The Modern and Medieval Languages Networking Lunch, hosted by Professor Jenny Mander (NC 1983), was a great success this month, with Baroness Jean Coussins (NC 1970) (pictured above, photo by Alison Rose), cross-bencher in the House of Lords and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Modern Languages, giving a powerful speech on how vital linguistic skills remain in a post-Brexit world.
The event in Clough Hall was held to help current undergraduates and postgraduates decide on which career paths to pursue on leaving College, as well as facilitate networking opportunities between alumnae.
The Bletchley connection
“Newnham Linguistics go far and wide and get involved in overt and more covert ways in humanitarian projects and international relations,” says Professor Mander. “In terms of ‘covert’ service, we had many Newnham linguistics who worked at Bletchley Park as code breakers. GCHQ are still advertising for linguists today.
“Many of our linguists, however, have combined academic work with humanitarian projects. Notably figures from the past include Joan Pernel Strachey, (NC 1895) Newnham MML and Principal, who helped found the Scottish Hospitals Project. Elsie Butler (NC 1908 – MML) joined the Scottish Hospitals Project and served as a translator and administrator in Macedonia, having learnt Russian from Jane Harrison.
Margaret Anstee’s career advice
“Butler would become the first woman to be elected to the Schroeder Chair in German. Margaret Anstee (NC 1944 – who left money to fund the Margaret Anstee Centre for Global Studies) is another Newnham Modern Linguist who used her languages to negotiate cultural differences in times of conflict. She was anxious not to get trapped in secretarial work and her advice, given in the title of her autobiography, was ‘Never learn to type’.
“The display of some of these former Newnham MMLers in Clough Lobby does, however, feature a typewriter with Cyrillic keyboard. This belonged to Irina Kirillova, Fellow Emerita, who worked as a diplomatic interpreter alongside being a lecturer in the Slavonic Section.”
You can read Baroness Jean Coussins’ speech here: Talk At Newnham Jean Coussins
To find out more about studying Modern and Medieval Languages at Newnham click here.