Career Choice Dilemma

Hmm. . . there's a lot there. First of all, a lot of colleges these days, including mine, offers majors in "French and Linguistics" or "Spanish and Linguistics," which would offer you the freedom to go either way, and would also give you something more than a simple French or Spanish major. . .

I came into school as a German major and learned very quickly that the job outlook for a foreign language major is NOT good right now. There aren't too many teaching positions at universities right now, and a lot of (public k-12) schools are having to cut foreign language programs, so having an additional major is important. I'm majoring in IR as well (which is almost as useless :-)) and European Studies. . . So a combo linguistics major would be perfect for you, since you have those interests, and it would provide you with a possible safety cushion.

Scholarships: the way colleges deal out scholarships is completely incomprehensible, at least as far as I know. . . most kids change majors at least once, so most schools do NOT give scholarships simply based on major, and especially not in the humanities. Colleges won't accept you because you want to do linguistics but then not if you want to do french. Just put down your honest inclinations and write a fantastic essay (mentioning your language skills is always impressive), and then the scholarship chips will fall in whatever way the school's looking at. . .

I will tell you that I snagged my scholarship by writing an essay that demonstrated I had values and interests (travel, foreign languages, cultural exploration) that jived with my school (NYU)'s philosophy and focus. . .

Those of us in the languages and linguistics fields have been facing some pretty harsh realities recently. . . any good guidance counselor will tell you these days to make sure and diversify your academic program (and I don't care what the rest of you have to say about the outlook for foreign language majors; I'm finishing up soon and I'm well aware of the dismal environment :-)).

Other than that, concentrate on keeping your grades up and take those SAT IIs and AP tests! DEFINITELY take the French AP test next year if your school offers the program- AP languages are considered impressive on transcripts and they can often get you out of basic language requirements. . .

Hope that helps. . . if there's anything else I think of or that you have questions about, if I can I'll answer. . . I have a feeling you might wind up in my boat at some point :-)

Well, I went to university without any clear ideas about what I wanted to study, so you're one step ahead of the game!

I discovered linguistics in my first year of university, and ended up majoring in it. After graduation, I worked as a linguist for a year at a software company developing English grammar-check software, then went to Japan to teach English for 3 years on and off. Along the way, I got my TESL (Teaching English as a 2nd Language) certification. After all that time, I decided to continue my linguistics education by pursuing a PhD. I am now in my 2nd year of the program.

Something to keep in mind is the difference between Theoretical linguistics and Applied linguistics.

Theoretical linguistics is the scientific study of the human language faculty. In other words, some questions linguists try to answer include:

What do all languages have in common? How do they differ? How is linguistic knowledge represented in the brain?

Subfields of theoretical linguistics include: Neurolinguistics (language and the brain), sociolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, phonetics (speech sounds), phonology (sound systems), morphology (word structure), syntax (sentence structure), semantics (meaning), pragmatics (meaning in context).

Applied linguistics in general refers to 2nd language teaching.

Linguistics is NOT philology, study of grammar, writing style, literature, foreign languages, teaching of 1st language, and so on.

Many colleges offer courses in either applied or theoretical, but not both. Very often, applied linguistics will be offered through the faculty of Education, while theoretical linguistics tends to be in Humanities.

My advice would be not to limit yourself too early. Linguistics is a huge field with lots of fun stuff to explore. Apply to a college which offers a wide range of courses in things that interest you.

Another positive step would be to visit the local college library and browse through introductory textbooks in Linguistics, Sociolinguistics and Neurolinguistics. See what seems interesting and go from there.

Also check out the amazing resources on the web!

The following is a link to the Introduction to Linguistics course at my school:

Intro to Linguistics


Let me know if you'd like any more specific references!

I just posted and read Princessash's excellent post, and thought I'd add a bit more:

While Princessash was totally on the money about the job market for language teachers (applied linguistics), a combined degree in Spanish & Linguistics might not be ideal either. It really depends on the school, but the schools that I know of that offer such degrees really teach the linguistics of that particular language in detail, and don't really focus on the broader questions that theoretical linguistics tend to be concerned with. Thus even though you have the dual degree, you won't really be employable as a linguist, per se, but will likely be an expert in the structure of the language you specialize in.

I considered doing my PhD in Japanese linguistics specifically, but all 3 of my referees (people who wrote my letters of recommendation) advised me to stay as general as possible for as long as possible. Give yourself as wide a background as possible to keep future paths open.

A degree in theoretical linguistics can lead to jobs especially in the software and/or telecommunications industries. Voice recognition applications, wireless applications, translation software development, the list is endless and jobs plentiful. Just for example, Ohio State University's linguistics department is financially supported by Motorola, which offers students summer internships.

Computational Linguistics is another growing subfield (though if you don't like math, that might not be the easiest path to take!).

If you are going to go into Linguistics, your going to become an athropologist. you might want to begin by looking at these two links. The first is the Linguistic Society of America home page. the professional association for linguists. The second is a short introduction to how anthropologists think about language.

http://www.lsadc.org/

http://anthro.palomar.edu/language/default.htm

Just a quick supplimentary note, mezzie's absolutely right about the combo programs. . .

NYU, however, teaches a much broader-based linguistics "half" (from what I understand, the combos are roughly 60/40 lingustics/language) than the specific linguistics of your language of choice.

That is, of course, part of the program (how could it not be?), and it's important to know whether or nor you actually WANT to study the linguistics of french, for example, but, depending on the school, you could wind up with a lopsided specialty in french linguistics, or indeed a very nice basic knowledge of linguistics :-)

No matter what, you should take some classes in both departments before you even think of committing to anything. I sat through a few lectures on German philosophy, orthography, and the like before I decided to veer pure German and avoid German studies or linguistics. . .

Study what you like best. Do not worry about the market. Vocation is most important.

When I was your age I was torn between studying Economics, Linguistics or Journalism.
I studied Economics. It had the "best market".
I have worked in all three fields of my junior interest, and even if my knowledge of economics has helped, I have done best where my real vocation is: journalism.