Are you a recent French Language graduate planning to start your own business? You can definitely be in control of your own career if you don’t want to have a taste of the challenging post-graduation job market.
You can be self-employed as a French language major like your pairs in the Faculty of Arts.
For instance, you can provide translation services to individuals and corporate firms that are targeting French-speaking clients.
You could also set up a WordPress blog within a few minutes to start targeting a French-speaking audience.
In short, there are many business ideas you could start without relying on government or corporate jobs.
From being a Foreign Exchange Trader to offering translating service, this post explores the best business ideas for French graduates.
Table of Contents
French marketing service
There are companies in English-speaking countries that want to target customers in French-speaking countries.
Their plan is to win new leads, to give their products leverage over others, they need marketers who speak French language.
Your primary duties would be to deploy your marketing skills to reach a wider audience through ads on Google and social media.
Financial analysis service
English isn’t the only language of business. When a French person is involved in a business, the services of bilingual speakers would be needed.
If you have the opportunity to pair French with a second major in a field such as business, finance, or economics, then that makes you a lot of transferable skills. It also makes you more marketable.
You can set up an online marketing and financial analysis service.
There are international investors who want to make a new entry into the French-speaking market and might need your service.
Proofreading service
As a French language proofreader, you could earn between $50,000 – $70,000 per year.
Instead of waiting for jobs from corporate organizations, you could make your proofreading service available on LinkedIn, Upwork, and Fiverr, or even set up your own website to connect with international clients who need an expert in French.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Carefully read documents and make sure they are error-free.
- Fact-checking written documents
- Making sure that it is void of grammatical and spelling mistakes.
- Looking out for inconsistencies in structure
- Services of proofreaders are highly needed online marketplaces.
Access to a computer, the internet, and data will enable you to work remotely and from any part of the world.
Online Book Publishing
There are 29 countries that use French as their official language. This number is apart from the foreign territories belonging to France.
In foreign universities – even in English-speaking countries – hundreds of students are interested in learning French.
As such, an online publication of French language is one of the business ideas for French majors.
French language software development
As we have English language software developers, there is a growing demand for French language software developers around the world.
If you have additional skills like programming and coding, you can combine them with your extensive knowledge in French language.
Your duty would be to develop apps in French for millions of people around the world that speak the language.
A software engineer could make $59 per hour, depending on the project.
English Instructor
If you obtained a degree in French in the United States, England or any other country where English is their official language, you would have an advantage over others.
This means you have two major official languages in your arsenal. It would be very easy for you to become an instructor in either of the two languages.
For instance, becoming an online English instructor for foreign learners whose official language is French is going to be easier and more profitable for you.
The internet connects the world, as such it will be advisable to make your services available online.
Bilingual Travel Consultant
Are you wondering what to do with a degree in French besides teaching?
One of the business ideas for French majors is to serve as a travel consultancy service.
Interpreter
There are lots of investors around the world who do not really need to speak the local language of the place they want to invest in, that’s where an interpreter comes in.
For a French investor who wants to invest in an English-speaking country, your service will be needed as an interpreter.
To be visible, for people to know about your service, you must be active on professional networks like LinkedIn.
Providing Travel Advisory to International Students
Your duty will be to provide special traveling advice to international students who want to further their studies either in French teaching or English-teaching institutions.
Some of the services you can provide to international students:
Assisting them with applications for resident and work permits.
Tuition fees advisory
Advising them on academic improvement plans.
You can set up these services online. However, you need reviews from your previous clients for you to get more clients.
French Blogger
As a French degree holder, you are an expert in communication, as such, you can start a blog like your English major counterpart and start sharing useful and actionable information online.
There are many niches you can pick from depending on the comparative advantage over others.
There are still bloggers who write for fun. There are also bloggers who rake in thousands of dollars every 21 of every month.
After building an audience, you can step up by monetizing your content through advertising, affiliate marketing, and sponsored content from private firms around the world.
There is definitely no limit to the amount you can make from content monetization as a blogger.
Foreign exchange trader
On average, a foreign exchange trader could earn $73,911 per annum, but can you make this as an independent FX trader?
Yes, if you have enough clients.
Your duties will include:
- Buying and selling foreign currencies as they fluctuate for your clients
- To make a profit on behalf of your client, though profit is guaranteed in FX trading
- Have a sound knowledge of the major commodity markets
- Advising clients on foreign exchange market trends and signals
The beauty of being a foreign exchange trader is that you don’t really need to be employed by a financial institution.
Tour Guide Services
There are hundreds of Frenchmen and women who are attracted to tourist locations around the world, you can provide travel consultancy services to them.
For instance, you could pick one of the tourist locations in Tanzania and provide a tourism guide in French to them.
Your role will be to lead French-speaking tourists to popular tourist locations and provide a historical analysis of the location to them.
French voiceover services
There are marketers in English-speaking countries that occasionally target the French market and need someone to handle voiceover for their scripts, this is where you could come in.
Speech writing service
If you know the number of CEOs who do not have the luxury of time to prepare their own speech, then you would know that speech writing is a lucrative business opportunity you can tap into.
Your duties would be to help people create speeches for events such as graduations, business conferences etc.
Start a biography service
In today’s world, language is no longer a barrier irrespective of the product and services you render. One such is biograph services.
There are authors who want to reach millions of French markets. Most times, they need a French writer who perfectly understands the language.
Your duties will include researching about the life of your subjects through interviews and using other sources.
From what you’re able to gather, you would create a narrative about the life of your subjects including the challenges they face and achievements.
Book review service
Your degree in French doesn’t limit you to classrooms, it’s far above that. You can deploy your strong knowledge of French literature to start a book review service.
Speech Therapist
Sometimes called speech-language pathologists (SLP), you can specialize in the treatment of speech and communication disorders in French.
Your best channel to start this service is by setting up a podcast channel, or having a YouTube channel.
Your services would include assessing the communication abilities of your client and developing a treatment plan for a service charge.
As a French major, you can make your services available to hospitals, schools, and rehabilitation centers.
There is no limit to the number of clients you can get if you create consistent video guides and instructions on YouTube and other channels.
Provide transcription services
The process of converting spoken language into written text is called transcription.
There are people who would like to convert spoken spoken French language to an audio message, this is where your service will be needed.
Your duty would be to accurately typing out words that are spoken. Your services are needed in various economic sectors.
Content creation service
There are manufacturing firms that want the description of their products written in French, especially when they are targeting the French market or have clients in the French-speaking region.
As a French graduate, you could also provide content creation service to businesses and individuals. You could also work as a freelancer.
Conclusion:
Programmes in French are designed to ensure that you have substantial competence in writing and speaking the language.
A certificate or BA(Hons) in French doesn’t restrict to teaching or classrooms, there are many entrepreneurial services you can provide.
Most of the business ideas for French majors listed in this post are purely practical and thousands of French graduates are making hundreds of dollars yearly from the service they provide.
A career in French could be rewarding if you are able to convert complaints or what some people see as challenges to business opportunities even though starting a business can be challenging.
There are many entrepreneurial things you can venture into as a French major.