The Irish aren’t known for their language abilities. While our European counterparts start learning how to speak in foreign tongues as primary school pupils, we only begin to grapple with French or German in secondary school.

A study released last year by Eurostat, showed that only 4% of Irish children learn a foreign language in primary school. In most European countries students start their foreign language education between the ages of six and nine.

Ireland is one of the only countries where it isn’t compulsory for upper secondary students to take a language. Even so, according to the same report, almost 80% study at least one language and 10% take two or more. Meanwhile, in Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg Malta, Romania, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, more than 80% of students enrolled in lower secondary education learn two or more foreign languages.

It’s clear that foreign languages aren’t prioritised in our education system, but students could end up missing out on jobs without one. Eileen Maloney from Brightwater Recruitment tells Irish Country Living that some companies are looking for candidates with up to three languages, with an estimated 40% stipulating that potential employees need one foreign language.

“A lot of the shared services companies which have a range of departments, including sales, marketing and finance, love people with languages,” she says.

Accountants, finance specialists, HR workers, salespeople and IT developers with languages are highly sought after in international companies such as Google, Microsoft, Hertz, Facebook and Twitter.

“Although these companies have their headquarters in Dublin, they all have offices in Europe and need people who can communicate with their colleagues abroad,” explains Eileen.

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“Of our clients looking for people with a language, 90% of jobs are based in Ireland.

“If two people with an Arts degrees apply for a job, the person with a language will be looked at first,” adds Eileen. “I’d tell students to try and study at least one. We’re becoming much more global and students need skills that set them apart from others.”

Larry Keena, HR Manager with Dawn Meats, says that students interested in agri-business need to be conscious of our international markets before letting the language they learned in school slip.

“For most food companies involved in exports, a candidate with a language has a huge advantage,” he says. “It’s something students need to consider.

“We have offices throughout Europe, and students who want to be placed in these plants need a language. Some of our employees in Ireland need to speak a language too.”

Two third-year students from UCD worked in Dawn Meats’s plant in France this year as part of a pilot scheme between the university and Bord Bia. Larry says the company hopes to offer more placements this year.

“We want to show students what it’s like to work for Dawn Meats and give them the opportunity to improve their fluency,” he says.

Larry adds that students should strive to maintain their language skills after secondary school, even if they’re not studying one in college.

“It will be an invaluable addition to your CV and definitely make you more employable,” he concludes.

PROFILE

Helena Coughlan

Helena Coughlan from Cork, who is entering her final year of Agricultural Science in UCD, has used her French skills to work on farms in the country.

“I started to learn French in secondary school. Because I worked in a French college, I was at a good level by the time I entered college. I wasn’t going to study French, but didn’t want to lose it.

“I worked on a dairy farm for one summer, where I learned a lot of agricultural vocabulary, and went back again this summer to work for Dawn Meats. The best way of learning and achieving fluency is by living in the country.

“There is a shortage of people with a language, and I think Irish people have no idea how important it is to have one, especially since we are an exporting nation.

“In UCD you can take a language as an elective in the Applied Language Centre. There are plenty of courses you can take outside of college too. For example, Alliance Francaise in Dublin offers a good range of classes.

“French is a great asset to have and I feel confident about my chance of getting a job after college. A language adds that extra spark employers are looking for.

“If you were good at French and German in school, don’t drop it in college. You can even try to learn another one – it’s very easy once you have an aptitude for languages. A lot of people are now coming out of college with degrees in agriculture, so you need to find a way to give yourself an edge.”

LANGUAGES

Barbara Geraghty, course director of the BA in Applied Languages at UL, gives us her views on the top languages to study to enable career prospects

In summary, here’s her list: German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese.

“In terms of inquiries I’d receive from employers, it’s all about French and German because we’re in the EU, and because Germany and France are such big countries in the EU. Spanish is good to have because it spans Europe and Latin America. It’s a really big commercial language and it’s a big language on the internet.

“In terms of Asian languages, Japanese has gone into a bit of an eclipse over the last ten years because we’re not hearing a lot about it, despite the fact that it’s the third biggest economy in the world – people need to remember that.

“Russia is another country we don’t hear about in that regard. I often wonder should more people study Russian: it’s a big country and a big market.

“As a nation we’re improving in languages, but we could do a bit more. If we want to keep an edge as a country, we need the ability to speak to people in their own language. As the former German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, said: ‘When you’re selling and I’m buying, we speak German.’ But when you’re buying and I’m selling, then we speak your language.’

“Saying all that however, we’ve no idea what the market will be like in four years. If a potential student likes a language, they should do it in college as they’ll be good at it. If you take any language it will develop your language ability overall. Graduates of Applied Languages in UL go into Interpreting, Translation, Marketing and Event Management. Some also go into teaching.

“UL has a high employment rate post-graduation. We’ve a long-running work experience programme, so our graduates are slightly more work-ready than other graduates. In fact, UL’s 2012 graduate employment rate overall for primary-degree holders is now 15% higher than the HEA’s most recently-available national average figure of 48% for 2011.”