Back in my salad days
When I was at university, I was often asked what course I was taking. Early on, my usual reply was BA or Bachelor of Arts, which often lead people to probe further. Given that my major area of study was Italian language, I took to replying a Bachelor of Arts in Italian.

However, a Bachelor of Arts in Italian was still confusing to some. "How does that work?" being a common question, them thinking that it was like a regular degree but using the Italian language as medium for the educational process.

Although, I wonder now about those that took the Bachelor of Arts response at face value, and may have believed me to be studying fine art.

My advice to those considering higher education: don't do it, It's a right pain trying to explain it.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 14:54, 5 replies)

You should just have said...
"I'm doing a degree in Italian".

Simple explanation.
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 16:19, closed)

with the same result
the problem is the "in Italian" bit. It makes them think that, well, that it's in Italian, not that I am studying Italian.

Later, I was in Italy, and had broadened my horizons to linguistics, however in Italian this brings up another ambiguity in that linguistica is generally understood to mean that you study a variety of languages rather than the study of language, which lead to the inevitable "that's nice, so which languages are you studying?".

It was easier by the time I had moved on to Philosophy. Then the question was just, "so why are you studying that?" or a rather more point "what job will that get you?".
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 17:39, closed)

It's a bit different...
Because when you originally said "I'm studying a batchelor of arts in Italian" - the confusion arose because not everyone knows what a BA is. Therefore (as you mentioned), if people think that it's something to do with painting, then they think you're studying painting - while learning in Italian.

However, everyone does know what a degree is - so it's therefore more obvious that you're studying Italian.
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 18:27, closed)

you might think that
but you'd be wrong.

People are idiots.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Sun 21 Mar 2010, 1:21, closed)

I know what you mean
People always used to think 'computer science' was basically a degree where you go round telling anyone in a pub who dares to ask what you do, how to stop their computer being broken.

I later discovered there seems to be a similar misconception with the term 'programmer'.
( Slippery Mick ‏, Sun 21 Mar 2010, 23:27, closed)