You are working as a journalist: How do languages help you in your career?

After studying languages at University I got a place on a European Journalism course in Paris. I had the opportunity to study with other people from European countries through the medium of French. I have also been sent abroad countless times with the BBC- and the ability to communicate with people in their own language is obviously a huge advantage

You spent time in Paris, reporting from the Olympic Games .Has the fact that you speak other languages meant that you have been given many opportunities in your professional life? Please provide examples if possible.

I had a period working for Le Figaro in Paris and for a local newspaper in Lyon where I wrote articles in French.

Also, for a time, I worked for the News Aency, Agence France Presse in Paris as well as for Radio France Internationale.

The time working as a press officer for the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville was a very special opportunity for me and the ability to communicate in several languages with European Journalists was a huge advantage.

Within a few weeks of joining the BBC Wales, I was sent to France to report from France on the referendum on the Maastricht Agreement...and I luckily got to interview the French Prime Minister.

For five years, I worked at Bush House, the headquarters of the World Service which broadcasts in more than 40 languages and I was in my element hearing a mixture of them every day in the lift on the way to the canteen!

The ability to speak another language also offers many unexpected opportunities ...such as being called at short notice to meet the Italian Rugby team in order to translate their comments!

In the media, how is speaking more than one language an advantage?

Communication is the aim of working in the media and the ability to do so in more than one language is obviously an advantage.

I remember being in a camp for the starving people in Sudan and was eager to question some of those there, I couldn't communicate easily but luckily, there was an Italian working there for one of the charities there and through the mixture of languages, I was able to follow the very personal story of one of the mothers there.

In life outside work, how has speaking French and Italian improves your life in general?

One of the best times of my life was when I got to spend over two years working and studying in France and Italy..without these languages it would have been very difficult to feel part of a foreign community.

Despite not using languages on a daily basis in my job at the moment, I still love reading in French and Italian and I also use my languages on holiday

What would you say to young people who are uncertain about continuing with a foreign language in the school?

Keep at it! The more the better!