Name: Anna Bawden
Age: 33
Degree: German and Italian (joint hons)
Year of graduation: 97
Current Job title: assistant editor, Public Magazine, the Guardian
Background
I grew up in Godalming, Surrey, where I studied German, Sociology and English A levels. I spent a year in Bavaria before starting Manchester, which was great fun.
Why Manchester and why languages?
I wanted to do German at degree level and pick up another language from scratch. Having looked around I decided Manchester was best both in terms of the range of options available - unlike most universities in the early 90s, you could study subjects other than foreign literature - reputation and the social life. I picked Italian for the food, weather, fashion and culture - and the fact that it's meant to be easier than most other languages available from scratch.
Year abroad
I spent 9 months in Sardinia at university there and then two months in Bavaria where I worked in a restaurant. It was absolutely fantastic on every level.
What next?
Initially I was adamant I wanted to use my languages, so I worked for a year at Goldman Sachs, but I quickly discovered merchant banking was not for me, so I decided to do a Masters, as I couldn't decide if I wanted to be an academic, a journalist or work for the European Commission. I did the Euromasters course at Bath University, which involved a term in Bath and the rest of the time abroad. You had the option of Paris (the Sorbonne), Berlin (Humboldt and Freie universities), Siena, Madrid and Seattle - originally I was going to go to Berlin then Siena, but when I saw the Paris module was on European media, I decided to go there instead. In France, they're really big on work experience, so I managed to get a stage at the New York Times. This led to a job at Business Week as editorial assistant. After a year at Business Week, I wanted to come back to the UK, so I got a job on the Financial Times' business magazines. During my three years' there, I widened my beat from just financial stories to more political ones. I joined the Guardian in August 2004.
Where are you now?
I'm assistant editor at Public magazine, which is the Guardian's magazine for senior public sector workers. I also write for the education and society supplements. Languages have been useful but not vital for my job - we have an international section. In journalism, languages are mostly a useful but not vital skill, although those who are linguists do tend to write better!
Do you still use your languages?
I use my languages all the time. I read the Nouvelle Observateur and die Zeit regularly, I attend international conferences at which one or other of my languages tends to come in handy and I sometimes have to interview in French, German or Italian. But I mostly use it socially - I have lots of Italian friends in London and am in regular contact with my French friends from my MA. German has suffered the most, although I have recently met some people at work who are German speakers, so we have started German lunches.
Doing a language degree was the best decision I ever made. It opens doors career wise, improves self confidence and gives you a whole bunch of friends in other countries who often remain friends for life. Apparently those who have language degrees earn more than their non-linguistic counterparts, though I have yet to put this to the test!