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Options with a BA in Japanese?

What are my options with a BA in Japanese? I’m a senior in university, graduating very soon with a BA in Japanese. There are career paths such as interpreters, translators, and teachers, but I want to know if there are more careers for those like me who have no idea what to do with their degree.

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Brianna’s Answer

Hi, Michelle,

I minored in Japanese for my BA. There are a few job options you can look into:

- Teaching English abroad with the JET Program or something similar. These are usually 1-2 year contracts.
- Working as an internal business translator for Japanese companies in the states (Toyota is a big one)
- Teaching or tutoring Japanese (if you want to teach in schools, you should look into your state's requirements for language teaching, which are often different than general teaching requirements)
- Working as a text translator for news websites such as NHK
- Try looking into federal and private post graduate fellowship programs for international and/or East Asian relations (Princeton in Asia comes to mind)
- Curriculum development for Japanese language learner's who speak English
- Working with museums with Japanese exhibitions
- Multilingual web development and website translation
- Look into the Middlebury Language Schools for an opportunity to improve your language skills
- Becoming an on-call medical interpreter for hospitals, police offices, and other state/public institutions


Hopefully this helps!
Thank you comment icon Your advice was so helpful! Michelle
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Rebecca’s Answer

Thank you for your question. Congratulations! I am glad to hear that you will graduate soon.
There are a wide career choices for you. You have already named a few of them. In addition, would you like to work in Tourist & Hospitality management, a diplomat, work in Japan trading, etc.
You can explore more on these careers and find out what you have interest. Also, you can seek the guidance from the professors and your alumni in the college on career development.
On the other hand, to advance your knowledge, in Japanese you can consider to do a working holiday, be an exchange student or further your study in Japan, etc. This can help you to advance your knowledge on Japanese and advance your career in the future.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
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david’s Answer

I like your question. You might consider investigation companies that do international business, especially with Japan. People with Japanese language expertise are valued, regardless of career area. Look for job openings in any area that interests you, whether marketing, information systems, whatever, where the company would need such interaction. This would provide you the opportunity to develop a career in a useful function where you would be interacting with Japanese , not just translating. It may also introduce the opportunity to work in Japan. Good luck to you.
Thank you comment icon Thank you for giving me advice. Michelle
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Kimanu’s Answer

Have you considered or put a list of things you would like to do,? Would you like to work local ? Would you like to work abroad? Maybe work at the U.N. as a translator. Could be a corporate translator for a fortune 500 company. There are a lot of opportunities in this field. I would also look into speaking with your advisors at the university and if they have a career advisor speak to them as well
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