Jason Linder Last updated: How to Make Money with Languages Skills: 10 Side Hustles for 2024
Looking for a new side hustle that puts your knowledge of languages to good use?
The growing presence of online businesses, platforms and marketplaces has dramatically increased opportunities for extra income.
For professionals with full-time work commitments and those soon-to-be professionals, here are ten ideas to earn some extra money as a side hustle without compromising your 9-to-5.
Contents
- 1. Become a Language Tutor
- 2. Try Freelance Translation
- 3. Do Freelance Writing
- 4. Create a Language or Game App
- 5. Make Videos for YouTube or Other Platforms
- 6. Sell Your Courses or Original Content
- 7. Grade or Score Standardized Language Exams
- 8. Work as a Tour Guide or in a Community College
- 9. Lead a Trip to a Foreign Country
- 10. Teach English Abroad
- And One More Thing...
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
1. Become a Language Tutor
Most students look for time slots in the late afternoons or on weekends, which can fit perfectly around any 9-to-5 commitment.
As for pay, there’s quite a range here in terms of what you can charge. In metropolitan cities, the average is between $25 and $80 an hour, while in more suburban areas it’s between $12 and $50. It also strongly depends on whether you have qualifications, experience, the country you live in and other factors.
Tutoring online is an easy and lucrative option, as you can teach from your home or anywhere you have an Internet connection. Craigslist can be a great way to start by creating your own ad to promote your tutoring business. Other popular options with reliable referral streams are italki and Varsity Tutors, among others.
Wyzant is a good option for both in-person and online teaching. It has grown quite competitive as the company continues to hire very experienced tutors, who wind up competing against each other! That said, this competition allows you to request the rate that you’re worth, so you won’t need to lowball others and get paid less than you’d like.
If you’re more interested in teaching online, Verbling is the way to go. There’s a huge user base, and if you’re able to teach a less common language, then you’ll find a lot of students heading your way. It also simplifies the whole online teaching experience, streamlining your online classroom so you have no need for Zoom or another third-party software—you can set up your teaching schedule, advertise your skills, communicate with students and hold classes right on this site.
2. Try Freelance Translation
With your bilingual or multilingual skills, there’s also money in taking side jobs translating articles, books, websites and other forms of text. A good way to land these positions is through word-of-mouth, and there’s a big market for it.
That said, it’s not exactly easy or simple, as many international businesses often prefer to hire people from lower-income countries, where they can pay less for the same job. Rates start at around 10 cents a word; you may earn more if the text is specialized, technical or scientific.
If you have friends, family, or colleagues who are expanding their businesses internationally, helping them translate marketing materials can be an awesome supplement to your income. To get started and build experience, you can also try listing your services on online freelance boards, like Upwork.
3. Do Freelance Writing
Do you love to write? Do you have something to share about languages, or maybe even the international travel you’ve done?
The earnings for personal blogs can vary significantly. Personal blogs easily include advertisements and links to Amazon products, which can generate income as people browse ads and click links on your blog. Advertising revenue varies greatly depending on your traffic, so you’ll need to spend a lot of time building your audience first.
If you’re looking for paid freelancing opportunities for other publications, you’ll notice companies and websites pay between $10 to $400 for articles, and in some cases even more.
4. Create a Language or Game App
This is an area where there is an ever-growing demand. Some say apps are the future of everything! Of course, this option can require a bit more of a time commitment and technical skill.
You’ll need to do your research, as your app will need to stand out among the competition. If you’re not tech-savvy, you may also need to find and hire someone to bring your idea to life.
If you create an app, depending on the number of people who download it and how much you charge for it, you can make between a few dollars and several thousand dollars a day.
5. Make Videos for YouTube or Other Platforms
We’ve all heard about the popular YouTube stars making millions—and while it certainly takes work to get to that status, there’s an opportunity for even small content creators to earn revenue from their own personal videos.
Anyone can create digital videos for free through their Google accounts (as Google owns YouTube) and earn $0.10 and $0.30 per view, with the average somewhere at $0.18. While this may sound like a small amount, it can easily add up.
That said, it’s important to clarify that what makes the money isn’t the video viewing or clicking itself, but the advertisement viewing. The more viewers engage with the ad (the longer they watch it), the more you’ll make. It also depends on your target keywords, so you may want to do some research on that.
6. Sell Your Courses or Original Content
Another option is to create original content to sell to educational companies or to create your own online courses and sell them online yourself. Any creative or innovative language worksheets, e-books or other educational materials can become dollar signs.
When selling your own courses, beyond creating unique and quality material that facilitates learning, the skill is in marketing. Some companies only take between 3% to 10% transaction fees and the rest is yours!
There are also specialized websites where you can sell your quizzes and tests, such as FlexiQuiz.
7. Grade or Score Standardized Language Exams
Many universities, schools and testing centers, such as ETS (they administer the GRE and SAT), outsource their grading for the Spanish AP test, for example. Many AP exams are in the month of June which is great temporary work to supplement your income!
To find and apply for these positions, check the ETS website, as well as websites like Indeed.
8. Work as a Tour Guide or in a Community College
Another thing you can do is work as a tour guide in your chosen language. You could earn about $20 an hour with this. Just do a search with “tour guide jobs” plus your language and location. For example, museums are often looking for bilingual guides for their international visitors.
Community colleges also offer many language classes and may be more likely to hire teachers without fancy teaching credentials. It might be preferred to have a Master’s degree in the language though, depending on the college.
9. Lead a Trip to a Foreign Country
Teaching opportunities abound as more schools and universities see the value in taking students abroad. Depending on your availability, you might consider leading or joining a short-term trip as a staff member, such as one during a spring break or a summer adventure camp.
Check job boards or connect with local schools to see what opportunities are available. You can also visit websites for study abroad programs and see what’s being offered. For instance, check out The Experiment in International Living or Go Abroad. You can also Google something like “group leader travel abroad jobs.”
And if you’re a college student returning from an awesome study abroad experience yourself, see if your university hires campus ambassadors to promote study abroad programs!
10. Teach English Abroad
English is currently the most spoken language in the world. If you have a bigger window of availability—perhaps you’re taking a gap year before entering college, for example—consider going abroad to teach English! Many programs hire people without much experience, but a teaching certificate is often required.
If you’re not sure how to get started, check out the resources on a website like i-to-i. They offer TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) courses and paid internships as well as jobs and travel opportunities. There are many kinds of TEFL courses available, and often the websites have a comprehensive list of job opportunities.
Another big perk is the opportunity to save money while you’re living abroad. In China, for example, many English teachers are able to save $500 to $1,500 monthly teaching English after paying off all their expenses. Of course, you’ll need to do some research as contract length and what’s provided for you can vary.
If you need to keep your language skills fresh for all of these amazing jobs, you can check out an immersive language learning program such as FluentU.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
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Take advantage of these growing opportunities to keep your language acumen solid and your brain sharp—and profit from it all, too!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you dig the idea of learning on your own time from the comfort of your smart device with real-life authentic language content, you'll love using FluentU.
With FluentU, you'll learn real languages—as they're spoken by native speakers. FluentU has a wide variety of videos as you can see here:
FluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.
Didn't catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover your mouse over the subtitles to instantly view definitions.
You can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU's "learn mode." Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
And FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You get a truly personalized experience.
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