Speaking a foreign language in London can mean that you get a very good salary.
Second language speakers are increasingly needed and desired by employers in the capital and to attract the right people, companies are offering very attractive pay packets for workers who have great language skills.
Adzuna (an online job portal in the UK) analysed current data from their UK job listings (over 1 million job adverts) this week to understand which foreign languages can earn the highest wages.
The results show that German is the most in-demand language for employers with over 6,800 job vacancies. It is also the highest earning language, with the average salary for these "English + German speaking" jobs, being 34,534 per year (see the graph below for figures).
Most of the 'foreign language' job postings on Adzuna were for European languages, however, the second highest average salary is for Arabic speakers, with a net wage of 34,122 per annum. It is important to note though that 'English + Arabic' jobs were not so frequent, with only 1,113 jobs being currently advertised.
The second most popular language was French with 6,149 vacancies right now. Being able to speak French and English will get you an average annual salary of 32,646.
'Spanish + English' ( 29,262 / 32,736) and 'Italian + English' ( 28,268 / 31,619) are the next most in-demand languages with the majority of these office jobs available in London.
There were also a high number of Polish speaking jobs, but these were much lower paid jobs and mostly in the manual trades, such as construction and plumbing.
From the non-European languages, Japanese, Mandarin and Russian speakers were also required by London-based companies.
If you speak the following languages and also English, then your average London salary expectations (at current currency levels) can be:
Japanese: 28,954 / 3,706,860 YEN
Russian: 28,858 / 2,208,956 RUB
Mandarin: 27,857 / 230,588 CNY
LEARN ENGLISH - Use your mother tongue to get UK work
Of course, to be able to apply for these multi-lingual jobs, you must have high-level English skills. People who can already speak English who move here often get a big shock when they find it quite difficult to communicate effectively or understand native speakers. SGI can help!
Studying Business English at SGI London is a great start to your entrance to London life. We have many success stories of ex-students who first studied with us to improve their English and then continued on to gain employment in London and start an exciting new life in the city.
ENGLISH EVENING COURSES IN CENTRAL LONDON
Another really popular course for 'second-language' speakers in London is to study an evening course with us while they are already working here.
At SGI, after office hours, you can:
- improve your English pronunciation
- work on your Business English skills
- prepare for a Cambridge English Exam qualification like IELTS or CAE to make your CV more attractive as you apply for promotions or better jobs.
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