Explore employment opportunities in language studies – GIL graduates advised

Dr Samson Dodzi Fenuku, the Acting Director of the Ghana Institute of Languages (GIL), has advised graduates of the Institute to be innovative and explore employment opportunities in language studies.

He said opportunities existed for the youth as language translators and professionals for local and multinational corporations.

Dr Fenuku made these remarks at the 8th Graduation ceremony of the Institute’s in Accra on the theme, “Receiving Multilingual Training: the Key to Securing International Positions.”

At the ceremony, a total of 69 students graduated, comprising 24, who had Bachelor of Arts Degree in Translation and 45 with Higher National Diploma in Bilingual Secretaryship.

The Acting Director said aside the employment opportunities the Institute offered, it also provided the platform for cultural integration for sustained cohesion across countries.

He said when one studied a different language aside his own, it helped the individual to gain insight into the culture of others, which fostered interregional coexistence.

“Studying languages aside our own affords us the opportunity to learn more about others in their cultural practices and this helps us integrate in such societies,” he said.

Dr Fenuku admonished the students to pursue excellence in the world of work, because that was the place they would prove in practice the training and certification they had receive.

Dr Sewoenam Chachu, Senior Lecturer, Department of French, University of Ghana, said language studies was important for securing the future of work.

“Being multilingual and receiving multilingual training presents many advantages. Some of these include a better understanding of the world in general, ease of travel and communication, and more importantly, better opportunities for securing jobs on the international market,” she said.

Dr Chachu advised the graduates to add value to their language skills by taking courses online in other areas to be competitive in the job market, saying, “You need to go a step further and leverage on those skills and never underestimate the power of what you have as a multilingual person.”

She urged them to prepare themselves to take advantage of the virtual space that language offered, stressing “you can be in Ghana, Togo, and Cameroon and be offered a job in France, Belgium, Germany or Canada.”