STUDENT PERSPECTIVES ON FUTURE CAREERS: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF LANGUAGES? A ROMANIAN CASE STUDY

Authors

  • Anne Kari BJØRGE Norwegian School of Economics, Norway. E-mail: anne.bjorge@nhh.no
  • Sanda TOMESCU BACIU Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: sanda.tomescu@ubbcluj.ro https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7311-3749
  • Sunniva WHITTAKER University of Agder. E-mail: sunniva.whittaker@uia.no

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2020.3.04

Keywords:

language learners, minor languages, motivation, career paths, job satisfaction.

Abstract

Student Perspectives on Future Careers: What is the Role of Languages? A Romanian Case Study. This article explores language learner motivation among Romanian students studying Norwegian at bachelor level. The article focuses on the students’ views on career opportunities and on how their language skills can open possibilities for different kinds of language-related careers. Two cohorts of students were interviewed. The second cohort had experienced internships in international companies, which was reflected in the interviews of this group. The study adopts a plurilingual perspective with a focus on the role of English in Europe. The study provides insights into the labour market involving proficiency in minor languages and into the perspectives of students entering this job market with regard to job satisfaction.

REZUMAT. Perspective în carieră ale studenților: Care este rolul limbilor? Un studiu de caz românesc. Articolul explorează motivația cursanților, în rândul studenților români care studiază norvegiană la nivel licență. Articolul se concentrează asupra opiniilor studenților asupra oportunităților de carieră și asupra modului în care abilitățile lor lingvistice pot deschide diferite posibilități în carieră legate de această limbă. Două cohorte de studenți au fost intervievate. A doua cohortă a efectuat stații în companii internaționale, ceea ce s-a reflectat în interviurile acestui grup. Studiul adoptă o perspectivă plurilingvă, cu accent pe rolul limbii engleze în Europa. Studiul oferă perspective asupra pieței muncii care implică competența în limbile minore și perspectivele studenților care intră pe această piață a muncii în ceea ce privește satisfacția la locul de muncă.

Cuvinte cheie: cursanți de limbă, limbi minore, motivație, traseu în carieră, satisfacție la locul de muncă.

Author Biographies

Anne Kari BJØRGE, Norwegian School of Economics, Norway. E-mail: anne.bjorge@nhh.no

Professor of English at the Norwegian School of Economics. Her main research interests are language management, English as a business lingua franca and plurilingualism in Europe. She teaches professional English and intercultural communication and supervises Ph.D. students in these fields. E-mail: anne.bjorge@nhh.no

Sanda TOMESCU BACIU, Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: sanda.tomescu@ubbcluj.ro

Professor at Babeș-Bolyai University (BBU), and founder of the Norwegian language and literature BA programme in Romania at BBU in Cluj-Napoca (1991). Ph.D. advisor, she published studies on Nordic literature and translated Norwegian literature into Romanian. Email: sanda.tomescu@ubbcluj.ro

Sunniva WHITTAKER, University of Agder. E-mail: sunniva.whittaker@uia.no

Professor of French and currently rector at the University of Agder. Her main research interests are language management and legal discourse. In addition to her linguistic background, she holds a degree in conference interpreting. E-mail: sunniva.whittaker@uia.no

References

Bhatia, T.K. and Ritchie, W.C. 2013. The handbook of bilingualism and multilingualism. 2nd ed. Chichester: Blackwell.

Bjørge, A.K. and Whittaker, S. 2019. Offshoring language-sensitive services: a case study. Corporate communications: An international journal, 24(1), 79–95.

Dörnyei, Z. 2007. Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford: OUP.

Eurostat. What languages are studied the most in the EU? https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/product/-/asset_Accessed 11 June 2020

Kuiken, F. and van der Linden, E. 2013. Language policy and language education in the Netherlands and Romania. Dutch journal of applied linguistics 2(2), 205–223.

Marin, D. 2006. A new international division of labor in Europe: Outsourcing and offshoring to Eastern Europe. Journal of the European Economic Association, 4(2–3): 612–622.

Norwegian Embassy website. https://www.norway.no/en/romania/ Accessed 11 June 2020.

Piekkari, R., Welch, D.E. and Welch, L.S. 2014. Language in international business. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Seidlhofer, B. 2005. English as a lingua franca. ELT Journal 59(4), 339–41.

The language council of Norway (Norw. ‘Språkrådet’) https://www.sprakradet.no/sprakhjelp/Skriverad/Avloeysarord/Norsk-for-engelsk/ Accessed 11 June 2020.

STUDIA UBB PHILOLOGIA, Volume 65 (LXV), No. 3, September 2020

Downloads

Published

2020-09-30

How to Cite

BJØRGE, A. K., TOMESCU BACIU, S., & WHITTAKER, S. (2020). STUDENT PERSPECTIVES ON FUTURE CAREERS: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF LANGUAGES? A ROMANIAN CASE STUDY. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Philologia, 65(3), 49–64. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2020.3.04

Issue

Volume 65, No. 3, 2020

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Philologia

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Most read articles by the same author(s)