“Four Skills I Gained from Studying a Language at Uni”

“I studied it because I thought it was interesting, and learned all of these really relevant skills” 

This article is presented in partnership with LCNAU.

For Clarice Campbell, choosing to study a language at uni came down to one thing: she found it really interesting.

But in hindsight she’s realised just how many skills she’s gained from the choice she made all those years ago.

After studying Indonesian in high school, she made the decision to study a Bachelor of Arts at Monash University, majoring in Indonesian Studies and Linguistics.

Now living in Indonesia, Clarice is the Lead Adviser for Skills of the IA-CEPA Economic Cooperation Program, Katalis. In her role, she helps partner Indonesian industry players and Aussie vocational providers to address skills gaps in Australia.

Clarice told Student Edge she didn’t know what her degree would lead to at the time but “I just sort of stuck to it and really continued and really applied myself and then it led on to really great things.”

@studentedge Ever wondered what it's like to major in a language at uni? Clarice spills the tea on unlocking critical thinking abilities, career doors & life skills #studylanguages #language #learninglanguages ♬ original sound - Student Edge

Critical thinking and communication skills.

For Clarice, studying Linguistics and Indonesian helped her develop the ability to think critically.

And while she does admit you could still learn those skills through other degrees or majors, in her experience she found her language major was especially good at helping her pick up on these traits.

“That kind of critical thinking and communication skills and learning something you have no connection to, was just really helpful for me to progress into my now career,” she told Student Edge.

“For me, I just found that the skills I learned in those two major streams were really useful for me when I decided to go down my career path.”

Interpersonal skills.

In her role now, Clarice spends a lot of her time being a “fish out of water”.

Having grown up in Australia and having little to no connection to Indonesia, there have been times when she’s had to adapt to different situations.

“I think you develop a lot of interpersonal skills without realising because you’re often put in situations where you don’t fully understand the context,” Clarice said.

“You’ve got to be personable and speak to people and put all of the pieces of the puzzle together.

“And when you're learning a language, you learn these sort of skills that can help you mitigate all of this in a kind of really time sensitive way.”

Staying level-headed and composed.

Ever been in a situation where you’re not sure what’s going on, but you need to stay composed? Well chances are you might be in a few of these situations when you start uni or working.

And for Clarice, she realised how important it is to find ways to stay level-headed, even if it’s not what she’s feeling at the time.

“You have to be quite sort of, relaxed in very uncertain environments,” she said.

“I think that’s very useful for later in life as well. If you start a new job, or you move companies, or you’re suddenly taking on a new project in your workplace, you’re not just going to know everything from the beginning.

“Realise that you are going to make mistakes and it’s okay, that you just need to be adaptable.”

Defs sounds like a skill we all need!

Transferrable skills for the workforce.

Finally, you know those skills people just seem to have as soon as they start working?

These are the type of skills you don’t realise you have until you’re in different situations, but also the type of skills which could open metaphorical career doors.

You might be wondering ‘how does studying a language open those doors?’ well it’s a feeling Clarice once had too.

“I know that it’s very challenging sometimes when you don’t know whether studying something a bit niche or a bit out of the box is worth it, but you literally don’t know the doors that it will open,” Clarice told Student Edge.

“I didn't start studying Indonesian because I thought it would lead to a job.

“I just studied it because I thought it was interesting, and I learned along the way all of these really relevant skills for the workforce that my supervisors were very grateful of and appreciative of.”

Finally, if you’re still thinking about whether you should study a language at uni or not, Clarice said it will definitely set your resume apart.

“You will probably stand out in comparison to other people who are applying for different jobs,” she said.

“But if you can say…I also did a language on the side that is often something that an employer will go, ‘Oh, that's very interesting. You know, can you tell me more about your journey?’

“And a lot of the time when you're studying these languages, it leads to opportunities to do exchange or, you know, short courses, summer programs.”

If you’re interested in pursuing your passion for a language, check out what languages you can study at different unis through the LCNAU website.

This article was originally published 8 Jan 2025 and has since been updated.