Interconnectedness is the apt word to describe the world. The world is globalizing more than ever in a full-fledged landscape that makes language a key to connecting people. Yes, language truly plays a role for a country to elevate its international presence. In order to facilitate enhanced communication, countries like India are coming up with more linguistic jobs and opportunities. Technology is pacing up and more language learner apps are built to fulfill the demand of learning foreign languages.
In reality, not many of the linguistic careers are being explored and exposed. However, research.com says that the demand for translators, interpreters, writers etc is expected to grow by 24%
That said, it can be exceptionally beneficial for one who is looking forward to pursuing a career path in this. And that’s what this blog talks about. Within this blog, we will discuss the prospects in the realm of linguistics and what path it leads to.
What is Linguistic?
In simple words, linguistics refers to the scientific study of language and its structure. It understands the evolution of language and the ways to acquire it to better understand communication. Going beyond the analysis, it also refers to the study of the properties each language carries and the similarities it has. By identifying the elements, more information about a language is being disseminated.
Language has many aspects which need to be studied to understand linguistics including syntax, phonetics, semantics and pragmatics.
What does a good job in linguistics ask for?
Skills! Yes, the base to ace any career path is having certain skills. A linguistic career is no more an expectation. It requires a good combination of analytical and soft skills to reach the level of excellence. Here are a few set of skills and here mentioned are the following:
- Strong research skills can help with driving meaningful conclusions.
- Good with listening and writing which is important for every linguistic job.
- Proficiency in a diverse range of languages.
- Critical thinking to look at what’s beyond.
- Sufficient computing skills for data analysis and knowledge of using relevant tools.
Career in Linguistics
As already mentioned, the career in linguistics is booming within every sector. Almost every company needs a translator to make their services or products reach massive audiences. To establish the brand at diverse places, knowing the language they speak is important for them to resonate.
Therefore many fields like education, marketing, communications etc are ready to embrace the linguistic jobs. The primary part is that it requires one to have a degree of graduation and a set of skills as mentioned above.
Following are a few of the jobs that are worth doing after understanding linguism:
- Translators or Interpreters: These people are the one who has the responsibility to interpret, translate, and analyze materials and documents into the language needed. Translators are the ones who convert written language from one to another. Interpreters are the one who converts language verbally.
- Lexicographers: They are the ones who are responsible for editing and compiling the dictionary. They work very closely with the evolution of words by depriving their meaning and tracking the changes. They pinpoint the accurate origin of words to create meaningful language resources.
- Language professors: They are simply those who teach about language and make one study of it. They usually preach at university or college to degree holders. People who are teaching languages are in demand in various fields like science, literature, speech, communications etc.
- Computational Linguistic: In this job, a person works closely to understand the natural language of data and works to analyze it in understandable terms. They work in fields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP). A degree in computer science is needed to become a computational linguist.
- Forensic linguistics: Forensic linguistics closely deals with crime scenes. Forensic linguists analyze emergency calls, and threat communication, identify voice, and interpret language. They work keenly with the attributes of legal cases. They also play a role in national security making it one of the most profitable jobs to have with a linguistic degree.
Summing up,
The reward of choosing a career in linguistics is that it comes with a future. The most driving fact about linguistics is that no matter how much artificial intelligence grows, it can’t substitute jobs. This comes as a wave of relief at times when most jobs are on the edge of getting automated by artificial intelligence. But the scenario is totally different with linguistic careers. They can’t be automated or substituted. This makes it the best choice for students to go with after college. Students having the passion to learn languages and an interest in the arena can do wonders by simply paving the journey the right way.
