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  • Career Profile: Linguist

    Career Profile: Linguist

    People work with all kinds of materials. Sometimes they build bridges or put casts on broken bones. Sometimes they sew clothes or paint pictures, and sometimes they work with words. Linguists are people who study what words mean and how people use them. They use this knowledge in many different areas of life, including crime detection, language teaching, psychology, and in other professions where words are important.

    You might think that linguists are people who speak a lot of languages. It can be true, and these types of linguists often work as translators or find jobs in different countries. However, the main point of linguistics is not learning languages but analyzing them. Linguists might learn other languages in the process, but that is not normally the focus of their work.

    Analyzing a language involves working in areas like phonetics (the sounds of words), grammar, word origins, and the relationship between culture and language. Linguists try to find out why people use words the way they do and how the structure or vocabulary of a language reflects what people think.

    How does a linguist’s field of study relate to everyday life and work? Linguists can become English as a Second Language teachers or professors in fields like language, history, or anthropology (the study of human cultures). They can work as speech therapists to help people speak more clearly. They can even become crime fighters, becoming forensic linguists. This field is still quite new, but it has already helped solve many crimes.

    Forensic linguists analyze many different aspects of the language used in crimes. Sometimes, they look at the words used in ransom notes or other documents. Each person has a slightly different way of using words, and linguists can help find these differences. At other times, forensic linguists try to identify people’s accents or find out where they’re from based on their word usage. They might be able to help people who have lost their memory to find their way home again or discover the origin of a criminal’s accent. Anything that relates to language can be part of a forensic linguist’s work.

    Working as a linguist can involve a lot of hard work and study. Developing an interest in language is probably the most important way to start. If you don’t enjoy looking in dictionaries or playing word games, linguistics might not be the right field for you.

    If you decide that you enjoy language enough to work with it all day long, you’ll probably need to get an education. A general Bachelor’s degree with some courses in linguistics is probably a good start, but you might want to continue your education further. Because requirements vary, it might be a good idea to talk to an adviser at the university before you get very far in your studies. Choosing to study linguistics might not give you a clear career path, but it can be a rewarding field.

     

    Bibliography:

    Freeman, Jan. “What Do Linguists Do?” Boston.com. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/06/18/what_do_linguists_do/.

    International Association of Forensic Linguistics. “Forensic Linguistics.” http://www.iafl.org/.

    Jitt, Jack. “Words on Trial: Can Linguists Solve Crimes That Stump the Police?” New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/07/23/120723fa_fact_hitt

    Language Translation, Inc. “What Do Linguists Do for a Living? http://blog.languagetranslation.com/public/blog/136455

    Memorial University, Department of Linguistics. “Careers in Linguistics.” http://www.mun.ca/linguistics/home/career.php.

    World Wide Learn. “Guide to College Majors in Linguistics.” http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/social-science/linguistics-major.htm.

  • Career Profile: Translator/Interpreter

    Career Profile: Translator/Interpreter

    If you attend a typical Canadian school, you have probably spent some time studying another language. Learning another language is a good way to expand your knowledge and to practice skills like memorization, which you might need in other parts of your life. It can even lead to a career as a translator or interpreter.

    Have you ever tried to talk to someone who was unable to understand your language? Maybe your grandparents came from a different country and never learned to speak English well. Maybe some classmates or neighbours have just moved to Canada and speak a different language. Sometimes, you can manage to communicate by pointing at things and maybe drawing pictures of what you want. However, this method can be very limited, and people can easily misunderstand what the others are saying. This is why translators and interpreters do work that is very important. They help people who know one language to understand what people from another language are saying.

    Translation and interpretation are basically two parts of the same field of work, but translators generally deal with written language and interpreters deal with spoken language. Translators might work in government offices, schools, or other places where documents need to be translated from one language to another. Interpreters work directly with people, translating speeches as they are being given or helping deaf people to speak with hearing people. Translators can consult dictionaries or stop and think about the best words to use, but interpreters need to be able to think quickly and to translate words as soon as the speaker says them.

    Becoming a translator or interpreter takes a lot of skill but not much education. A high school diploma is often enough, although a bachelor’s degree might be necessary in some cases. Some employers might also prefer to hire people who have taken special courses in translation skills through language institutes and community colleges. In Canada, certification as a translator or interpreter is also available through the Canadian Translators, Terminologist and Interpreters Council.

    The main requirement for most translators and interpreters is language fluency. People who want to work in this field must know at least two of the world’s 6500 languages – their own and one other. If they know more languages, however, their chances of finding work are far higher than if they know only two. The level of fluency is also important. Someone who knows medical terminology in several languages, for example, might be able to get work as an interpreter in a hospital. Someone whose knowledge of the language is more basic, however, might want to work in a school, helping parents and teachers communicate with each other. Since it can take a lifetime to get to know a language thoroughly, some translators and interpreters specialize in certain topics, like sports or history. Depending on where they work, translators and interpreters might make between $26,000 and $58,000 per year.

    Do you love languages? If you want to become a translator or interpreter, it’s never too early to start practicing your language skills.

  • Languages Open Doors!

    Languages Open Doors!

    You might wonder what’s the point of learning a language that you don’t need to speak in order to get by. It’s a question worth asking and there’s more than one answer. Languages will help you in some obvious ways and some ways you might not expect, whether it’s opening doors to travel, providing job opportunities or giving you a unique perspective on the world.

    One of the obvious advantages of learning other languages is that they allow you to see places you wouldn’t otherwise see. Nearly every city that people travel to has something called the “tourist circuit.” What that means is there’s an area of the city filled with hotels, restaurants and activities like boat tours that are mostly reserved for tourists. These places are easy to visit, because everyone who works there speaks English. Sure, anyone can appreciate riding an elephant in Laos even if they don’t speak Laotian, but there’s much more to see in a country.

    If you go to Germany and speak German, you can talk to a local on the bus and find a club to see some good live music. If you go to China and speak Mandarin, you can leave the tour group and find out what “Chinese food” really is. More than that, just being able to have conversations with the locals is worth it. There’s a feeling of satisfaction from having worked at learning a language and reaching the point where it can get you more than the ability to read a menu.

    Languages also help with your career. Businesses from video game testing to restaurants to customer service often search for employees who speak a second language. If you’re in sales and you happen to speak Korean, you have a leg up in the industry when dealing with Korean customers. Businesses know that. It might seem strange to be learning Portuguese in an English-speaking country, but that means when an employer needs someone to edit documents written in Portuguese or deal with Portuguese customers, you have a rare skill that gives you a huge advantage in the job market.

    Knowing an additional language will also give you access to another culture. You get a master key to a whole set of books, music and movies that most other people can never see. Even within Canada, English news and French news will give you different points of view on the same issue. If you can read both, or if you can listen to your local Spanish radio station, you’ll know about things that other people will never have heard of and you’ll have more well-rounded knowledge about your city and environment.

    There are plenty of ways to learn a new language. Many people start learning in high school, but you can also attend private classes. Probably the most exciting way to learn is through a foreign exchange to an area that speaks the language. After all, studying a language will give you all the basics you need, but you have to actually use it if you want to understand it and to speak it smoothly.

    So if you happen to find Italian interesting, take your school’s Italian class even if you can’t see how it will help you right now. Follow your gut and you’ll end up in fascinating places.