Careers with a degree in linguistics

What is linguistics?

Linguistics is the study of language structure and use. Languages around the world show commonalities in terms of their structure, the way they are used and change, and the way they are learned by young children and adults. Linguistic research focuses on finding and understanding these commonalities and their origins, determining the structural differences between languages and the limits of such differences.

Here you will discover what English Language and Linguistics graduates from Kent have gone on to do after completing their degree. 40% of vacancies advertised specifically to graduates do not specify degree subject, so English Language and Linguistics graduates can enter a wide range of careers.

Skills developed in your degree

English Language and Linguistics graduates develop a wide range of skills that are valuable to graduate employers including: how to argue a point, how to think independently, to summarise and precis, to write and speak well, to write reports, to present information effectively and to work as part of a team. Make sure you get most of these into your CV!

Key skills developed include:

  • Analytical reasoning

  • Critical thinking and argumentation

  • Verbal skills: good handling of oral and written language, ability to understand and analyze subtle differences in spoken and written form

  • Communication skills: awareness of different styles and registers, and of intercultural differences in language use

  • Quantitative skills: basic statistics, numeracy, graphs and tables

  • IT skills: use of basic software (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Excel), social media, and discipline specific software (e.g. Praat) which may also involve some basic training in programming.

Careers linguists can enter

  • Speech and Language Therapy (with additional training): a solid grounding in linguistic analysis is essential in this field.

  • Computing: speech technology, automatic translation, intelligent search engines, computer-mediated language learning and other areas hire linguists (e.g. Google employ linguists)

  • Teaching: inguistics graduates have gone into primary teacher training and also secondary teaching with English as their subject specialism

  • Education (typically with a specialization in applied linguistics): TEFL, development of educational materials, language-teacher training.

  • Higher Education (if progressing to PhD): teaching and research in a Higher Education institution.

  • Translation and interpreting: (with additional training)

  • Publishing: technical writing, editing, publishing, working for publishers specializing in language-teaching publications are all options for linguists

  • Journalism & media

  • Law: as a forensic consultant or as a lawyer (with additional training) using of your verbal and analytical skills

  • Advertising: many companies (e.g. The Gap) employ linguists to ensure that names of new products will have cross-linguistic appeal

  • Government: many government agencies employ language and linguistics experts (e.g. intelligence agencies, Diplomatic Service)

  • Consultancy: linguists can provide a better understanding of language use, pronunciation and practices; e.g. the BBC employs phoneticians who advise news presenters on how to pronounce foreign names

  • Film industry: linguists are employed as actor trainers (e.g. teaching specific accents or dialectal features), as consultants (e.g. to provide historical accuracy in language use) and as creators of new languages (like Dothraki in the Game of Thrones created by linguist David Peterson)

  • Lexicography working as a linguistic consultant for dictionaries

  • Language documentation: document, analyze, and help preserve endangered languages by conducting fieldwork and establishing literacy programs

  • Forensics: linguists are employed by law firms and many government agencies (incl. the police) are forensic consultants e.g. analyzing speech and writing samples. See The case for forensic linguistics. There is an MSc in Forensic Linguistics at Aston University

  • How do I become ... a dialect coach

  • Semiotics e.g. Flamingo Group

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