Despite the fact that industries are forever growing and branching into offshoots, we still have quite a narrow view about how valuable different forms of education are to a whole range of careers. In particular, there are a lot who dont put a lot of stock in languages. However, in a world thats more connected and more communicative than ever, an extra language could be just what you need to get that job.
Returning the favor
Learning a language can be valuable enough not just for the linguistic skills you get. It can also be a great step into returning the favor and going on to teach language yourself. You can use what youve learned from your experience and an online ESL masters to teach English in the country whose maiden language youve learned. Or you can go on to get further qualified in the language youve learned and teach it to other native English speakers.
The new language of marketing
Marketing is a language that all businesses are learning to speak more fluently and many of them would like to speak it in as many different countries as possible. To that end, they have need of translation and localization services. There are plenty of people starting their own businesses or working in-house to translate and make culturally appropriate the campaigns of not only private companies but all kinds of organizations. As you might have guessed, you need a little more than the linguistic knowledge to succeed in this field. Its a good idea to spend some time in the country of the language that youre hoping to work in so you can understand the culture as well. Localizers dont just translate. They make sure that the end result is culturally relevant to the audience as well as linguistically relevant.
They key to a global market
Language knowledge can help you in all kinds of jobs, even administrative tasks. More businesses are trying their hands overseas. They need not only marketers but staff that can help them expand. It can be your opportunity to explore a new country through your career, too. Your language makes your valuable to a business even if youre not doing a job thats specifically related to that language.
Join the community
You can do a lot of the overseas work for your employer from the comfort of your home country, too. A lot of online companies have large communities that extend overseas, especially in video games. In the games industry, in particular, companies look for community representatives online that can keep in touch, get feedback, and show support for their worldwide player-bases. Of course, video game companies arent the only ones in need of community representatives as more and more industries put more effort into growing their own online hubs.
Of course, the choice of language you take will also have an impact in how broad a range there is for your skills. You can find jobs with relevance to all languages, but those most in demand are Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, and Arabic.