5 Career Path Ideas For Ambitious Language Graduates

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If you’re graduating from University this year, you might be looking for a career to try out in this new stage of your life.

As a History and French graduate, I know how tough it can be to navigate life post-graduation.

Many people presume your only options are teaching or post-graduate degrees – but that’s just not true!

Just because you’ve done a degree that doesn’t naturally lead to a certain career, it doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of career path ideas for ambitious language graduates to try out.

There are so many transferrable skills from a modern language degree. As well as the obvious fact that you can speak and write in a different language, you can also develop your:

• Public speaking
• Research skills
• Writing and editing skills
• Vocabulary

My French degree taught me a few, unexpected things. I learned how to speak in front of other people, as many of our speaking exams took place in front of the class.

I also learned how to get to the point a lot quicker, as French essays always need to be short and succinct!

Even though I don’t use French in my job, it’s great to know that my degree has informed my future career decisions in unknown ways – and I love understanding another language, too.

In this blog post, I’ve put together 5 career path ideas for ambitious language graduates

Translator

If you’re a language graduate, chances are you’ll have done a bit of translating as part of your degree already – so you’ll know whether it’s something you enjoy or not.

Translation is a great option if you’re an ambitious language graduate – and it’s such an interesting and rewarding career path.

You have so many choices when it comes to careers in translation. You could translate books, legal contracts or even newspaper articles.

Teacher

Although I want to offer a few different career options, teaching is still a great choice for any ambitious language graduate!

There are so many options to get involved in teaching as a language graduate. You could train for a PGCE after University, including primary and secondary school teacher training.

You could even teach abroad. From Asia to Europe, many schools are always looking for English teachers – and if you’re fluent in a different language, that’s always a plus too.

Interpreter

As an interpreter, you’ll translate spoken words from one language to another. This might be face-to-face, such as at a meeting, or it can be done remotely, too.

When I worked in a doctor’s surgery, we used to use interpreters when patients couldn’t speak English to make sure they still received the same level of care – and this experience took place over the phone.

You can access quality interpreting services 24/7 in multiple languages, and there are loads of cool extras such as a transcription of your call and digital app options.

Journalist

As with many other humanities degrees, it’s possible to move into journalism and media after a language degree.

The ability to understand another language can help you cover important stories – and this skill opens up so many doors in the media world. You could work in online journalism, print media or even try to get on TV.

Tourism

If you speak another language, there are lots of options to work in tourism when you finish your degree.

You could head abroad and work as a tour guide in a museum or even work as a flight attendant or travel agent. There are so many ways to use your degree in the tourist sector – and it’s a great way to keep up your language skills too.

Are you a language graduate? Do you have any career path ideas for ambitious language graduates? What career did you choose after graduation?

Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below 🙂

Happy reading x