Thoughts from Alexika Managing Director Mark Robinson…
It was such a pleasure to be part of a panel recently talking to language students at Lancaster University on the subject of careers. Panellists all had language degrees from Lancaster, and all still very much retained their love of languages and travel – but the range of careers was very varied. Between us, we had extensive experience of:
- Translation (freelance and for a translation company)
- International sales and marketing
- Policy advisor for UK government’s Department of Transport
- Technology sourcing & Management Consultancy
- Head of Trade Policy at a national business organisation
- Marketing Design and Copywriter
- Teaching
….and I’m aware of many, many more careers that linguists have followed. So not only does studying languages open up appreciation of and access to different cultures, it can also be a starting point for a wealth of career opportunities.
It was so refreshing to hear that others enjoyed their languages studies as much as I did and were building on them in so many different ways. We agreed on the value of the ‘year abroad’ as part of a language degree to truly appreciate a different culture. Listening to the current students, I was left in particular thinking about the world that future linguists will be working with in the decades to come.
For those whose degree leads to a career with languages, technology will surely be a key factor. With the relentless march of technologies such as neural machine translation and artificial intelligence, it is more important than ever that students learn the full breadth of skills required to truly work with other languages and cultures. As the technology advances, it will become more vital that human linguists are there to interpret and control machine output when and where it is used.
Linked to this, it will become more important than ever that linguists continue to learn and update their knowledge after formal study. One good way to do this in the UK is to join an organisation like the Chartered Institute of Linguists – and, if working in translation or interpreting, become a Chartered Linguist. My final tip to the language students was to take up the offer of free membership of the Institute whilst a student! My final thought was just how important it is that children enjoy learning languages at school, so that they consider taking their studies on to university…