What should I
major in?
As a Year 1 student in the
four-year curriculum, the most important issue of this year must be the
major allocation at the end of semester B. This issue is important for me as it concerns which department I will
study in the next three years and which my career
path will be. If you ask what I want to major in, I cannot give the answer
right away. The opinions from my parents, my teachers and the
comparison between different departments are crucial for my decision on what I
should major in.
I am used
to in the grip of language
mania. When I was in a tender age, I liked
to pay attention to the language that people speak on the
street. While travelling with family
to a foreign country, I always
listen to the languages people speaking rather than admiring the
architecture or tourist spots
there. This
demonstrated my deep interest in languages and I have been always obsessed
with languages for a long time. In past,
I selected
Spanish and English as my major in associate degree and learned
a new language in summer vocation - Russian, which is a total
different system with English and Spanish. Even
though learning languages is arduous, I believe that there is something fascinating in
every language. I
really hope that I can join the language department in the future.
Other than my passion for languages,
my teachers also directs me to choose language-related
subjects as my major. In primary school, my Chinese and English
teachers encouraged me to participate
in the
solo verse speaking competition in the Speech Festival. I got a merit
certificate for the
first time that I joined such a large-scale competition. My public exam results
of Chinese and English is much better than the
other subjects. I got a ‘B’ in HKCEE for both Chinese and English. Apart from the opinions of my teachers, my
parents support me to study languages as well. They think
that I am not a ‘science person’ as there is no one in our family good at
science subjects. Additionally,
they say
that social science is not suitable for me as I do not have
awareness to society or surroundings. Thus, ‘Languages become an
enormous part of your life.’ My dad told me. They
believe that I am born to work on language-oriented tasks. My parents really support me on
studying languages as my future major.
However, after I have lessons for
Asian and International studies, I feel interested in this subject. I want to
compare the different aspects of these two departments that I want to join at
the moment, Asian and International studies and Linguistic and Language
Technology. The curriculums of these two majors do not have anything in common.
Asian and International Studies teaches about the macroscopic and microscopic
about the characteristics of Asia and other countries. Linguistics and Language
Technology teaches the various aspects of language, for instance phonetic and
semantic. Also, the career path of these two majors can be very diverse.
Students can become a diplomat or a researcher after studying Asian and
Studies. On the other hand, students learning linguistic can be a translator or
teacher. The possibility of the career prospect is endless for both
departments.
From all the opinions and comparisons
above, I believe Linguistic is a subject that allows me to dig deep into
languages, break down the sentences and then put them back in a different way,
speak them with various accents and meanings. Combining all the experience and opinions,
I believe that I will be satisfied and content if I study
languages in my future university life. Thus,
it is high time for me to work
hard so as to get into the major that I
like most -
Linguistics and Language Technology.
