A University of Portsmouth lecturer was recently invited to talk to the House of Lords about her research findings on languages and the UK job market.
Dr Begoña Rodríguez de Céspedes, a Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies and an Executive Committee member of the University Council for Languages, was invited to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Modern Languages, where she reported on her research findings on the importance of language skills in the UK’s job market.
She also presented recommendations to policy-makers based on a UCFL (University Council For Languages) plenary panel she had organised with major language stakeholders from academia, private and professional language sector associations, and government representatives from DfE, GCHQ, MoD and FCDO
The main four recommendations that Begoña presented from the plenary panel were:
1. Invest in language learning at schools and promote the value of languages in society and the economy.
2. Reach out to EU nationals and create schemes to make it easy to work in the UK post-Brexit.
3. Collaborate and work with different actors and stakeholders.
4. Given the gap between the supply and demand of linguists, the skills they bring need to be appropriately valued (salaries & status)
Begoña said: ”This was a great career opportunity where I was given the chance to have a voice to defend the value of languages and humanities at large in the UK's society and economy.
“The invitation to attend the APPGML has also facilitated a forum for discussion about the current lack of linguistic talent in this country with major stakeholders and policymakers under one roof. We now have agreed a set of actions to be reviewed over the course of next year.”
Begoña is currently finalising a policy paper that will be published shortly and is writing a chapter for Routledge that will be published next year
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