I wanted to write this blog not just because it would work as my senior project, but because languages themselves interest me. I grew up in the Southwest, where it was normal to learn Spanish while in elementary school. In my hometown, a good portion of the signs were in Spanish, with it being heard on the streets constantly.
In High School I took more Spanish classes to gain a larger vocabulary, and continued in College to expand my conversational Spanish. When I served my mission in Russia, I obviously learned the Russian language, but at the time forgot my Spanish. As soon as I stepped off the plane from Moscow into Houston, the Spanish came flooding back to me. Since then I have used both Spanish and Russian to land me jobs, or get me a raise.
When I first started attending BYU-I, my plan was to do International Studies and become a translator one day. Yet over my time there, it felt like the only options I had with a language were in Government (which I would rather not work for) or Business (which I wouldn't want to do cause I hate office work). I knew that there were other jobs out there, in the US, that needed someone with Russian and/or Spanish skills. I wanted to create this blog to show that when someone knows a language, even a super rare one that nobody else has even heard of, that there are several career opportunities out there, not just in straight translation work.
I hope that this website will help others get started on their path to finding a career that uses ALL of their skills, not just the ones taught in a formal classroom.
