Asian Studies FAQs

1. Why study Asia? What is it's significance for the U.S.?

Japan's gross industrial economy is larger than the United States' in absolute terms for 2001, not per capita. While China's GNP is currently about 1/6th of Japan's, at current growth rates it is forecast to surpass Japan in the 2030s. East Asia surpassed Europe as the United States' largest trading partner in the 1970s. Global impact on markets, environment, competition for resources both human and natural will reshape the geopolitical map as China fully enters the market. The cultural contribution of these countries on the ground here in the United States cuts across the board from the visual arts, architecture, cinema, and literature, to new media forms such as animation and computer gaming. A map of the earth that sizes countries not according to physical size but according to any selection of factors relating to industrial or information economies will portray a shift in the center of gravity of the globe occurring during your students' lifetimes ( Oxford World Atlas , 2003).

2. Why study Asian languages?

Well, one, they are interesting. Additionally, according to the Modern Language Association's 2004 Report on Foreign Language Enrollments in United States Institutions of Higher Learning, Chinese and Japanese are no longer considered less-commonly taught languages (LCTL) at either the secondary or university level, and both have experienced double-digit enrollment growth for the last ten years. On the other hand, with the exception of Spanish, enrollments in major European languages such as French, German, and Russian at the university level have been declining since the 1970s (MLA Profession 2004, pp. 128-153). Projections to 2050 of the number of native speakers globally in the 15-24 cohort show the top two and 5 of the top 10 languages being Asian: Chinese, Hindi, Bengali, Japanese, and Malay (“The Future of Language,” Science , v. 303, 27 Feb 2004, pp. 1329-31). Insofar as the mission of the university is to prepare its students for the 21st, and not the 19th or 20th century, it must include in every discipline the capacity to make sense of the long-term cultural, historical, and social processes that have produced these new facts.

3. What can I do with a major in Asian Studies?

Answer :  This is not a technical or vocational major like business or engineering, hence like other liberal arts or social science majors does not track you for a certain career.  You will be particularly well-positioned to take entry-level positions in the media and arts, managing cultural exchange between U.S. and Asia (movies, literature, the arts), curatorships, positions in foundations and international NGO's, translation, etc.  Social science emphasis will put you in a position to gather and interpret data in a number of fields related to business, government and non-profit organizations. Any company seriously trying to enter the Asian markets needs translation and marketing teams, etc. We've placed students recently to Coca-Cola, J. P. Morgan Securities and Capcom.

4.  That's work the Asian Studies major specifically positions you for, but what if I want to go on to graduate or professional schools?

Answer :  The most successful career path these days is to major in a subject in which you are truly, passionately interested in college, and enter a more specialized professional or grad-school from there.  We have placed EALL and Asian Studies grads to med-school, law school, business school, and in graduate programs in literature, architecture, linguistics and cultural studies, and journalism.  If you are a good student, an Asian Studies major will serve you well in applications to this kind of school, as Asian Languages distinguish you in a way romance languages do not.

5.  But I'm afraid a CLAS major will limit my options later, like if I want to go into the business world.

Answer :  Not so.  A liberal arts major prepares you to think, to synthesize, to be open to new possibilities.  If you look at the background for MBA's, or the biographies of successful executives, surprisingly few were business majors in college.  Carlton Fiorina, the woman who was recently CEO of Hewlett-Packard, a multibillion dollar Fortune 500 company, majored in medieval literature and philosophy in college. Mitchell Baker, formerly of Netscape, now Director of the Firefox wing of Mozilla majored in Chinese at Berkeley. The old saw about "what are you going to do with an English major?" doesn't apply anymore.  Of course, it is important to distinguish yourself as a student here.  Don't forget, always be thinking ahead to that next step.

Related Links