You may be getting mixed messages about studying Modern Foreign Languages. Every summer there is news of the declining numbers of students taking a language at GCSE. When this became optional in 2004, many voted to abandon language learning which they found “too boring” or “too hard”.

You will often hear this question asked, because English is an established global language. However, we live in a dynamic world where other European and Asian languages are increasingly used to communicate internationally. That is why Modern Languages are valued by UK industry and government as a subject in the national interest, and also why language students have a very high success rate in finding employment.

Language skills are increasingly valued by employers of all types and sizes. Over recent years graduates of languages have been more successful in the job market than business or marketing graduates. Contrary to what most people say or believe, language graduates go into a very wide range of jobs and only a small percentage go into teaching, or translating and interpreting work.

Languages can help you to get on in many exciting areas of work. They make the job more international, you can get to travel more, meet people from lots of different cultures and even take on new responsibilities – just because you speak the lingo, the customer’s language. Did you know that customers on-line are four times more likely to buy when addressed in their mother tongue?  Surprised?

A career in library and information work is not what you expect, and it never has been. You’re aware of libraries from childhood and you may think of them as gateways to amazing new worlds. But just because the librarian offers you that world you don’t necessarily want to follow them in their profession. They have done their work and now you want to explore that world they have opened up.

Love to read? Do you want to discover the next JK Rowling or Anne Fine? Then perhaps a career as a book editor may be for you. Editors are responsible for the style and content of publications. In book publishing, a commissioning editor selects the authors a publisher uses and the books to be printed, while copy-editors check articles for consistency and style.