The Civil Service is one of the largest employers within the UK as there are over 500,000 Civil Servants in the country. There are many administrative departments in London but there are also government offices in other towns. The government is also one of the largest employer of individuals with foreign language skills.
Many government departments are working with other countries or with foreigners and therefore they like to employ people who can speak another language prefereably to someone who doesn't.
The growing importance of the European Union is resulting in more European travel for some administrative staff
Some of these departments are:
- the Department for International Development : which helps overseas countries to develop (many african people speak French).
- the Department of Trade and Industry : is responsible for international trade affairs.
- the Diplomatic Service: languages are absolutely necessary for Diplomats as they are trying to build good relationships with other countries. Not only the European languages (French, German, Spanish, Italian, etc...) are very important but also languages like Russian, Japanese, Russian or Arabic are absolutely essential as there are both European and International matters which need to be discussed.
- the Joint Technical Language Service: employs many linguist who have to translate important documents for other government departments.
- the Ministry of Defence: also employs people who can speak a foreign language in order to have access to foreign documents.
- the Patent Office: many documents searched by patent examiners are in French or German, so that both languages are necessary for this job.
- the Immigration Service: works with many foreigners, all languages are most welcome.
Because of the development of the European Union (EU), many administrative jobs have been offered abroad:
- In Strasbourg (France), where the European Parliament is.
- In Brussel (Belgium), where the European Commission is.
Within the EU, many people can speak English. However, it is wrong to afford from everyone else, that they should speak English only. In many meetings, French and German are just as important. At European level, English people unable to offer another language will necessarily be disadvantaged compared to a continental person fluent in her mothertongue and in English. This is not only true for people who wish to work for the European Union but for all other international jobs as well.
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