Introduction : Language skills can prove to be an important attribute in many professions. A career in foreign language has always been an attractive proposition, especially for those who have a flair for languages. The opportunities are starting from tour operators to interpretor and translators. While interpreters are concerned with interpreting the spoken statements from one language to another, translators have more to do with translating the written documents from one language to another. With the globalisation of Indian economy, multinationals coming to India and more and more companies going for joint ventures abroad, have opened up job scenario for those proficient in foreign languages. Academic qualifications in foreign languages helps in pursuing careers in the areas of tourism, entertainment, public relations and mass communication, international organisations, embassies, diplomatic service, publishing, interpretation and translation etc.

Personality : Linguistic ability is nurtured from an early stage and improves with its regular and correct usage, therefore important to practice it regularly. Learning languages can be exhaustive as at times it takes long before one gets acquainted with it. So it is important to be patient and deligent. For language specialists, it is imperative to have good verbal aptitude and interest in those areas where they get to work as a language specialist. Linguists work with a variety of people and under various settings hence need to have adaptability and a pleasant demeanour. They should also be able to handle work pressure and withstand strain as sometimes working hours may be prolonged.

Nature of Work : Though the fact is that opportunities for regular employment are far and few and are mostly in metropolitan cities, but on attaining professional qualification in foreign languages, one can work in the following areas.

1. TEACHING: The most common of all the available career options in foreign language is teaching. Teaching of foreign language is just like teaching any other language. For newcomers, it is advisable to start with teaching. As a teacher, a person gets enough opportunities to enhance his skills. As far as teaching jobs are concerned, many institutions are offering courses in foreign languages and so jobs exists at all levels. Those reluctant to engage themselves in a full-time profession, can take private tuition as well. 
2. INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS: Interpreters and translators both need to have a good command over two or more languages. Interpreters job relates to interpreting spoken words of one language into another, therefore needs to have not only good command over the language but having excellent verbal communication skills also becomes important.
   The job of an interpreter can be of different types. Sometimes they are engaged in simultaneous interpretation, which is used for meetings, conferences, speeches etc. Here the interpreters sits in a sound proof room and listens to speeches and almost spontaneously interprets it in the target language into a microphone. The other type of interpretings are consecutive interpreting and liason interpreting. Consecutive interpreting goes on during formal speeches where the speaker halts for a while when the interpreter interprets the spoken statements to the audience. Liason interpreting is to facilitate conversation between to people knowing different languages.
   Translation work can be related to a variety of fields like technical, scientific literary or business. Translators work on books, scripts, articles and translate them into specified languages. Apart from having linguistic skills, a translator must possess adequate knowledge in the area of the work so as to maintain the style and essence of the orignal text.
3. FREELANCING: Often, after pursuing courses in foreign languages, people like to work as freelancers. These people get work in translation bureaus, research organisations, international organisations like UNO, FAO, foreign companies, Reserve Bank of India, publishing houses etc. Expertise in foreign language coupled with other additional qualifications in areas like management, tourism, hospitality industry, airlines can be even fruitful and better the chances for employment opportunities.

Professional Courses : Foreign language courses can be studied after 10+2 as a 3 years graduate course or even as 5 years integrated language course in the universities offering such courses. Some universities even offer diploma/certificate courses for graduates and post graduates. The other option is to pursue these courses at the institutes run by embassies and counsulates. These institutes offer both basic and advanced level courses, some of them extending upto 5-6 years.

Career Prospects : International organisations and embassies employ language specialists for secretatial, executive and public relation assignments as well as for translations and interpretations jobs. Translators are also found to be employed with industries, publishing houses, government and research organisations. Other job opportunities for language specialist lie with the travel and tourism sector, hotel industry, exhibitions and fairs, airlines offices, export agencies, radio stations and trade organisations. Teaching can also be given a thought. For pursuing a career in teaching, a teacher should be a graduate in that foreign language and must have a teaching degree.

Career in Foreign Languages : India is a land of several languages and dialects. An average indian can read, write, speak at least 3 to 4 languages very fluently. Hence an Indian mind is trained in the same groove that goes into making of a capable linguist exposed to different languages from a young age, dealing with different phonetic structures early in life. An Indian is a born linguist. Therefore a career in foreign languages is most suited to an Indian to anybody else.
In order to make a career in foreign languages proficiency is necessary but not sufficient. It is more important to be able to graft language skills onto another set of skills and for knowledge. The various career options are :-

Teaching : This option requires a good amount of thorough knowledge of the language, grammar, comprehension apart from the personal attributes which go into the making of a good teacher. Energy, enthusiasm, patience and above all that special ability to get on well with all kinds of people. The most popular languages are French, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese in that order.

Interpreting : This basically involves translating from one language to another. It may not be a mechanical word for word translation but an attempt is made to retain the essence of what is being said. Interpreters always deal with the spoken communication and it is definitely a challenging field.
Interpreters are required for all occasion which involve people speaking a foreign language. Such occasions would be international conferences, foreign minister visits, technical meetings or even parties & banquets which involve foreign delegates. Interpreting requires an excellent memory, a good voice and quick reflexes. They must possess good analytical skills and should be able to concentrate for long periods of time.

Interpreters are of two types:

Consecutive Interpreter and Simultaneous Interpreters.

The consecutive interpreters translates a paragraph or a set of sentences at a time. He can take down notes and think for a while. Simultaneous Interpreters is a faster proves demanding a great deal of skill and fluency in the language.

Translators : Translation job requires a writing skill. They need to be attentive to detail and should be able to retain the spirit of the original work. Translation could be scientific, technical, business, legal or literary. Skills required for each of these are different. Technical, scientific or legal translation requires the knowledge of comment technical terms and phrases. Translators are required by MNC's, International organisations and even by Govt agencies.Apart from the career options discussed above, foreign language is considered to be an asset. The MNC's, Travel & Tourism companies, Airline offices, export houses, hotel industry, trade fairs, radio & TV etc.