This Is Disappointing.

Well in Scottish public schools know one wants to do languages at all. From my experience it is the courses, they are all so patronising and dull. And most of the kids in my school don't want to do language because the teachers are horrible too.

My school only does higher Spanish high only has 5 pupils in it. They asked if people wanted to do French. One person put there name down

Languages are completely useless. I know, I've done a language degree. Teenagers are now hardened to the economic depression, and so "safe" career choices are being made, and earlier. There is no room for dreams and idealism for these teenagers, whose youth has been cruelly ripped away by the austerity ideology.

Without trying to generalise or offend anyone the British parochial view and belief that others should speak English rather than aspire to speak other languages is particularly culpable for this decline. This year there were only 2 students in my A level French class (I and one other).


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If you don't mind me asking, what language did you study and where? I honestly didn't even consider a language degree until recently. And I'm not a teenager. But I would rather do something I love and be poor.


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Languages are completely useless. I know, I've done a language degree. Teenagers are now hardened to the economic depression, and so "safe" career choices are being made, and earlier. There is no room for dreams and idealism for these teenagers, whose youth has been cruelly ripped away by the austerity ideology.

The post you quoted has to be the worst pile of *******s I've read in a long time. Languages aren't a "safe" option, they're an option that leaves so many doors open you could do anything you want, from working in banking to working for the UN. There are so many areas where having a language is useful and makes you stand out from the rest, it's probably one of the most versatile degrees ever.

I just worked in an academic library for a year, and now I'm gonna read security studies. Common denominator? Russian. A friend of mine's done German at university and he's regularly sent on trips to German-speaking countries by his marketing company. A couple more friends have gone into banking, one's gone back to Russia to teach English and a few went on to work in Egypt.

The opportunities are endless, but you have to take it upon yourself to find them. Do things that will make you stand out, get involved in activities, get a part-time job while studying, volunteer, etc. It's not just about having good grades, it's also about acquiring skills. And moving abroad for a year to study another language? Well, it shows you're independent, resourceful, communicative in more ways than one, and the rigour of a language degree will do wonders to your CV.

So don't worry about being poor, with languages, there's a chance you'll get to do what you love and get a decent pay grade as well. And you get a new culture as well, money can't buy that.

Scrot; you cannot possibly believe that because you have studied a language degree, you are now the authoritative voice on the value of a MFL degree? No, you have just an opinion, but what is it based on? I disagree with your point about a language degree being completely useless, as it is obviously an incredibly foolish thing to say, however I agree with your second sentence. Teenagers and school leavers are going to continue being pressured by their increasingly worried parents who will no doubt feel despair at the market the graduate is going to find themselves in, and perhaps in this drive for the guaranteed career the freedom to fulfil dreams and aspirations are being pushed to the wayside to create room for financial stability and the career ladder.

It seems now that the focus is that education, and indeed a degree, is a means to an end and not the intellectual journey of constant questioning, learning and personal fulfilment that it might perhaps have been in the Age of Enlightenment. I imagine some degrees will always be goal focussed, as by their very nature the study of them is to compose solutions to a problem, such as engineering and physics. Languages, however, are not goal oriented as they do not lead you to a defined place at the end. Perhaps, Anatheme, this is why he presented the 'safety' argument, and in your post you provide the perfect reasons why.

I once read that from somewhere on here whilst a language degree gives you many skills that potential employers desire, it doesn't point you in much of a direction either.

The onus is on the student to look within themselves and think about where they want to go, what they want to do, what strengths they have, do they want to teach or go into another sector etc. You said it yourself, the opportunities are endless but you have to be willing to prepare yourself for them and seek them out yourself. Perhaps this is why the average student would not consider a language degree, as they may perhaps find the open-ended nature of language study directionless for them to even know where to begin at the other end, and so seek to avoid the risk of being without a defined path and study a safer option instead.

I completely misread the post as saying languages were safe when it was actually saying they're not as that's why they're rubbish. I'll blame the fact that it was early and I was annoyed by the "languages are useless" argument. I'll just go hide, now.

Don't worry! I like your enthusiasm for the subject!


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I completely misread the post as saying languages were safe when it was actually saying they're not as that's why they're rubbish. I'll blame the fact that it was early and I was annoyed by the "languages are useless" argument. I'll just go hide, now.

Hah, why? The rest of your post contributed to the topic at hand. You illustrated how diverse language graduates are and just what it takes to make the most out of them. You shouldn't have deleted your post!

I didn't?