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South Asian Languages

A general program that focuses on one or more of the languages, literatures, and linguistics of the peoples of the Indian subcontinent and associated borderlands and island groups.

Types of Degrees South Asian Languages Majors Are Earning

Students pursuing South Asian Languages have the option of earning degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Bachelor’s Degree	1
Master’s Degree	16
Doctor’s Degree	4

What South Asian Languages Majors Need to Know

Studies in South Asian Languages develop a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that South Asian Languages graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

According to O*NET, a major in South Asian Languages emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Foreign Language — Importance 4.7 / 5; level 5.9 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 4.5 / 5; level 5.2 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Administrative — Importance 3.1 / 5; level 3.6 / 7.
• Sociology and Anthropology — Importance 2.8 / 5; level 3.5 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

The skill set built by a South Asian Languages program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Writing — Importance 3.9 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Critical Thinking — Importance 3.7 / 5; level 3.9 / 7.

Abilities

Innate abilities most relevant to South Asian Languages careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Speech Clarity — Importance 4.3 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Expression — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• Written Expression — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, South Asian Languages graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others	4.2 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.1 / 7
Training and Teaching Others	4.1 / 7
Thinking Creatively	4.0 / 7
Getting Information	3.9 / 7
Working with Computers	3.9 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	3.8 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	3.7 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	3.7 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	3.7 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by South Asian Languages professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	—
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Image scanning software	Optical character reader OCR or scanning software	—
Calendar and scheduling software	Calendar and scheduling software	—
Course management system software	Computer based training software	—
DOC Cop	Information retrieval or search software	—
Blackboard Learn	Computer based training software	—
iParadigms Turnitin	Information retrieval or search software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for South Asian Languages graduates include:

• Chinese Instructor
• Language Arts Teacher
• Hebrew Professor
• Program Instructor
• University Faculty Member
• German Instructor
• Languages Professor
• Professor
• Assistant Professor
• Spanish Lecturer
• Teacher
• Lecturer
• German Professor
• Spanish Language Lecturer
• Adjunct Spanish Instructor

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to South Asian Languages graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Doctoral degree	44.6%
Bachelor’s degree	26.8%
Master’s degree	21.8%
High school diploma or equivalent	3.1%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	1.7%
Post-master’s certificate	1.4%
Postsecondary certificate	0.5%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in South Asian Languages?

Gender Distribution

This field has a relatively balanced gender distribution: 52% women and 48% men among South Asian Languages graduates.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	13	52.0%
Men	12	48.0%

Online South Asian Languages Programs

Distance learning is reported by IPEDS for South Asian Languages. The table below shows how many graduates earned at least some of their coursework online (Distance-Ed Available) versus completing the entire program online (Distance-Ed Only).

Award Level	Distance-Ed Available	Distance-Ed Only
Master’s	2	0

^{Distance-Ed Only = degrees completed entirely online; Distance-Ed Available = degrees including at least some online coursework. Source: IPEDS Completions by Distance Education status.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	Annual Degrees Awarded
Foreign Languages Linguistics	28,685
Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	12,321
Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services	7,564
American Sign Language	2,311
East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	2,111
Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	1,385
Germanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	1,084
Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other	545
Middle/Near Eastern and Semitic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	541
Slavic, Baltic and Albanian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	448
Second Language Learning	230
American Indian/Native American Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	58

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.