable career option for you, or you want to take psychology because you’re fascinated by all the “true crime” shows and documentaries. Well, what about taking a foreign language? A fair number of students already have foreign language requirements for either their college or their degree, and usually that’s either two or four classes in the same language. A minor is only six classes, so it’s not that much more if, say, you were a COLA student and already need four consecutive classes.
Personally, I’ve always wanted to learn French. I took Spanish in middle and high school because that’s what was offered, but after four years, I hated it. When it came time to register for my first classes, I was adamant that I be put in French 101, despite getting a lot of weird looks from my advisor because I was a Chemistry major who didn’t need a foreign language class at all. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made thus far in college. It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows, but it’s been worth it.
I can’t lie, French is one of the most difficult and frustrating languages out there. There are exceptions for every exception, half of the consonants aren’t pronounced, and there are so many tenses sometimes it feels like I’m drowning in superfluous knowledge. However, even as difficult as the class is, I firmly believe that I have gained a valuable skill. In today’s global society, everyone should be learning another language. The US is one of the only first world countries who doesn’t require a second language to be taught in primary schools. The logical choices would either be Spanish, due to the large immigrant population, or French, because it’s the only other language officially recognized by the UN. Still, requirements for classes in other languages are bare minimum at best, and trying to teach a three year old is easier than a thirteen year old, simply because of neural elasticity.
Learning another language has been shown to improve brain performance, just like learning to play an instrument. Every time you use that other language, you create new neurons and pathways in your brain, which slows eventual degeneration, as well as giving you a performance boost of sorts in the present. Foreign languages seem to create a lot of “bridges” in the brain, because learning them requires so many parts of the brain to act in concert. Even though learning languages in adulthood is significantly more difficult, and it will be harder to retain that knowledge, it’s still worth it because it offers vast benefits in other aspects of your life outside of your brain.
Another benefit of taking a foreign language minor is that you really get to know your classmates and professors. I can’t speak for the other languages taught at Marshall, but French only has two professors, and the students of each are highly loyal to their specific professor. We’ve created little families out of our classes. We’ve gotten to bond a fair bit with each other, and I feel like my professor is someone I can talk to if I’m having difficulty in school, despite the fact that I’m not a French major. He’s always willing to give advice and he’s pretty much always available to help if you’re having trouble with his class. I’m not perfect at French, and I don’t know if I ever will be, but I cannot stress enough the importance of learning another language. Taking a minor is the easiest way to do it, because you have a personal, one-on-one connection with the instructor, who can slow down and explain, unlike a computer program.
Long story short, take a foreign language minor. You’ll have a better chance at becoming fluent, even though it’s a good idea to try immersion once you have that knowledge. Two to four classes are not enough to reap the benefits or truly learn the language the way you’re meant to. Aside from that, you miss out on the cultural and social benefits. There is no bond quite like a bunch of twenty-somethings who can’t remember what the word for “egg” is. Also, you can have bragging rights for the rest of your life. When someone asks you what your degree is in, you can casually (and pretentiously) slip in that you took a German minor just to impress them. This isn’t an exhaustive list of reasons to take a language minor, but really, no one should need one. We’re all impressed when someone can spontaneously say something in another language, so why not be that person? Think about it as you go to register for fall classes this time around, because there’s no time like the present.
