Work Experience suggestions needed for 15yo linguist

[ShabbyFlabby]

15yo DD is currently in year 10 and her school has started to talk to them about planning and arranging their own work experience to be carried out in the school holidays anytime between now and Xmas.

DD wants to be a translator/interpreter and has done for the past 4 years. She says she would consider being a language teacher but ideally wants to translate/interpret.

She is very good at her languages and is taking 3 MFL for GCSE (French, Spanish and German). She loves linguistics and is also studying Ancient Greek and Latin. French is her strongest language and the one she is most confident with.

I am yet to get the official parents pack about work experience but gather from a friend with an older DD at the school the pack is pretty useless.

I am trying to think of places that may be suitable for DD to apply for some work experience in a setting that may suit her interest in languages and linguistics.

Some of the girls in her school have apparently arranged their work experience and are going to Norway, Los Angeles, Italy etc for some of theirs!!!!! All family connections apparently.

I dont neccessarily want her to go abroad (at age 15 and no family links I doubt it would be viable).

Hell of alot has obviously changed in the last 30 years. In my day the few that did work experience did it at the local shop or hairdressers and did lots of coffee making and floor sweeping!

I am asking fellow mumsnetters for some ideas really. We are in the Bristol area and have family in the midlands and south wales that she could stay with if needed. Any ideas anyone?

Places like the Goethe Institute or other similar cultural institutes. I think there's a French one.

Language Line is a translation service used widely. I don't know where they're based but the use home based translators.

A language teaching class might be easiest.

However, what about finding out if there are any international companies in Bristol that work with clients from abroad? Advertising maybe? They will use the linguistic side as I'd imagine nuances of language required.

Any importers/exporters?

What about foreign language lecturers at the uni or linguistics lecturers? Bristol uni or Cardiff?

Also the courts will use translation services so you could approach Bristol Crown Court and see who they use. Not quite as glam as LA however

Any French firms near you? Or shipping companies or airlines? Anything with one foot in Europe that might transact some of its business intentionally, or deal with a Hed Office overseas?

I think it's such a shame they are still doing work experience in year 10, so many places won't take them for meaningful places because of insurance. Grrr. It should be changed to a week of shadowing in Year 8 and then an actual 2-week placement at post 16 considering post 16 is now compulsory.

Local colleges might be a good bet - they won't have insurance issues because they have students under 16 anyway. I teach English as a foreign language and did a CELTA in a college which also taught EFL and observing the classes was really interesting. She'd also probably get to talk directly to the EFL students which is again really eye opening.

Worth looking at if things keep being discounted because of insurance issues, anyway!

I think Bertie has a good point.

Also, any educational establishment would be a good idea as if she wants to do translation, she'll need to study languages I'd expect, so seeing what a college is like, might be good anyway, for a different reason?

How about helping with an ESOL class - The International House in Bristol?

f she could stay with anyone in Berkshire there is the BBC Monitoring service, translates news items from around the world and I believe students from local schools have had experience there.

Gah, EFL/ESOL. I can never remember which way around it is but it's taken much more seriously in the UK. Elsewhere they just call it "English"

Thank you. There are some brilliant ideas there.

I agree with you bertie and I had thought the inursance side would be a problem in many places.

I am actually at college at the moment and my tutor does also teach Spanish so I already had considered that. I will look into all everyone has suggested though.

The BBC in Berkshire sounds interesting.

Thank you everyone I am really grateful.

Universities as someone suggested may be better than colleges as I'm sure there would be students happy to talk to her about student/university life and/or their subject, too. They often have creches on site so will be insured for under 16s as well.

How about something more historical based to link in with the ancient languages, like a museum or artefact centre? Something to do with archaology or old records? Warwick University has an absolutely fascinating records centre (talking paper records, BTW, not music) although I have a feeling they only go back to 20th/19th century, but they would be able to advise on where they hold older records.

-If you search on YELL.com for translators & interpreters, there are quite a few around Bristol & S Wales.

• kids language clubs?

• language department in school?

• Airbus in Filton have connections in France

Is Gloucester too far? This company is advertising in the jobs section, maybe they would consider taking somebody for work experience?
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/jobs/1983361-Part-time-French-German-Customer-Service-in-Gloucester

She could look for local translation companies and contact them to see if she could go in and help out in the office.
If she wants to be a translator then it would be good for her to get an idea of the work that needs to be done other than the translating, i.e. proofreading, editing, using translation software etc. Some agencies now take on newly qualified language graduates as translation interns, so now could be a great time to start building up contacts and experience!
I'm a translator, btw, and wish these options had been available to me when I was 15!

:-)

I would ask around the other parents in the school and find out what jobs they have/people they know. Our school used to end up with some very interesting placements purely from people's parents/neighbours/aunties etc.

possible areas to look at I would think would be law, language teaching, University International Recruitment, even any local person offering language sessions for groups of children or adults might be worth a try for experience (they might be more open to giving a student the opportunity), large businesses which have international links, do hospitals have translation services? Any publishing houses in Bristol that might do language text books? Immigration? lots of African countries speak French so whilst French people can just come here and usually speak English French is a language that the Immigration offices will presumably have to offer as standard.

Hi! It’s so nice that as early as now, she knows what she wants. Entering the field of [[http://www.logicaltranslations.com/translation-services.html
translation services]] might also be the best choice for her to do after studies. I’m sorry if I can’t give an exact answer to your question but I’m really glad that she has her life figured out already. Good luck, anyway!