What Can I do with a Degree in Linguistics?

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The field of linguistics is extremely diverse, intersecting with many areas such as anthropology, computer science, engineering, foreign language study, neurology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and speech & hearing science, among others. As a result, a degree in linguistics can provide the foundation for a wide range of jobs and careers (see below for some examples). Studying linguistics helps you develop many important skills such as analytical thinking, problem solving, argumentation, critical thinking, data collection and analysis, and written and oral expression. As a student of linguistics you will become familiar with many different languages and cultures and, as a result, also develop cross-cultural skills. Each of these skills are useful in many careers that may not otherwise seem related to linguistics. Below you will find a list of some of the career paths that graduates with a BA in linguistics have followed as well as some references that may prove useful. Doing a search on google.com for 'linguistics jobs' may also yield some interesting results.

Also check out prospectus here

Examples of other areas of work experience that may be of interest to linguistics students include:

• opportunities provided by BookCareers and The Society of Young Publishers (SYP);
• work on university publications as proofreaders or editors;
• work in a bookshop or library.

❊ Queen Mary, University of London

• Publishing Assistant
• Pinter & Marchants Publishing
• Assistant Linguist
• CCCSVA
• Teacher Teach First
• PR Assistant
• Connie Fillippello Publicity
• Online Support Administrator
• Haymarket Publishing
• Prop Buyer
• Rose Theatre
• English Teacher
• Madani Girls School
• Editor
• Weekly Times Newspaper
• Freelance Events Manager
• Tate Movie Project BBC

Typical employers include:

• media organisations
• publishing companies
• marketing and PR companies
• Civil Service, especially on the Fast Stream

law and accountancy firms

• IT and telecommunications firms
• primary and secondary schools
• language schools both in the UK and abroad
• the NHS and private hospitals

Language teaching

• foreign language teaching
• teaching English as a second language
• teaching English as a foreign language
• teaching English as a first language
• teaching in literacy programs
• Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
• Routes to QTS

Information technology

• natural language processing
• speech recognition, speech synthesis

Publishing

• editor (for a publishing house, working with government or educational documents)
• lexicographer (e.g. working for Merriam-Webster)
• technical writer
• publishing copy-editor/proofreader

Professions

• speech pathologist/therapist
  • speech and language therapist
• audiologist
• college/university professor (combining research, teaching and service) / requires MA/PhDs
  • lecturer
  • associate professor
  • professor
  • assistant professor
  • research coordinator
  • researcher
  • visiting professor
• lawyer
• medical doctor or researcher
• secondary school teacher
  • secondary schools in the state and independent sector
  • Modern language teachers are in short supply and the government offers postgraduates grants of up to £25,000 to train as secondary school teachers.

Miscellaneous

• interpretor/translator, e.g. for a publisher, the U.S. *State Department or other government agencies
• missionary, e.g. working for SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics), Wycliffe Bible Translators
• librarian
• civil service employee
• computer programmer
• writer
• advertising industry employee
• Corporate language consulting
  • eg. DSi, World Language Consultants, ALC.

Others

• Computational linguist (specialty in computational linguistics)
  • data specialsit
  • language engineer
  • tts linguist
• Language research
• Analyst positions
• applied linguistics
  • consultant
• general linguistics
  • speech data evaluator
  • search analyst
• language acquisition
  • post doc

Linguistic Fields:

• Computational Linguistics
• Discourse Analysis
• Morphology
• Semantics
• Syntax
• Text/Corpus Linguistics
• General Linguistics
• Language Documentation
• Language Revitalization
• Lexicography
• Neurolinguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Phonetics
• Phonology
• Applied Linguistics
• Pragmatics
• Semantics
• Sociolinguistics
• Anthropological Linguistics
• Language Acquisition
• Bilingualism

❊ Non-Academic Jobs

Job types for advanced linguistics degree holders (beyond professorships) Below are just some of the types of careers advanced degree holders in linguistics recently advertised on linguistics job sites.

• Language Teaching
• Direction and Coordination of Language Programs
• ESL/Foreign Language Content Development
• Accent Reduction Training
• Computational Linguistics, Speech Recognition, Speech Generation, Artificial
• Intelligence/Programming
• Speech Pathology/ Communication Disorders
• Lab Management
• Writing, Technical Writing, Editing
• Forensic Linguistics
• Government Careers, e.g. analyst
• Espionage/Surveillance
• Onomastics; Professional Naming
• Lexicography
• Interpretation/Translation
  • freelance from home for agencies or directly for clients
  • commercial
  • charities
  • government
  • in-house work in the private sector
• Anthropology; Corporate Anthropology
• Consulting (for industries, government agencies, marketing firms)
• Market Research
• Business
  • Marketing
  • Sales
  • Management
  • Finance and investment
  • Employers
    • leading multinationals across all sectors
• Law
• Advertising
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• Civil service
• International charities
• Journalism
  • media agencies
  • freelance
  • national networks
• Travel industry
  • tour operators
  • booking websites
  • niche travel agencies
• Entertainment industry
  • Linguistic voice coaching
  • Foreign accents
  • Accent reduction lessons

Some language graduates go into the army and the secret services (MI5 and GCHQ) says Professor Mike Kelly, head of modern languages at the University of Southampton. “Though they don’t tell us much about their careers,” he adds. “There are some who go into the police – did you know that half of the criminal gangs in London operate in languages other than English?”

Other companies

• researcher (kpmg)
• Devonshire Langauge Solutions
• pearson

Internships

• Internship Programme
• Penguin
• Harper Collins

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