Knowledge of French, German or Japanese can land you a better pay package than a fresher in an IT firm

Do you have a foreign language certification in Japanese, French, German or Mandarin? If yes, you have just landed a better career opportunity than an average engineer, or arts and science graduate.

Jobs that require knowledge of global languages are on the rise and companies are more than willing to pay a premium for those services.

Take for instance the job posting for a medical assistant with intermediary knowledge of Japanese (should have passed Japanese qualification test N3). The applicant will be posted in a hospital in Chennai to provide support to Japanese patients in fixing appointments, interpreting them and help them with hospital procedures.

The jobs requires zero experience and any graduate degree is applicable. The package is Rs 4.8 lakh per annum.

For someone with an experience of three years, the annual package ican go upto Rs 8.4 lakh per annum.

The remuneration is way better than those offered to freshers in the IT sector. Average salary of a fresher in IT services firms is Rs 3.6 lakh per annum and after a year of service, it goes up to Rs 3.8 lakh. Even after three years, not all of them reach a salary of Rs 4.8 lakh per annum.

Where are the opportunities coming from?

"As the world is fast turning into a global village, it has opened a plethora of opportunities for those who know multiple languages," said Zairus Master, CEO of job portal Shine.com.

Demand for global languages like French, German, Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin), is increasing rapidly. With the Japanese government rolling out red carpet for Indian techies, even Indian IT firms such as Wipro are investing in teaching their employees Japanese.

To get a sense of job openings available, Master said that on Shine.com, there are more than 40,000 jobs listed for language specialists across various sectors such as tourism, including medical tourism, IT companies, hospitality and news agencies. Few years back, the numbers were in few hundreds.

"The growth for French and other European languages is being driven primarily by the tourism sector. There is a huge demand for guides, interpreters, translators and teachers," said Master. Additionally, there is demand for these languages in media landscape as well as they can also become content writers or news correspondents.

Case in point is T Salima*, a media professional and proficient in French, was recently employed by a French newspaper.

In addition, language experts can find opportunities across international agencies and intergovernmental organisations such as World Trade Organization, United Nations and other foreign embassies.

"You can also find plenty of opportunities as interpreters," said a Japanese language teacher G Ramesh. In an earlier conversation with this reporter, Ramesh said that one could earn minimum of Rs 50,000 right off the bat, and the pay could go up depending on proficiency. "That is how much the demand is," he added.

But how much do you need to invest?

Cost of learning depends from one institution to another. For instance, to get intermediary certificate it may cost Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh, at the higher end. If you take Alliance Francaise, the official French Centre that teaches the language, completing intermediary skills will cost close to Rs 72,000.

"The rest depends on the effort you put in learning the nitty-gritty. It could take from two years to five or seven years depending on the time you spend in learning," Ramesh added.

Original Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/knowledge-of-french-german-or-japanese-can-land-you-a-better-pay-package-than-a-fresher-in-an-it-firm-4420611.html