Back to school: inspiring the next generation of linguists
It was back to school for us recently when we dropped in at Newquay Tretherras School (NTS) to chat with a group of students about using languages at work.
We’d been invited in by NTS’s careers coordinator, Sara Jeffery – herself a super-keen language teacher – to talk about how useful it can be to speak a foreign language in the workplace. Our aim was to focus on the wide range of job roles available for language speakers, to demonstrate how speaking a second (or even third) language can help you stand out from the crowd in the eyes of an employer and to emphasise to the students that you can earn a good living at the same time as travelling the world and having fun.
The students were learning French and Spanish, so we took along our wonderful in-house team of French translators who were keen to share their own experiences. We talked about how our own individual paths had led us to AJT, sharing our love of languages, where this had stemmed from, what we’d studied and where we’d travelled and worked. We provided an insight into what we do at AJT, how we translate, and some of the fabulous clients we work for, and then we delved further into the roles of interpreter, linguist and language teacher. Finally, we tried to make things real for the students, by showcasing some of the jobs for language speakers on offer in the UK and Europe right now. Did you know you could work as a Games Tester for SEGA? Or a Programme Manager for Amazon Robotics?
Here at AJT we’re passionate about all things language related. We understand first-hand how speaking another language can open doors both professionally and personally and provide fascinating life-changing opportunities. There’s no doubt that in a global marketplace the world can truly be your oyster when you speak a foreign language; we hope we went some way to help inspire and motivate the next generation of young local language learners.
