Photo: Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Job description
Beyond running class discussions and grading, many professors split their time between teaching and their own research, publishing findings in scholarly journals or books. The job includes the administrative side of academia too: choosing textbooks, keeping attendance and grade records, and sometimes serving as a department head. It typically requires a PhD in the relevant language or field, and the work is fairly structured and desk-based, with a good deal of independent judgment over how a course is run.
Pros
- Opportunity for administrative advancement, such as serving as a department head
- Subject range includes growing areas like American Sign Language alongside traditional languages
- Research and publishing component adds intellectual variety beyond classroom teaching
Cons
- Above-average hours, expect more than a standard 40-hour work week
- Employment projected to shrink slightly over the next decade (-0.2%)
- Only about 1,900 positions nationwide, a narrow and competitive academic niche
A typical day
The 9 a.m. intermediate Spanish class runs almost entirely in Spanish — the professor orchestrating pair work and gently rescuing a student mid-sentence without switching to English. Office hours bring a major planning study abroad and a freshman convinced they are the only one struggling with the subjunctive. The afternoon belongs to the professor's other life as a scholar: revising an article on Borges for a journal, prepping a graduate seminar on translation theory. A department meeting about enrollment numbers closes the day — defending why languages matter is now part of teaching them — before evening grading with headphones on, listening to student oral exams.
Tasks at the job
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in scholarly journals, books, or electronic media.
- Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks.
- Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.
- Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting, and most of the day is spent sitting at a desk.
You're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day. The work is highly structured, following set procedures.
Education necessary or common
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the relevant field
Common college majors
Licenses & certifications
- PhD in the language/literature (the required credential)
- ACTFL proficiency ratings document skill along the way
Career path
Related fields
Courses to take
- AP Spanish, French, German, Chinese — whichever language, taken to the AP level
- AP English Literature — literary analysis transfers across languages
- A second foreign language if your school offers one
- AP European or World History — literature needs its history
- Linguistics electives where they exist
Clubs, activities & competitions
- Language club or honor society (Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica and peers)
- An exchange program or immersion summer
- Tutor younger language students
- Seal of Biliteracy pursuit (offered in most states)
First steps you can take now
- Push one language toward real fluency: daily input, weekly conversation practice
- Earn your state's Seal of Biliteracy
- Read one short novel in your target language with a dictionary
- Understand the path: language major, immersion abroad, then a PhD
