Oui, je parle français !

From the very first lesson, French was my favourite subject. We were a small and tight-knit group. Having French on my CV presented great employment opportunities. Apart from being a great addition to a CV, learning French will open a whole new world for you to understand and explore.

I started learning French in high school and took it all the way to the end of matric. From the very first lesson, it was my favourite subject. I put many hours into my first years of learning the language – each day, when I got home from school, I would make notes on and memorise the content we had covered in that day’s lesson. It was tough to stay committed to this but eventually it became a habit and it paid dividends as I was able to learn the basics very quickly. As French had been such a big part of my teenage years, it made sense to continue my studies at the University of Pretoria.

I thoroughly enjoyed my language learning experience at university. As my class was the advanced French class, having all done French before at school, we were a small and tight-knit group. In fact, we have a WhatsApp group which we still use – despite being spread all around the world now! All of my lecturers were friendly and knowledgeable. I particularly enjoyed literature classes as they facilitated lively and interesting discussions. I completed my third year majoring in French and International Relations. Thereafter, I completed an Honours degree in French. During my Honours year, I enjoyed joining the faculty as an assistant lecturer for the beginner French modules.

Having French on my CV presented great employment opportunities. In the months leading up to the end of my Honours degree, I was contacted by two separate recruiters on LinkedIn for two different roles, both because of my language skills. The first was a position to work on the recruitment team of the Francophone Africa branch of an international recruitment firm, and the second was an account management position at a local logistics company. I did not take advantage of either of these opportunities as I was headed to London, where I live now! However, these stories show the value of language skills (and a LinkedIn profile!). Currently, I have just passed the first of two Solicitors Qualifying Exams in the UK. All going well, I hope to establish a career in corporate law in the years to come. It is worth noting that every application to a law firm I’ve completed has asked about additional language skills too!

I hope that you’ll consider taking on the challenge of learning a new language! Apart from being a great addition to a CV, it will open a whole new world for you to understand and explore.