J.K. Rowling studied French at the University of Exeter before working in Portugal.
Rowling’s degree was in French and Classics, and she spent part of her university course in Paris as an assistant teacher. After graduating in 1987, she worked in several roles, including as a researcher and bilingual secretary. In 1990 she moved to Porto, Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language.
Her Portuguese period was significant in her personal life. She married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes in 1992, and their daughter Jessica was born in 1993. Rowling later returned to the United Kingdom, where she continued developing the Harry Potter manuscript.
French and Portuguese are sometimes confused in accounts of her education and early career. French was the university subject; Portuguese became associated with her later residence in Porto. Her knowledge of languages also contributed to the naming and cultural texture of the Wizarding World.