Seventy three per cent of modern languages graduates would recommend a languages degree despite almost half believing their degree did not get them a job, according to a survey by the South West Londoner.
Forty eight per cent of modern language graduates believed their degree did not help them get a job.
This comes as some English universities are cutting language courses.
Amy Burns graduated with a Bachelors in Spanish and Russian in 2024, has a Masters in International Relations and currently works in hospitality in Clapham.
She said: “I absolutely do not regret studying languages.
“I loved learning about how they work, the different idioms that exist in different languages and how emotions are expressed and also the history and culture that is tied to a language.
“I was raised to think that it’s important to follow what your passions are regardless of how much money you will make out of it.
“Even though I’m not currently working in international relations, I know that the languages I’ve learnt will help me get into that career eventually.”
Amy added that people often assume that she wants to become a teacher or translator when hearing that she studied a language.
She said: “I think it’s quite common in the UK to not understand how learning a language is something that is useful beyond those careers because English is so widely spoken.”
“So far, my language skills have helped me when travelling and I’ve made a lot of friends because of it.
“I’ve got friends across the world and could only really make some of those friendships because I spoke their language as they don’t speak English.
“Language learning is not just learning about verbs and nouns, you’re learning about cultures, people and how the world works.”
Twenty three per cent of respondents regretted taking a language, with 43% of those stating that the reason of regret was because they believed languages are no longer considered important in the workplace.
Despite this, 96% of respondents believed that learning a language is important and of the yes respondents, 72% said that they’re important to learn because it has helped them connect with other people.
Max Temple is an A-level French language tutor who has noticed a decline in students coming forward for tutoring.
He said: “I think the decline in people choosing to take languages at university is partly because of the worry that they’re ‘mickey mouse’ degrees.
“But, I would encourage people to study them anyway because they open so many doors to work and travel.”
Amy said: “My family has always been supportive of my choice but they were definitely unsure of what my future job prospects would be.
“I do know people who studied a language that regret it, though.
“A lot of them wish they’d studied another subject alongside a language.
“However, I understand why they think that way because of the rise of AI and how bad the job market is getting.”
“I think that having a language degree nowadays is not enough.
“Often you need to do more training such as a masters or vocational course which I can understand might put people off deciding to do it as an undergrad and can make some people regret choosing to study a language.”
Featured image credit: Timur Shakerzianov via Unsplash
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