is it a waste of time to major or minor in your own native language?

Question

Would it be smarter to just minor or major in Spanish then learn your native language proficiently on your own? or not really since you can learn more about culture, history, background, by working on the native language?

Answer 1

Okay, I'm a little confused here. OF COURSE people should major in their native language! If Americans didn't major in English, who would teach English literature, composition, creative writing, etc. in our colleges and universities???

As a university faculty member, I can guarantee that few Americans are expert in the English language or in its literature, whether British or American. No college or university in this country is going to hire a person to teach English based solely upon his/her being a native speaker and undertaking self-study in the language.

By no means would English be an "easy" major for an American, as the great majority of us can barely string together an intelligible paragraph. In fact, most of my students find basic English composition to be one of their most challenging courses.

Here is a short list of SOME of the courses at San Francisco State:

Age of Wit
Age of Chaucer
17th Century Poets and Poetry
History of the English Language
Phonology and Morphology
Fundamentals of Literary Analysis
Literature and the History of Ideas
...

Answer 2

I think it will be a sad day when Americans can major or minor in English...it will just be a waste because most people will not be taking it seriously or really trying to learn about their culture..

Answer 3

Why should you have to learn someone elses language. you learn your native language. let the spanish learn English. That is my attitude. I am not racist but it is not fair that we have to learn someone elses language. my grandparents were forced to learn english. why can the spanish imegrants learn english. to top it off we have programs now to make it very easy for them to learn english. what's the problem. my family did not have that. they learned it on their own

learn yours first then others also whats wrong w/ french you use that more around the world

spanish is great here but there are others that can be very usfull

chinese is one of our leading trades with merchandice

Answer 4

You can't really do much with a minor...It isn't even mentioned on your college degree.

Answer 5

It all depends on what you plan to do after college.
If you plan to work for Big Business, an MBA is preferred.