Talk to me about modern languages degrees please!

[Carlacollection]

After much prodding, my year 12 daughter has finally got round to thinking about universities and has decided she wants to take modern languages. She is doing French and Spanish for A levels but wants to start German at Uni as well. Do all unis allow three languages does anyone know? What else should she be looking out for please???

Unless she wants to teach MFL, my suggestion would be to do a joint honours with a subject such as Business. I say this as a person who has a passion for languages and who knows many others with languages degrees. The problem is that often it’s hard to get jobs using the languages and just MFL puts a lot of eggs in one basket. I totally understand that she wants to follow her interests but it may be worth reducing that risk.

I actually agree (counter to what a lot of people say here) that a degree in MFL does not particularly open lots of doors. Maybe I and my peers went about it the wrong way but I know very few MFL grads whose job is directly related apart from teachers.

That’s not an issue mind – all kinds of grad roles are open to you, just as they are to so many graduates who didn’t take med or vet or accountancy or whatever other vocational degree you want to name. There is no job as “linguist” (any more than there is a job as “English literature buff” lol) but languages will be useful all over the place, in unexpected ways (like the role I have now in a marketing agency that does work for brands in France and Austria!) but not necessarily required. I don’t think adding business adds anything that's needed, unless someone wants to do a degree in business of course. I added philosophy hahaha which was a real waste of time. Two MFL would have been much better.

In terms of German ab initio – yes sadly, this is more and more common. Quick google suggests that those offering it include York, Cambridge and Warwick. Most of them tho probably as so few schools offer it. In DS2’s A level year, only one secondary school in my city had anyone taking A level German (out of at least six plus a sixth-form college) – his as it goes (not him tho haha).

I do not think you need business if you do an academic MFL course and get work experience along the way. MFL students can easily compete with history, politics, classics, psychology, sociology, English, film, philosophy, law and IR grads (to name a few) for jobs. With MFLs they are arguably more desirable. The most important thing is to hone transferable skills snd get to the best university. Trying to work out a career during uni can work well as uni careers fairs and officers really help. Business grads don’t necessarily do better than MFL grads. MFL grads just have to make sure they target the right jobs and acquire the right skills.

Interesting observation in the latest Oxford Report on the Value of the Humanities: 'graduates with language skills have greater financial returns than their peers and transition into the labour market in a smoother way.' [p. 65]

@Annasoror That doesn’t surprise me. Oxford grads have all the tools to do this. Plus many have ambition and intelligence, mix with similar peers and, it appears, know how to use it. So do plenty of others if they accept the value of challenging themselves in the same way Oxford grads are challenged. They also all spend a year abroad which is great for the cv too. Plus it certainly fosters resilience!