But here are a few thoughts of mine in response to an article I read.
This is a relatively insightful article however there are a few major additional points that I would like to mention for the sake of those people reading it who may like to work in the languages industry. I too studied a language degree and now work as a professional translator. Firstly it is extremely important to distinguish between more vocational and practical language degrees which normally equip graduates with the necessary skills to enter one of the related professions (teaching, translation, interpreting) and the more traditional, academic degrees which focus on literature, history and culture and much less on acquiring a professional level in your foreign languages and the appropriate knowledge about possible career paths.
I was very disappointed that fluency and career prospects as a linguist were very much secondary to literature (often not even read, taught or discussed in the foreign language and therefore of negligible value to an aspiring language professional!). I am not saying that the culture of a country/region is not fundamental to understanding a language; I acknowledge and appreciate that. What I am saying is that the study of culture, history and so on is not being used appropriately in order to further the students' knowledge of the country, language and culture. All too often, on very traditional "language" degrees, the manner in which the modules are delivered mean that they could easily be mistaken for those which would be taught on an English Literature or History degree and are really not of that much use to a linguist. In contrast, I found that studying literature and film at A-Level and on my year abroad was very useful and enriching as it was taught in the foreign language which provided essential exposure. I actually switched to a more practical degree and graduated from a different university for this reason. It is important to assess why you are studying the degree and what your long-term aims are; the year abroad is incredibly useful, but if the professional and vocational aspects of the degree are all but non-existent for the other 3 years of the course, you will inevitably struggle to compete with high-calibre graduates from other institutions.
The second point I would like to make is to highlight the requirement to study a minimum of 2 languages to degree level if you would like to work as an interpreter or translator (either freelance or for any major private business or international organisation). I translate from 4 source languages and have worked successfully as a freelance translator for over two years and am now set to work in the EU for a period as a translator and reviser. However if I had just one source language I doubt very much that this would be the case. Most of my work has been from French and German (my other source languages are Spanish and Portuguese). I would like to point out that it is essential to be aware of market needs in the translation industry. Ironically when deciding which languages to focus on at university I chose the two I now work with the least precisely because I assumed that French was a very common language for Anglophones to study so I would choose a more unusual language which is still a major world language (Portuguese). I also decided not to focus on German as I assumed that Northern European languages would not be as "in-demand" as Southern European ones given that the inhabitants of these countries tend to have a much higher level of English. The reverse is actually true. German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages along with the Baltic languages and Eastern European EU member state languages to a somewhat lesser extent are extremely useful professionally. Dutch, German and Scandinavian language speakers in particular are aware (precisely because they have a high level of English) that only a native speaker can ever translate flawlessly, idiomatically and accurately and as such these are excellent languages to learn as speakers of these languages will value your native expertise.
Professional linguists only EVER translate or interpret into their native language; all other languages are passive source languages which you must understand extremely well but don't necessarily need to be fluent in. In any case the reality is that fluency is almost impossible to acquire without spending several years in the country and British degree programmes are usually nowhere near as effective at teaching a language as courses are in other EU countries. In addition the other major issue is that in the UK we tend to start to study languages much, much later than in other countries, have much less exposure to them and study them less intensively. Nonetheless British language graduates are very much in demand for their native level of English. German and French is probably still the single most useful language combination for a native Anglophone, especially if you aspire to work for the EU or UN. It's essential, in the case that you would like to work as an interpreter or translator, to train properly and to investigate these career options at an early stage. This can be done through an additional post-graduate level course or by choosing an undergraduate degrees which includes the study of these professions and equips students with the skills and knowledge to work with their languages professionally.
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