Learning a Foreign language creates job Opportunities

Hello everyone, and welcome to the new post. Today I'm going to talk about a question that I've been getting quite a lot recently, and that is" What kind of job can I do with my foreign language skills?" or "What kind of job should I do if I'm interested in foreign languages?

Now, this is a question that I respect, because I've witnessed a lot of people, investing years of their life into studying a language, kind of with the, assumption that it would naturally improve their career or give them new, opportunities, but without having a plan for how they would use that language.

They didn't really benefit from it and ended up being quite frustrated. So, young people who are asking this question, early on, I think you are thinking about things the right way.

But the answer to, this question depends on just how you imagine your life in the future and how, far you really want to go with your language study.

Now, some jobs are, specifically language-related, other jobs are not specifically-language related, but a foreign language could be an asset; and for other jobs, it's not really, necessary at all, but it might be useful for your overall lifestyle.

I'm going to, talk about those three types of situations. So first up are jobs that are, specifically language-related. For these jobs, you need to have some expertise in, the language; you need to have a deep understanding of the language of the language.

So, the first kind of job is to teach a language. Here in Japan, I know a lot of, people who teach English; I also know people who teach other languages, like, French or Spanish.

Now, even if you don't have a lot of qualifications, there are some, opportunities to teach your language, especially if it's a major global, language, and especially if it's English. But the more qualifications you have, then, of course, the better opportunities you get and the higher pay you can get, the better positions you can find.

Now, if you want to study a foreign language, that's not your native language and then teach that language, then you're looking, at a situation where you really need to get some expertise; you really need to, get qualifications. You should get a master's degree or maybe a PhD or, qualifications that show that you know that language very well at an academic, level, at a deep level, not just a conversational level.

That's if you're, going to teach a language that's not your native language. Now, another type of, job that is language-specific is becoming a translator or an interpreter.

Now, the difference between those, just to clarify, a translator is somebody who, translates texts, they translate written materials from one language to another, but an interpreter is somebody who translates speech; they translate the, things people are saying live, in real time, as they are speaking.

Now, being a, translator or interpreter requires you to have a very deep understanding of, that language, because there's really no room for error or misunderstanding. You, have to translate, sometimes, very important information, and mistakes could, be a big problem, so you need to have very good, almost native-level skills, especially if you're interpreting in real time, but also, you need to learn the skills of, translation or interpreting.

Those are separate skills that you need to learn, on top of knowing the language. So, for these jobs that are specifically, language-related, there's really no room for language dabblers. You really need, to have a comprehensive understanding of that language, and you have to be able to, show that you can use that language at almost a native level.

Next up are jobs, that are not specifically language related; they are basically focused on, another skill that you need, but the language is an additional asset.

The, first kind of job is one that requires some technical expertise, but having a, language on top of that will give you some extra opportunities; so, an example, that I've heard is from an engineer. His company sells some sort of machines to, companies around the world, and they send this engineer to those companies so he, can teach people how to use those machines in their factories.

So, he learns, foreign languages so that he can do that. I believe this guy in particular, was working in Indonesia, so he learned Indonesian to be able to teach those, people in their native language. Another example career is business with a, regional focus; for example, maybe you get a commerce degree, or you get a Masters, of Business Administration, an MBA, but also you have some language skills, and maybe, you work for a company that does business in that region or does business, with companies in that region.

Another example career is the foreign service --, being a diplomat, being someone who works at your country's embassies abroad.

When, you work in the foreign service, I think that often involves some kind of, language training before you are sent abroad, but knowing some languages in, advance before you apply is probably a big asset. Another example is being a, tour guide.

Now, a tour guide's main focus is not the language; it's the history and it's the, anthropology and all of those sorts of things, but having in language that they, can explain things in, that will help them have other opportunities, so maybe, you might specialize in tourists from Japan.

You learn Japanese; you can be a, tour guide for Japanese tourists. Depending on where you live, another option might be to do some other job in the tourism industry or open a, business in the tourism industry.

If you live on Bali Island in Indonesia, then you, would be crazy not to learn English and Japanese and maybe some other languages, that are common amongst tourists.

Another career is being a cabin attendant. Now, their, main focus is on safety training, on emergency response and that kind of, thing, but knowing a language, that's an additional asset probably, they need to, know English in most cases, but they also need to know the language of the country, they're working in or of the destination that they often fly to.

 

Maybe, they don't need to know it fluently, but knowing some of that language will help, them deal with the passengers on the plane; so, if you live in Los Angeles and, you often fly to Asia, then knowing Japanese or Korean or Mandarin or, another language like that would probably be a big asset. Now all of these, jobs I just talked about, they're focused on another important skill, so they're, not focused on language, so you don't need a specific language qualification, in most cases, but you need to be able to demonstrate that you can use that, language on the job.

that's the most important thing. The third type of job I, want to mention is one that doesn't really have any language requirement, but, learning that language would be useful for your off-time and for your overall, lifestyle.

So, let's say that you live in Singapore, and your company does business, in English, then you don't have to learn any other language; people in Singapore, speak English, but nearby is Malaysia and Indonesia; so, let's say you want to, travel there on your off time.

learning Malay or learning Indonesian would be very, useful in that situation, so think about the kind of lifestyle that you want to, have, and think about how languages fit in with that.

Let's say that you want to, live the corporate expat lifestyle in some place like Hong Kong. Then, you can, study Cantonese while you get your finance degree, or you get your MBA or, whatever.

If you want to be a programmer, and you can program from your laptop, anywhere in the world, then think about what country you would like to live in, and, learn the language of that country. If you're an avid traveler, and you love the, idea of living in different countries all the time, then you can learn how to, do businesses on the Internet, and you can learn the language of whatever, countries that you want to spend an extended period of time in.

 

Or if you want, to learn a foreign language, and you want to someday reach an expert level and be, able to teach that language, then plan ahead for that; maybe go for your master's, degree or PhD. Try to really get a deep understanding and overall knowledge of, that language. So, these are just my thoughts on it, based on things that I, know and things that I've heard, but a lot of the viewers have different, perspectives. Some of you probably have jobs that involve foreign languages, so, we want to know what you think. If you have any other ideas or any questions, about this topic, leave them down below.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day.

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