Careers in academia
It is undeniable that the most obvious career route of a degree holder in linguistics is in academia. This in itself presents an exciting and intellectually rigorous challenge to someone who is interested in expanding the sum of human knowledge. It is exciting and relevant because language is ever-changing, and knowledge of the old rules is invaluable towards understanding the new.
As the barriers to the global transfer of information fall one by one, the languages of the world morph, import, incorporate and discard at a fantastic rate, and application of linguistics and linguistics-related disciplines are necessary to track and understand these changes. If charting evolution as it happens tickles your fancy, an eventual professorship should be your goal.
Be aware that a doctoral qualification is necessary for gaining tenure at any reputable institution. The demands of balancing research and teaching is immense, and the pressure to publish regularly on the tenure-track is equal to the pressure in commerce or industry. Academia is not for the feeble.
Language acquisition director/University administrator
Language acquisition is a branch of applied linguistics. The language teaching view of applied linguistics parallels TESOL or TEFL, by looking at ways of improving language teaching, backed by a more rigorous study of language. The motivation is that better teaching will be based on a better understanding of language. As such, applied linguistics is often used to mean second language acquisition (although very rarely is it used to refer to first language acquisition).
The requirements for a Master’s in Malaysia are a good bachelor’s or Master’s degree with at least a Band 3 in the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) or equivalent.
A director of a language programme must have in-depth knowledge of the various methodologies of language teaching, including technology-related pedagogy and expertise in curriculum development and
assessment.
In reality, your career depends as much on your formal qualifications as on your experience. A doctoral in the language, for example French or Arabic, or a Master’s in Clinical Linguistics is preferred; however, if for example you were appointed as Director of the French Language Programme at a university, proven excellence in teaching French language at all levels and administrative experience in organizing and staffing multi-level language courses would be an added advantage.
As a language acquisition director, your potential employers would be universities, schools and publishing houses.
Many holders of postgraduate degrees leverage their specialist knowledge to become university administrators. The duties of a university administrator are usually split between administrative and academic, depending on which administrative unit one is in. A holder of a Master’s in linguistics could be responsible for maintaining, developing, coordinating, and overseeing the linguistics programme at a university. He may also be in charge of hiring academic and support staff, or in charge of student admissions. It is as wide a mandate as is accorded by the individual institution, and is a good career option.
Endangered language preservationist
"Every lost word is another lost world."
Besides tracking new phenomena such as text language and myriad new youth slang and dialects, linguists work to preserve endangered languages that hold centuries of wisdom and traditional knowledge. In languages, there is untold potential to unlock the cognitive capabilities of the human mind, especially languages that have developed in isolation and independently of each other.
Linguists seek firstly to preserve and document, and secondly to learn and understand these languages to see what the diversity of languages can tell us about the ways the brain stores and communicates experience.
Even in Malaysia, indigenous languages and regional dialects, accents and slang are being lost on a daily basis. If you have a background in linguistics and/or cognitive and behavioural science, are passionate about preserving endangered languages, and have a love for field-work and research, get in touch with the Living Tongues Institute or UNESCO’s Endangered Languages Program. Do check out the 2008 indie-doco ‘The Linguists’ – which documents the travels of two linguists around the world in their quest to collect recordings of three dying languages – if you need more convincing.
