In the market economy, philology graduates are more and more often employed in enterprises. For this reason, universities include preparation for professional communication in their philology programs. During the studies, the philologist can meet specialist varieties of the studied language through classes of practical learning of specialized languages, but also during classes of specialized translations. The study covers the education programs of the six most popular philologies (English, French, Spanish, German, Russian and Italian) at 22 Polish universities.The aim of this article is to compare the presence of classes focused on the practical learning of specialist languages and classes in specialized translation in philological studies programs at Polish universities: the occurrence of such classes and their thematic scope.The conclusions are an attempt to reflect on the competences that graduates gain from particular types of classes.