Is cross disciplinary recommendation for undergraduate students majoring in minority languages a 'talent drain'? Expert: Reflecting the effectiveness of cultivating compound talents in foreign languages
2024-10-09
Recently, various universities are nearing the end of their postgraduate recommendation programs, among which some undergraduate students majoring in minority languages have attracted attention. In recent years, the enrollment of minority language majors has received widespread social attention due to the "cold reception". The phenomenon of declining admission scores for the college entrance examination, shrinking enrollment for minority languages, competition among minority language students for transfer majors, and cross disciplinary postgraduate entrance examinations is becoming increasingly common. However, many students who achieved excellent results in minor languages during their undergraduate studies and obtained the qualification for recommendation for postgraduate studies did not choose to continue their studies in this field, but instead chose to switch majors. What are the reasons that lead students majoring in minor languages to choose other fields? What does the industry think about this? The reporter from Yangcheng Evening News conducted a visit. Excellent undergraduate students majoring in minority languages seem to be "escaping". "I really like foreign language majors, and my dream at that time was to do simultaneous interpretation, so when filling out my college application, I basically filled in foreign language majors." Hu Haoyang, who once studied Russian for her undergraduate degree at a certain university, talked about her initial choice without hesitation. However, now she has obtained a Master's degree in Law from China University of Political Science and Law through recommendation. Hu Haoyang's choice is not an isolated case. In a certain university in Hunan Province, a total of 12 students from the 2023 minor language majors (Korean, Japanese, French, Russian) were admitted for postgraduate studies. Among them, 8 students successfully applied for postgraduate studies across majors, accounting for 2/3 of the admitted students; In the 2024 cohort of minor language majors (Korean, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Russian), a total of 17 students were admitted for postgraduate studies, with 5 of them successfully applying for postgraduate studies across different majors. Among the 2023 graduate students in a certain university in Guangdong, a total of 23 students were admitted to cross disciplinary programs in foreign languages, including 8 students in minority languages; Among the 2024 graduate students, there are a total of 19 students admitted to cross disciplinary programs in foreign languages, including 6 students in minority languages. In recent years, with the changes in the international situation, the demand for foreign language related industries has decreased. Taking translation as an example, the "2024 China Translation Industry Development Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the China Translation Association shows that in 2023, the "translation from foreign to Chinese" business of translation enterprises decreased by 1.2 percentage points compared to 2022; The proportion of "foreign translation" business has decreased for the first time since 2018, down 1.5 percentage points from 2022 to 24.9%. At the same time, 32.9% of BTI (Bachelor of Translation) students and 38.5% of MTI (Master of Translation) students in various universities have worked in translation or related fields after graduation, but 27.4% and 29.9% of BTI and MTI students have left the translation or related industries after graduation, respectively. Nevertheless, there are still many students with passion and ideals who choose to major in minor languages. At that time, I chose Spanish because I was very interested in learning the language. Based on my understanding, Spanish was considered one of the small languages with a relatively wide range of usage and employment opportunities, so I filled it out, "said Zheng Yitong, who had studied Spanish as an undergraduate at a certain university. However, the issue of employment is a hurdle that small language majors cannot avoid. In the end, she chose to pursue further studies in journalism and communication at a certain university through recommendation. "If I only read small languages, there will be more employment restrictions." What are the reasons for "escaping" small languages? The minority language students who can be admitted to undergraduate programs are undoubtedly the most outstanding group of students in minority language majors. What is the reason why they chose not to delve deeper into the industry, but to explore a new field? One possible reason could be academic and curriculum issues. Generally speaking, the research direction of Master's degree in minor languages is mainly divided into two parts: literary and linguistic studies (more academic in nature) and advanced translation (more practical). I mainly feel that the research direction offered by Spanish master's programs in ordinary universities is not very suitable for me, "said Zheng Yitong, At the same time, the overall level of foreign languages in society, especially English proficiency, continues to improve, and there are also a large number of foreign language tutoring institutions in the market. A large number of non foreign language majors but with good foreign language abilities have flooded into the job market, making the advantages of foreign language graduates no longer obvious. Another important reason is employment. In fact, the number of practitioners in the translation industry, which is an important counterpart of minority languages, is on the rise. The report points out that by the end of 2023, the number of translation professionals in China has reached 6.42 million, an increase of 6.8% compared to 2022. However, among them, there are more than 5.47 million part-time workers, accounting for 85.2%, which is consistent with the current situation of flexible employment and increasing proportion of freelance work in society, as well as the characteristic of the translation industry being "small and scattered". At the same time, it is also one of the factors restricting the intensive development of translation enterprises to become bigger, stronger and better. Compared to the current mentality of graduates seeking stability in employment, translation can only serve as a "side job" for many students majoring in minor languages. The rapid development of artificial intelligence has posed greater competition for employment in foreign language majors, including minority languages. According to the report, as of the end of 2023, there were 839 enterprises in China whose business scope included "machine translation and artificial intelligence translation" services, an increase of 251 compared to 2022. Considering the rapid development of artificial intelligence, I believe that a large amount of translation work may be replaced by machines, and the profession of interpreter may not be very stable. Therefore, I want to change my direction and learn knowledge from other disciplines to enhance my core competitiveness, "said Hu Haoyang? Regarding this, Yan Chao, Deputy Director of the Northeast Asia Research Center at Hunan Normal University, Director of the Korean Language Department at the School of Foreign Languages, and Master's Supervisor, believes that sending students majoring in minority languages to other majors does not necessarily mean talent loss, but rather reflects the effectiveness of cultivating compound talents in foreign languages. I will encourage students majoring in non common languages to take the postgraduate entrance examination or be recommended for postgraduate studies across different majors. The so-called 'cross disciplinary' is actually a result that I particularly want to see Yan Chao said, "As a fundamental discipline, foreign languages can supplement and improve the talent cultivation connotation of other disciplines to meet the demand for talent and intelligence in the new era of national strategy. Compound talents who are proficient in non universal languages, familiar with international politics, economy, history, culture, and proficient in professional knowledge and technology will play a greater role in the influence, appeal, and shaping of telling the story of China." In fact, foreign language majors naturally have interdisciplinary nature. The National Standards for the Quality of Undergraduate Teaching in Foreign Languages and Literature clearly state that "foreign language majors have interdisciplinary characteristics. Foreign language majors can be combined with other related majors to form composite majors to meet the needs of social development." Starting from 2022, the Ministry of Education proposed in the "Notice on the Enrollment of Some Special Types of Ordinary Higher Education Institutions" to "encourage universities to cultivate 'minority language+' composite talents." The reporter learned that in recent years, some universities have taken the initiative to 'cross major' in the cultivation of minority language talents, actively integrating with other majors from the undergraduate level and conducting interdisciplinary training. For example, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies has launched 9 "minor language+" dual bachelor's degree programs in the 2024 college entrance examination enrollment, including French (dual bachelor's degree in international trade), Korean (dual bachelor's degree in finance), German (dual bachelor's degree in international trade) and a series of other dual bachelor's degree majors. Russian, Japanese, Spanish, German and other minor language majors will no longer be separately enrolled, and those who enroll in minor language majors will all study for dual degrees. In this situation, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies has significantly increased its lowest ranking in the Physics category of the Guangdong Enrollment Foreign Language Group by 20271 places, and its lowest ranking in the History category by 10110 places. However, on the other hand, we should also recognize that "minority languages+" is not a panacea for all diseases. Liu Xiaobin pointed out that in fact, universities cannot rely solely on the "small language+" model to completely solve all problems, and still need to focus on curriculum design and teaching quality. If the curriculum of 'minor languages+' is not reasonable, resulting in students not being proficient in both fields, then it will be impossible to truly enhance students' competitiveness
Edit：NiChengRan Responsible editor：Chenze
Source：yangcheng evening news
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