Thinking of moving to Europe and you know more than one language? Well then, you’ll be wanting to check out the best language jobs in Europe.
Although all of these vary based on the languages you know, the demand for them, and the area in Europe you choose to live in.
Obviously, if your second language is Spanish and you’re thinking of moving to Spain, your skills aren’t going to be as in demand as if you moved to the UK or Norway for instance.
So, what are some of the best language jobs in Europe? Let’s dive in and find out!
1. Language Teacher
First up we have a classic work abroad job, and probably the most straightforward language job that you can apply for. If you’re a native speaker with some experience or certification, you can apply to become a language teacher in either a local or international school.
In the majority of Europe, you’re going to need some sort of experience or certificates like a degree or CELTA qualification.
Unlike teaching abroad for a year or two on a TEFL certification with no prior experience, to work in a school, you’re likely to get turned down if you don’t have some kind of piece of paper that says you know what you’re doing and are cleared to work with children.
2. Online or In-Person Tutor
If you don’t have a degree or concrete certification, but have experience or are a native speaker, then you may be able to get work in Europe as a tutor. This can be online and remote, or it can be in person either in a language cafe-style set-up or on a one-to-one basis.
You can advertise your services online using sites like iTalki for conversational practice at an hourly rate, or go old school and put flyers up on community notice boards.
This is especially effective if you’re moving near a university as many students are interested in learning extra languages to boost their employability moving forward.
Chances are that you are going to need references or reviews, so if this is your planned career when you move to Europe, you’re going to want to start building your reviews and portfolio up now.
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3. Interpreter
Are you fluently bilingual, trilingual, or even a polyglot? You can make a career as an interpreter. There are two main strands to this kind of role, one is more spoken and one is more about written translation.
You can make a lot of money by getting on the books of the local emergency services as a freelance interpreter. This means if a patient, victim, or suspected criminal who speaks your language but doesn’t speak the local language comes in, they’ll call you in to translate.
This is also available across courts, private businesses, political fields, and universities – so there are tons of options.
If you’re more interested in the slower pace of written translation, you can do this remotely from pretty much anywhere.
Many businesses and organizations need communications to cover multiple languages so you might be translating marketing materials, memos, sales brochures, social media posts, and more. It’s a varied role and one with a lot of options if you have the skills.
4. Tour Guide
Love being around new people and showing off your new hometown? Why not become a tour guide?
A lot of the time, tourists aren’t fluent in the native language of the place they’re visiting, so if they want to learn the history and culture of a place, they need a guide who speaks their language.
It’s important for you to be able to speak the native language as well so that you can organize stops and logistics with local vendors and workers.
There are many tour companies that are always looking for multilingual, upbeat personalities. If you have a niche interest such as ancient history, art, or architecture, consider running tours in museums and galleries.
You’ll find you’ll be showing around a mix of private tours, public groups, school groups and just generally helping out.
5. Hospitality
If you’ve got a knack for problem-solving and customer service, then you might be interested in working in hospitality. This encompasses hotels, hostels, bars, cafes, restaurants, resorts – all of it.
Especially if you’re moving to a more touristy area of Europe, there is a high demand for multilingual servers and hotel concierges who can help customers in their own language.
Specifically for working in hotels or hostels, being able to speak multiple languages is a huge bonus and one that’ll catapult you up the resume list. Think about when you go away and you have a problem or want to ask for directions or recommendations.
You can normally go to the reception and someone there will be able to help you out, either in your native language or in a shared language that you can both get by in. Without staff who can speak multiple languages, this high level of service simply isn’t possible.
6. Customer Service
Speaking of service, there are a lot of calls for polyglots in the world of customer service. As brands get bigger and more global, the demand for people who can help solve customers’ issues in their preferred language gets bigger.
This is normally a job that you can do online in a remote way, however, some businesses will have big customer service-specific offices.
You’ll be assigned any customer queries in your preferred language, meaning that the business doesn’t have to depend on the unreliable nature of Google translate, which can often lead to making problems worse!
7. Marketing and Sales
In a similar way to the multilingual strains of customer service, many businesses are seeking to diversify the languages spoken in their marketing and sales departments.
So it might be that you’re working on campaigns specifically for another country or location, or you’re going after leads in another nation.
You’ll probably notice that a lot of large companies have multiple social media accounts and websites for each location they have a presence in.
They might not have physical offices in all those locations, so you might be working from a central office with a multilingual team, each managing a different location’s marketing and sales.
8. International Aid/Charity Work
Want to give back and make a difference? Try working for international aid or a multinational charity.
You’ll need to liaise with partners and vendors all around the world to help get aid and supplies where they’re needed most, so language skills are definitely a huge tick in the box.
It also really helps when you’re trying to get donations and pledges from various organizations. It means that you’re not limited to one country or territory instead you can try other locations due to your language skills. Get that money and use it for good!
So, if you’ve got considerable language skills or are even just bilingual, there are a whole host of great job opportunities for you in Europe. Of course, this is dependent on your language of choice and where you’ll be living.
If you can, research where demand is high for your specific language. If you know a language that hails from outside Europe altogether, like Mandarin, Hindi, or Arabic, this will really set you apart from the mostly bi or trilingual locals in Europe.