This autumn, staff from QUB Languages have been working with schools to promote an initiative focusing on the creation of Language Hubs across Northern Ireland to raise awareness of the many skills and opportunities open to students who study more than one language.

Learning a language is about more than just the grammar and the vocabulary, important those these are. Soft skills developped in a language degree, such as problem solving, communication, cultural awareness, flexible thinking, resiliance, and independence, to name but a few, are core to the abilities that language students bring to potential employers. 

To date, QUB Language staff have had the opportunity to speak to nearly 500 Year 12 students at Hubs in Armagh, Ballymena, and Portadown, with collaboration from a range of alumni who have shared their career experiences and advice on choosing subjects to study at A level. We have been able to show how QUB language students have gone on to success in careers at home and abroad, such as diplomacy, banking, TV and film distribution, agri-food industry, journalism, live subtitling, financial crime prevention, technology development and support, management, and many others.

After attending the Hub students from Ballymena Academy reported that:

“When staff from Queen’s University, Belfast came to speak to us about learning languages beyond GCSE level, it was very beneficial. I discovered how many different options there are for studying a language and realised how many job opportunities are available to you when you learn another language. I also learnt that studying a language can give you so many great life skills, like communication and confidence and can very much improve your life and career rather than restrict it.” (Peter)

And the benefits of meeting together across the schools was a highlight which could be built on for future events:

“During our Language Hub we heard all about the benefits of going on to do a language degree. We learned that even if you do a language degree you can go on to do a job in any sphere of work. We really enjoyed learning about all the different areas you can work with a language. However, we would have loved to have had the opportunity to talk with the other pupils from different schools and do some activities together.” (Grace)

Students from Portadown College found that:

“Being at the Languages Hub showed me the wide variety of jobs a language could help you get. It was fun being around students from other schools, seeing possible career paths and getting information about studying a language at different stages. I didn’t know you could do a degree in one subject like languages, then a Masters in something else, which interests me for the future. I also saw some alternative job ideas and think I might reassess my A-Level choices, as Spanish may be useful in my future career. It was definitely very useful.”

It has been an enriching experience for QUB staff to meet and work with teachers across all these schools who are so committed to enriching the experience of their students and tirelessly promoting the benefits of language learning. It is great to see so many keen students still taking languages to GCSE and we look forward to the upcoming Language Hubs taking place in the spring semester.

Dr Fiona Clark (Spanish) and Dr Daniel McAuley (French) spoke to over 200 students from Ballymena Academy, St Louis Grammar School, and Cambridge House Grammar School

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Any schools wishing to take part in learning about careers and skills through languages in the 2024-25 academic year, can complete the Expression of Interest form