We were delighted to attend Eastwood High School’s careers fair on 30 October and Williamwood High School’s careers fair on 11 November. We are always eager discuss the language services industry with passionate students and their parents, and we take pride in inspiring students who aren’t yet sure about their career paths to include language learning in their education. We strongly believe that languages can take you anywhere, whether you’re passionate about languages themselves or sports, healthcare or the arts. While it’s fantastic that many students enjoy learning Spanish, French or Mandarin at school, we’re always careful to remind students that any languages that they speak at home can be useful for their personal and career development too.
Diana and I shared insights into what’s involved in language services, and how to get here, with S1-S6 pupils across the two local high schools. For many students, this was the first time they had met professionals from the sector and had considered the differences between translation, interpreting and localisation. Many were excited about the prospect of helping others to live great lives in the UK through public sector interpreting, with others sure that they could be organised enough to project manage. Parents had questions about the effects that AI is having on the industry and were reassured that AI is a tool for us to leverage rather than a replacement for human linguists. While some students were sceptical that learning a language would be useful for their career or personal interest, many were surprised at how many benefits language learning has no matter what you do.
A huge thank you to Eastwood High School and Williamwood High School for having us! We look forward to returning again next year and welcome future collaborations to support students as they explore the world of languages and strenghten their career prospects.
