If you use languages for your job, what do you do?

[Okki]

My DD(13) wants to study languages, but she doesn't think she wants to be a translator. She's been brought up bilingually(Eng & Fr) and is about to start studying Spanish on an online course - paid for and supported by school as they don't offer Spanish - and she's done her GCSE French. DH speaks Spanish as well, so she'll get support at home. I've said she can do anything and find a job in a different country or for a multinational where languages are required. I know it's early for career planning, but she wants to do German as well, so I'd like to give her some ideas of different careers she can think about. She is more inclined towards the Humanities than the STEM subjects, but if she's interested, she'll succeed at anything as she's (currently) happy to put the work in. It may all change when she gets a love life, but I hope not

I have French and German A level, a degree in French and Spanish and I live in another country altogether.
I'm an English teacher, and love it. Yes, like many, I started off as an exploited TEFL teacher working for cowboy organisations but then did further qualifications which means I am in a state school here and work as an Academic Manager and materials developer as well for a UK company. I also translate and interpret for the courts here which I find boring.

DD has kind of followed me with the interest in languages, I think born out of being bilingual, travelling a lot and the Eurovision Song Contest She's chosen a language focused high school where she takes English (obvs) German and Chinese. She is 16 so researching uni already and is looking at something plus languages- I agree with many on here that whilst the teaching route is the most obvious (probably) it's not for everyone. I am lucky in that I love it, I went into it as a means to an end. I didn't want to be in the UK so what was the easiest job to get into to get abroad...I only wish now I'd done it sooner. I was in Immigration and Nationality when I first graduated (which I also loved, but apart from a bit of translating I didn't use my languages)

DD is looking into international relations, cultural diplomacy etc. She's quite into politics and social studies too so that may be an option.

D

Random D there, no idea why!

I would recommend languages plus something else as a degree. I’ve worked in international organisations (extremely well paid - eg OECD, OSCE, NATO etc), and have done some translation work (generally not well paid). If you work in one international organisation people often switch between them - it’s not unusual to go from EU to NATO, or OECD to EBRD for example. But you need something else too - a legal or financial/economic background can be useful. Most people have these with languages as an add on. There are a lot of international organisations based in London.

Closer to home, the intelligence services employ linguists, but you would, I imagine, need something a bit more interesting like Russian, Mandarin, Arabic. Also, as someone else mentioned, the immigration service. The Diplomatic Service too, of course.

We had a talk from a member of MI6, I think, it was all very hush hush, we had to sign a privacy agreement. This was at school last year, the students were enthralled! The main language used was Arabic, he said.

Yes, I applied to the Diplomatic Service but didn't get in. Then when I was with Immigration I was seconded for a while to something similar.

I studied languages at university just before 1992 as I thought, naively, that UK companies would realise that it might be helpful to have staff who could speak other languages. Oh, how wrong I was. With the exception of 1 export role, I wasn't offered a job that required foreign languages for about another 20 years. And I soon found out that a languages degree on its own, without anything else added to it, wasn't much use, frankly. I got jobs based on my office and computer skills for a long time.

I now do a tiny amount o translation every now and then on a freelance basis (into English) and I trained as a languages teacher before deciding that really wasn't for me. People I know who work with languages (many of whom are bilingual mother-tongue and English) work in things like computer helpdesk support or as bilingual secretaries/personal assistants. Definitely go for less common languages if you're really keen - if you're really good at Russian, Arabic, or Chinese, roles at places like GCHQ or with the armed services sometimes come up; your other option is to move to another country where you speak the language, as then the fact that you're a native English speaker might come in useful. Although with Brexit on the horizon I'm not sure how plentiful those jobs will be after January. (And COVID-19, of course!)

Really interested to see this thread as I am constantly trying to get the message out there that studying languages doesn't automatically lead to a translator/interpreter/teaching role. There are many companies looking for professionals with the additional skill of language fluency across all sectors, yes a lot of them do require native level skills but with the current challenges in the recruitment market and those potentially presented by Brexit has created greater demand. German is generally more in demand than other languages however we will probably see a shift next year depending on Brexit impact on EU nationals. Do have a look at sites such as www.multilingualvacancies.com where there are a variety of companies advertising language roles so you can get a general idea of what is out there, however do bear in mind current situation is not indicative of the general demand for language speakers!

I have a friend who studied languages at uni and now works as a translator for a government department.

I know your DD isn't keen on translation atm but she loves it - flexible, exciting and great benefits.

She can't tell me much about it as it's confidential and I secretly hope she's a spy .

Same as @sausagepastapot and @WithASpider BSL interpreter!

My children are all into languages. Dd1 aiming at translation and dd2 at foreign office or similar.

Please may I crash this thread and ask if anyone has had to learn a language for a job how did you do it?

Classroom training?
Online such as Babbel, Duolingo?

Ps OP my biggest academic regret was not learning another language when I had the chance. If your DD can bag French, Spanish and German in one that’s amazing.

For me I’ve always wanted to learn Arabic or Russian

I studied languages at uni and it got me my first few jobs - working for a translation agency (doing bookings, not actual translation), a software localisation company and later in investment banking. I've not used them for a long time other than when abroad but I'm still so glad I studied languages.

I agree that studying a language alongside another subject is a very good idea, and choose something that's spoken by a lot of people but not the usual French/German - my languages are a combo of standard European taught in schools and rather more niche :). Agree that Spanish opens up many opportunities but if I had my time again I'd choose Mandarin, Japanese or Korean.

I did French and German to degree level then moved to France and did a masters in business. Having a "bac+5" is important in France to get beyond admin type roles. (Business (ecole de management) or engineering are good).

After my masters doors really were opened by being native English but fluent in French. I became a management consultant and barely used my English. Then moved to international project management with a large company. I wouldnt have that job without both my languages as obviously English is used in the project BUT the conpany is French so need French to communicate with all the French finance, legal, marketing etc teams.

I love it. I studied languages as a doorway to moving abroad. If she's already bilingual it may be worth studying directly in France?