How Studying Languages and Living Abroad Can Help You
/“If you stumble across an opportunity, give it a go. The worst that can happen is they say no or you never hear back. In my opinion, that’s so much better than thinking ‘what if…?’”
AUTHOR: LARA BRETT
Lara Brett studies Contemporary European Studies at the University of Bath in the UK. After working abroad in Vienna during her undergraduate degree, she became interested in European politics and foreign policy journalism. She is also a co-founder of the Reclaim the Campus campaign. This aims to tackle the issue of sexual violence in UK Higher Education by raising awareness of the issue and seeing what measures education providers currently have in place to protect their students. Lara also loves travelling, reading, and Netflix.
When I was at school, I always loved studying languages. Language classes combined my interests in literature, history, politics, and other cultures and gave me the basics of two European languages. I decided to use these interests in my degree, studying French and German for my undergrad before deciding to go into politics. These two languages are spoken widely in EU institutions and I thought I’d be able to put them to good use during my Politics Masters.
In this blog post, I’m going to explain how studying languages and living abroad in Germany and Austria has helped me in my career and how it could help you too.
1. Being able to speak to people in their language:
As a Brit, people are often pleasantly surprised when they discover I can speak French and German - after all, three-quarters of Brits don’t speak another language. Having proficiency in other languages not only impressed people during my year abroad but made navigating the German train system much easier and helped me communicate with my French classmates during my Masters. I even picked up some French slang!
You don’t have to do a year abroad or a languages degree to learn another language, which is great news since studying and working abroad have become harder for us Brits post-Brexit. You can start small - use Duolingo or other language learning apps to learn a few basic phrases, or see if your university or local college offers evening classes. Then give them a try on tandem learning apps or once travel opens up again.
You can even try and find a native speaker to practise with through a tandem app, go abroad in your holidays or watch Netflix with subtitles, to get used to hearing a language spoken. In my experience, native speakers appreciate it when you give their language a go so it’s always worth learning as much as you can!
2. Learning clear communication skills in your language:
The first part of my year abroad in Germany was a disaster: bad accommodation, problems at work, and no home friends that lived near me. Looking back, I could have avoided some of these issues if I had been more outspoken.
Lots of people were happy to speak to me in English and I should have taken advantage of that and asked for more help. Doing a year abroad is all about practising your foreign language skills, but my experience also taught me the importance of effective communication in my language.
Living abroad alone forces you to become much more independent than living in your home country. You have to adapt to different cultural norms and overcome a language barrier whilst finding somewhere to live and navigating a new workplace or university. It is probably one of the hardest things you will ever do. It can go wrong, but it can teach you some valuable lessons and help your personal growth.
I’m not the best person to give advice here, but, in short, don’t do what I did! Be honest when people ask you how you’re doing and take all the help that you can get.
3. Becoming more resilient:
During my year abroad in Germany, I wanted to spend a summer in France to improve my French. After months of searching, I managed to get an internship offer, but unfortunately, it fell through. I was gutted, but the experience made me realise how difficult the job market is, and sometimes things don’t work out. It made me even more determined to find something.
If an opportunity falls through, it’s ok to be sad about it. You probably spent hours researching that company and it’s understandably frustrating when something doesn’t work out. That said, try not to dwell on it for too long. Ask for feedback, try to take it on board, and start again.
4. Getting an internship:
By chance, my university careers website posted an opening for an internship position in Vienna a month or two after my original internship offer fell through. The position sounded amazing and I never thought I’d hear back from them, but the opportunity was too good to turn down. I applied, had my interview and got it. I spent three months interning at a university in Vienna in summer 2019 and loved it.
If you stumble across an opportunity, give it a go. The worst that can happen is they say no or you never hear back. In my opinion, that’s so much better than thinking ‘what if…?’
5. Opening up new options:
During my internship in Vienna, I worked in the international office. This is where staff organise student exchange programmes and give international students at their university information about accommodation, local attractions and the uni itself. I loved being able to speak both English and German every day and it was so interesting to find out about the different types of study abroad opportunities that university offered.
When reading through applicant CVs to help my colleagues find the next intern, I realised that lots of applicants studied some form of politics or IR. Curious, I started researching courses and found one where I could study at different European universities. I applied, and this led me to my current degree and interest in foreign policy journalism. Learning languages and working abroad has helped me to discover foreign policy and stand out in interviews so far.
You might stumble across random opportunities, but you need to be open-minded and put yourself in a position to get them. You might discover an interesting organisation by attending a webinar, meet a friend through volunteering or a mentor through work. In other words, don’t be afraid to try new things! Chatting with one of my professors made me realise that I want to be a journalist, a conversation that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t asked her for help with a class.
Concluding Thoughts
Learning languages is one of the best things I’ve done. It hasn't been easy, there have been things that have gone horribly wrong, but it’s also given me access to amazing opportunities and people that I would never have had otherwise. I couldn’t recommend it more.
Bonne chance!
Edited by Ashvini Rae
Published 7th March 2021