Getting a Masters/PhD in Asian Studies
 

If I go back to Uni and then after graduating, go to grad school for Asian Studies like Korean or Japanese studies do you know of any career pathways? I thought maybe I could be a Korean language instructor at a Uni with a Masters in Korean language in U of Hawaii Manoa.

I'm guessing trying to become a professor in the field would be very hard though? Lots of competition?

What is it you want to do? What career pathway are YOU looking for?

For starters, any native would outplay you. I really don't think it's worth wasting time trying to become a teacher of a language you're not a native speaker of cause there will always be plenty of people who'll be better at it than you will ever be. However, there're other career pathways related to Philology, look into that.

I am a native speaker of Korean. What would be other careers in Philology?

Every English class we get here in Germany until we finally get our A-Level, are always hold by Germans who studied English as there foreign language for the reason to teach it later on.

Then you have it pretty good :) You have to start by graduating in Korean Philology and after that get a PhD and if you're really, like reaaaally good, you'll have a pretty good chance at becoming a Uni professor. Sure it's gonna be hard work but why not give it a try if it's what you like and you believe you stand a chance.

Careers in Philology? I'm not sure what you mean.

I know that. I meant in the context of wanting to become a Korean teacher at a University. I don't think there're many non-native speakers of a language imparting lessons in the Philology field. It makes sense.

Yea, thats certainly true!

However, I believe that everybody can become a native speaker! I even believe that you can become a much more superior speaker and teacher as a non-native speaker. If you really study the language and if you lived in the country of the mother tongue, then you can easily teach that language as well to other students at a University as a Prof just like they do at all the schools.

Yeah, ok. But native speakers will have it easier if they want to teach the language they've grown up using. It takes maaany years to master a second language. If you're fighting for a job as a Korean teacher, a Korean-speaking person will have a better chance at getting it, in 90% of the cases.

Thats very true!

Best thing is still to learn many different languages :)