With the cost of living rising in the UK and inflation hitting 9.9% in August 2022, many people are considering their career options and seeking new opportunities to earn more. If you are planning to establish a successful language-based career in the UK, there are several skills that you will need if you want to maximise your income. We will walk you through five of these, starting with the obvious – language skills – before moving on to some skills that might surprise you.
1. Language skills
Clearly, if you are planning a language-based career, your language skills will need to be tip-top. That said, the particular language skills that you need will depend upon the career that you are pursuing. Let’s use the French language as our example here.
If you plan on providing French translation services for a living, for example, then clearly your written French language skills will need to be superb. Delivering a French translation service means you will need to be fluent in French and also knowledgeable in any specialist subject areas that you offer, such as medical French translation services or legal French translation. You can work freelance when translating or take up a role providing official French translation services for a company full-time.
How much does a French translator cost? This will depend entirely on the work being undertaken, whether any specialist knowledge is required and how you price the delivery of your French language translation services. At the time of writing, French translation is available with leading translation agencies at $0.10/£0.10 per word, while Upwork’s French to English translation freelancers are charging $15-26 per hour. How many words can you translate per hour? You’ll need to factor that in too. Be sure that the numbers stack up for your personal circumstances before launching your new language career.
For a career as an interpreter, meanwhile, your spoken language skills will need to be in top shape and to be combined with the ability to process hearing one language and delivering it in another in real-time. Delivering written English to French translation services (or translation services from French to English) is a surprisingly different undertaking from verbally interpreting. Be sure to pursue the career path that best suits your particular language skills.
To be a language teacher, you’ll also need outstanding language skills, as well as the ability to think playfully and creatively about how you engage pupils in learning. French is currently the most popular language GCSE in the UK (though Spanish is tipped to overtake it by 2026), so there are plenty of opportunities to teach it within schools.
If you prefer the flexibility of teaching outside of school hours, there’s plenty you can do to build a language-based career. Working with parents who have English as an additional language can help both the parents and their offspring learn, for example.
2. Self-management skills
No matter the kind of language-based career you plan to pursue in the UK, you’ll need great self-management skills if you want to unlock your true potential.
Self-management skills are all about managing your potential and maximising your career opportunities. One way that you can do this is by improving your professional qualifications. For those working in the language industry, that presents a range of opportunities. If you want to teach in the UK, for example, you could study for a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE). If you want to showcase the strength of your translation skills, you could undertake a Level 7 Diploma in Translation (DipTrans).
By taking responsibility for your actions and carving out time in your life to hone your skills, you will be doing all you can to make your career a success. Self-management takes commitment and discipline but the potential rewards are well worth the effort.
3. Networking skills
No matter which language career you choose, you need to meet the right people to establish it. This is where networking skills come in. They can enable you to mix with new people in a way that gets the best out of each interaction, without you coming across as overly pushy (something which would not go down well in most settings in the UK).
Do you need to build up a client base for your work as a professional French translator? Would it help to work your way into the local school community, while you hunt down the perfect teaching position? Either way, you’ll need networking skills to ensure you get to know the people you need to and maximise your opportunities.
4. Communication skills
Communication skills play an important role in networking but also extend well beyond that. Whether it’s understanding body language signs or simply expressing yourself clearly over the phone, good communication is key to keeping your clients happy.
While both nature and nurture can impact our communication skills, they are also something that can be improved at any age. Why not tie this into your self-management plan and target yourself with enhancing your communication skills as part of achieving your career growth goals?
5. Positivity
You can feel the positivity (or lack thereof) in someone’s voice as soon as they answer the phone. Yet positivity isn’t just an attitude – it’s a necessary skill.
There’s plenty going on in the world at present that can be a drain on even the sunniest nature, but by proactively nurturing your positivity you can develop a ‘can do’ mindset that will fill your clients/students/all those around you with faith that you can achieve and deliver what they need.
It’s possible to continuously grow your skills in each of the five areas we’ve mentioned above. Doing so will mean you are well positioned to get the most out of your UK-based language career. Start by assessing your current skill level honest in each of these areas and identifying your strengths and weaknesses. Then work out the opportunities for growth that each of those weaknesses presents and get to work on doing something about them!