Foreign Languages and International Relations

The acquisition of a foreign language is a critical component of international relations. Many jobs require knowledge in a foreign language, and a great deal of international relations jobs have some component of the work that may require using language skills.

There are a number of excellent programs on the market that can help someone learn a new language, or improve upon a language that they already may have studied. While there may be disagreement regarding the “best” way to learn a language, as well as what tools are most effective in helping a student and scholar reach this goal, we have listed some excellent language resources below. The two that we have linked are the Pimsleur Language Programs, as well as the Rosetta Stone Language Programs. Both of these methods have been highly touted as helping individuals learn languages. With these programs, it must be noted that they do not have all languages, and some languages have more levels than others. So, you will want to look into these programs to see if they offer the language that you are interested in learning.

Along with these programs, we have also linked to other links that may be of use for someone looking to study a new language. If there are resources not on this list that you find very helpful and feel others should know about, let us know.

Again, many international relations jobs and job postings often require either proficiency or fluency in a foreign language. Foreign language can also be very useful if one is planning on conducting field research, or if they are entering a career in fields such as international relations, international studies, as well as using their knowledge of languages and international relations for jobs in international business, or journalism.

I have listed some foreign language programs that might be of interest.

 

Arabic

 

Chinese (Mandarin)

 

English

 

French

 

German

 

Italian

 

Russian

 

Spanish