ENGLISH IS NOT
THE ONLY LANGUAGE
SPOKEN WORLDWIDE!
Which languages are widely
spoken?
•
•
•
•
•
•
1) CHINESE (876,000,000 PEOPLE)
2) SPANISH (322,300,000)
3) ENGLISH (309,350,000)
4) GERMAN (100,000,000)
5)FRENCH (64,850,000)
AND MANY MORE LANGUAGES!
WHICH JOBS CAN YOU GET
IF YOU STUDY LANGUAGES?
It’ll Get You a Job
A few facts about
Language graduates and the
jobs they go into
Business Services
Banking / Finance
Wholesale / Retail
Manufacturing
Public Administration
Community / Social Services
Education
Transport / Communications
Hotels & Restaurants
International Organisations
Other Areas
26.9%
13.1%
11.8%
10.1%
7.9%
7.7%
6.5%
5.7%
3.7%
0.2%
2.5%
It’ll Get You a Job
“Being able to speak other
languages is a skill that
gets you ahead”
The UK trades with over 200 countries
worldwide
Businesses – large, medium and small
– need employees with foreign
language skills
They also need people who are happy
operating across cultures
It’ll Get You a Job
It’s not just
language skills either
Employers say they value the key skills
developed by language learners – these
include:
communication skills • team working skills
interpersonal skills • presentational skills
problem solving skills • organisational skills
good learning strategies…
…can you think of any more?
EARN MORE MONEY!
• Graduates with languages are very
employable. In fact, a recent report by the
Higher Education Funding Council for
England indicated that after 3.5 years, the
mean salary of language graduates is
higher than that of graduates of
Engineering, Mathematical Sciences,
Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry.
•YOU GET TO
VISIT OTHER
COUNTRIES!
It Gets You Places
Language degrees often
involve some time working or
studying abroad
This might involve living in a European
country… or further afield in Africa, Asia,
Latin America or North America
Students on non-language degrees can
sometimes choose to go abroad on
student exchanges
What languages can I study
What sorts of subjects can I
study with a language?
• business, economics, marketing and
management
• arts and humanities
• science, engineering and computing
• area studies
• leisure and tourism
To recap…
It’ll get you a job
It’s exciting
It gets you places
You’ll meet new people
You can enjoy new cultures
You’ll find out more about yourself
KNOWING
LANGUAGES
MAKES YOU
DIFFERENT
AND GETS YOU
PLACES!
Give yourself the edge… they did!
Match the names on the left to the degrees on the right:
J. K. Rowling
Chinese Language and Culture
Author (Harry Potter)
(1990)
Paula Radcliffe
Athlete
European Studies
(1982)
Lucy Liu
Film star
French and German
(1983)
Jonathan Ross
TV and Radio Presenter
Modern European Studies
(1996)
Rory Bremner
Comedian
Greek and Latin
(1999)
Fiona Bruce
Newsreader
French and Classics
(1987)
Chris Martin
Musician (Coldplay)
Medieval and Modern Languages
(1983)
Nigella Lawson
TV Chef
French and Italian
(1986)