The spectrum of an electromagnetic light wave on scattering from a semisoft boundary medium is discussed within the accuracy of the first-order Born approximation. It is shown that spectral shifts and spectral switches are affected both by the polarization of the incident light wave and by the characters of the scattering medium. Moreover, numerical results show that the direction at which the spectral switch occurs is governed by the characters of the scattering medium, whereas the magnitude of the spectral switch is affected by the polarization of the incident light wave.