What can you do with a degree in French?

Togepi

Apart from teaching, translating, and interpreting, what jobs or career paths are open to those who get a degree in French (and another language)? What kind of workplaces can you work in? Or what area of study goes well with the study of French (and/or another language)?



Edit: Sorry, I probably should've posted this in Careers and Job Discussion.

PictureFrame

My Uncle is a Supply-Chain Manager of a large Pharmaceutical company in Dublin, he advised me that a degree in Law, European Languages or Accountancy would be the best ones to get a job in one of these firms. They want people fluent in foreign languages to help improve sales in Europe! Just another option!

Togepi

Thanks PictureFrame! I don't think a job like that would suit me but it's good to know what kind of opportunities there are out there.

rainbowtrout

Togepi wrote: »

Apart from teaching, translating, and interpreting, what jobs or career paths are open to those who get a degree in French (and another language)? What kind of workplaces can you work in? Or what area of study goes well with the study of French (and/or another language)?



Edit: Sorry, I probably should've posted this in Careers and Job Discussion.

Perhaps you could look into combined degrees, e.g. Business and French, Computer Science and French, Law and French etc, if any other area of study also interests you. Then it would give you the option of working abroad in a particular field or in Ireland as the previous poster said in a company where a foreign language is a desired qualification.

Togepi

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Perhaps you could look into combined degrees, e.g. Business and French, Computer Science and French, Law and French etc, if any other area of study also interests you. Then it would give you the option of working abroad in a particular field or in Ireland as the previous poster said in a company where a foreign language is a desired qualification.

I've looked into that as it'd be ideal - I'd rather study more than just languages - but none of the combined degrees really interest me. I'm not into law or business, and I'm not too sure about computer science as I've never liked science (bar physics). I find higher level maths fairly challenging too, hoping to scrape a B3 this year but I'd be fairly happy with a C3.

LoonyLovegood

Would an arts degree work, where you can combine pretty much anything?

And, not going to lie, the thread title reminded me of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4f-4CajQyg

Togepi

What can you do with an arts degree then? :P

rainbowtrout

How about something like European Studies in UL???

http://www3.ul.ie/courses/EuropeanStudies.php


You have a fairly good range of subjects in first year including languages, economics, law, sociology, history etc.

Togepi

rainbowtrout wrote: »

How about something like European Studies in UL???

http://www3.ul.ie/courses/EuropeanStudies.php


You have a fairly good range of subjects in first year including languages, economics, law, sociology, history etc.

Thanks. I'd avoid history as much as possible if I could though, but it seems like an okay course.



Should I just post a list of subjects I'm interested in studying to make things easier?

rainbowtrout

Togepi wrote: »

Thanks. I'd avoid history as much as possible if I could though, but it seems like an okay course.



Should I just post a list of subjects I'm interested in studying to make things easier?

Probably

Togepi

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Probably

I thought so. :P
The list is pretty long and varied because I'm fairly indecisive, and I'm generally fairly good at a lot of subjects (excluding biology and maths). :cool;

Things I'd love to study:
French
Japanese
Chinese
Spanish
Product Design (1st choice on my CAO form, closely followed by languages)
Psychology
Sociology
English
Graphic Design
Web Design
There's probably more, I just can't think of them at the moment.

Things I have a slight interest in:
Physics
Almost any popular language not listed above :P
Architecture (since I was young, but I've decided against that as a career)
Art
The economy (emphasis on the slight interest!)
Politics (again, emphasis on the slight interest)
Any maths that I can do (ie. Junior Cert maths, anything off the old ordinary level Leaving Cert course, and probability and statistics) <3
Music
*Edit* Forgot to mention teaching here, I'd love to teach but I'm quite introverted and hate the idea of having to control an entire class by myself

Things I'd hate to study:
Biology
Chemistry
Nursing
Medicine
etc...
Difficult maths :P
Not a huge fan of history, business or law

I'll leave it at that I think! I like working with computers too, I just have zero understanding of how they work. :pac:

Enjoy!

cee_jay

Togepi wrote: »

Thanks. I'd avoid history as much as possible if I could though, but it seems like an okay course.

With the European Studies course in UL, you can avoid history.
You must study one of the continental European languages (i.e. French, German, Spanish), and take 3 of the interdisciplinary subjects (Law, Economics, Sociology, History).
Otherwise you can take 2 of the interdisciplinary subjects and one other language.
So you could take 2 languages (French and Spanish), both of which you would love to study, with Sociology (another love). Your final subject could then be Economics, which you have a slight interest in!

Togepi

cee_jay wrote: »

With the European Studies course in UL, you can avoid history.
You must study one of the continental European languages (i.e. French, German, Spanish), and take 3 of the interdisciplinary subjects (Law, Economics, Sociology, History).
Otherwise you can take 2 of the interdisciplinary subjects and one other language.
So you could take 2 languages (French and Spanish), both of which you would love to study, with Sociology (another love). Your final subject could then be Economics, which you have a slight interest in!

Ha thanks, I'm not too sure about the jobs afterwards though, I don't really think they'd interest me. There's tonnes of courses I'd love to do but I wouldn't particularly like the job afterwards. Which is a bit silly seeing as by the time I've finished the degree I could easily have different opinions on the jobs.

PictureFrame

Togepi wrote: »

Ha thanks, I'm not too sure about the jobs afterwards though, I don't really think they'd interest me. There's tonnes of courses I'd love to do but I wouldn't particularly like the job afterwards. Which is a bit silly seeing as by the time I've finished the degree I could easily have different opinions on the jobs.

European Studies is apparently an insanely good course to fo if your interested in working in Business/Politics in Europe. I would love to do European Studies, but I don't think i'm good enough at French to get through it! Only scraped a C2 in the Mocks!

rainbowtrout

PictureFrame wrote: »

European Studies is apparently an insanely good course to fo if your interested in working in Business/Politics in Europe. I would love to do European Studies, but I don't think i'm good enough at French to get through it! Only scraped a C2 in the Mocks!

You could always take German or Spanish as they start them at beginner's level.