Help me decide...

I am just finishing my AA (Arts & Sciences) at a local community college. Part of my AA included one year of Japanese. I had a great teacher who made learning the language and the culture extremely enjoyable.

While I didn't apply myself to the max, I have always had a natural gift for reading and
writing and therefore did about as well as anyone in the class, consistently getting A's and B's and having fun all the while.

I have a decision to make, thought, and I need someone to help me.

I have the (financial) opportunity to take an intensive language course at Berlitz. I have already spoken to one of their representatives and I feel that they could provide me with the tools I need to become near-fluent.

It would be a dream to be fluent in Japanese, but I am concerned: Will I be able to utilize this skill to support myself? As in, find a career where using Japanese would help me?

I ask this because if I take classes from Berlitz, it will probably be at least a little bit before
I can even start thinking about getting my BA.

Would there be work for me with an AA and knowledge of Japanese? I do live in WA in the US, and I could easily live near Seattle, which has an extremely high Japanese population as well as Japanese tourists.

Please, if you have any experience or wisdom to help me decide, let me know.

Lynsey

It is usually a good idea to think about having something in addition to Japanese. e.g. a degree just in Japanese is limiting in terms of career options, compared to having a degree in something else useful with a minor in Japanese (e.g. for translating, the people who make the most usually have a scientific or law background and do things like patent translation). Best of all in terms of fluency would be doing a BA at a university where you can do a year abroad in Japan.

After all, as you point out already, there's a large Japanese population in places like Seattle, which means there's already quite a few people around who speak both English and Japanese - who may have grown up speaking both, in fact. It will be hard for you to compete with them on the grounds of language abilities alone.

How long is this Berlitz course and what exactly are they promising you over what time period?

I would suggest you do a few things:
1. Look at job-search websites etc. for your region, or pick up a Seattle newspaper and find the job section. See what sort of jobs come up asking for Japanese speakers. Do any of these sound like what you'd want as a career? If so, what are the requirements for those jobs? Do any of them require more than just language skills? Would your first degree (I'm not sure what an AA is exactly, or what the UK equivalent would be) qualify you for any of them if you also spoke Japanese, or would you need a BA or some other specific qualification?

2. Look at the universities that you'd be thinking of doing your BA at. Contact them and ask for more info about what careers their students end doing, about what sort of courses you can take alongside Japanese, about what is required/what it costs to do a year abroad if you were studying with them. Compare this to what you'll be getting through Berlitz.

3. Consider doing a BA and then applying here:
JET Programme

This is a good point you bring up, about the high number of Japanese speaker in my area.

I will continue researching. Thank you.