University languages

I want to do two languages at university;
French and another language.
Are there any particular other languages which are seen as more employable? I’m not looking to work in a specific country so I was wondering what is the most useful language?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

I suspect no European languages are more "useful" than any other. Non-European languages might be less common and may be able to carve a niche on the basis of knowing that somehow.

Generally speaking it's likely you'll be going into a job where your language study isn't particularly necessary/relevant unless working in the EU or something so just whatever you find interesting and enjoyable to study (not only the language but also the literature/history/culture/contemporary society and politics of). If you want to go into a role where you will be using your language skills outside of working in a particular country abroad, you really need to start with the language you intend to learn and go from there.

Linguistically speaking of course the Romance languages are more closely related than others so might have some synergy as a result in terms of your learning :smile:

Reply 2

melancollege

Universities Forum Helper

It very much depends on the industries you're hoping to go into afterwards. I would also recommend having a look at what you may study in your language(s): literature, culture, etc. and let that assist in your decision. There isn't a single answer of the most useful language alongside French.

Reply 3

University of Sheffield Students

Official Rep

Original post

by Kayak1

Hi Kayak1, 👋

It's great to hear you are interested in doing multiple languages at university.

At the University of Sheffield, we have a Modern Languages teaching centre (MLTC) which offers over 15 languages, including the romantic languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese), as well as East-Asian languages (Korean, Japanese), and Slavic languages (Czech, Russian, Polish), and even more! I have previously studied French here and the teaching and support was amazing! 👏

It might be useful to think about what kinds of countries you would be interested in working in the future and what languages you might need. French will open up countries like Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. While languages like Spanish will open up South American countries and Caribbean countries. 😃

Also there are a lot of similarities between the romantic languages so it might be easier to pick up another of these. But again it depends on where you can imagine yourself working after your studies!

For any more questions on studying languages, or about our MLTC, please let me know! 😊

All best wishes,
Phoebe
Student Ambassador - PhD in English Literature

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