The Set of All Possible Wugs

Binding theory.

Now that you've graduate and you've got your degree in linguistics, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? You could spend a lifetime reading language books and learning to speak in obscure tongues, or live in an office somewhere and grade X-Bar trees drawn by students in your intro class. But besides that, what else is there?

First, it should be worth mentioning that learning linguistics gives you a wonderfully useful set of skills that will help you both in and outside of your career. For example, the scientific study of language cultivates

heightened cultural awareness,

insightful observational skills,

the ability to structure and support a logical argument,

analytic reasoning skills,

the ability to formulate and test hypotheses, and

powerful communication skills.

These skills come in handy in academia, which is one of the most obvious places to continue your work in linguistics. If you're studying linguistics at a college or university, I encourage you to talk to some of your professors (or anyone in your department) and see what kinds of research they do, how they got into academia, and why they chose to teach. Doing research and teaching is a great combination, especially if you're looking to stick around for your Ph.D. Knowing what to research can be tricky, but talking to professors and researchers is the best place to start.

But may you're not a fan of the university setting and research just isn't your thing. Maybe you feel that there isn't really much for you to do in linguistics besides become a language instructor or speech therapist. Well, fear not! There are tons of opportunities awaiting you! This list is nowhere near exhaustive, however, and more resources will be added as we come across them!

Language Instruction

If you like teaching and want to apply your education to pedagogy, you can teach languages here in the US or abroad. Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) is a field with plenty of room to find a career. Even if you only speak English, you can travel to pretty much any country in the world to teach English. Here are some places to go digging for opportunities in language instruction:

Teach for America

GoAbroad's TeachAbroad Program

InterExchange

CIEE Teach English Abroad

Working with the Government

Another possible route is to work with the government. Linguists and polyglots of all types are always in high demand in various government organizations, such as the FBI, NSA, and the CIA.

Additionally, international organizations like the United Nations and the European Union are always looking for competent translators and writers for their materials and meetings.

Linguistic Politics

While I don't have a specific site to link you to, I do know that linguistic and language also play a large role in the political sphere. If you're interested in pursuing a law degree and your love of language, applying both to language policy is where you might want to look. Working in this field includes the drafting and advising on language bills (education, multilingualism, national security, international relations, and so on). Having linguists help decide language pedagogy and encourage bills of linguistic inclusion for minority languages and dialects (not only in the US but also in other countries around the world dealing with these same issues) can help to curb some rather disparaging attitudes towards minority languages and multilingualism.

Computational Linguistics

Ever wonder how computers recognize and interpret human speech? Think Google Translate does a shitty job? Want to improve that? Pursuing an education in computational linguistics is where you want to go, then. Working for large tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft allows you to apply your linguistic knowledge to the computer realm, designing software to understand, interpret, translate, and produce speech.

Other Language and Linguistics Jobs

Linguists and their skills are needed all around the globe for positions of all kinds. Some other examples include:

Forensic Linguistics: the application of linguistic theory and analysis to the law, law enforcement, and forensic analysis.

Speech and Language Pathology: working with patients to recover language production and/or comprehension skills.

Audiology: the study of hearing, balance, and related disorders of human auditory perception.

(Simultaneous) Translator or Interpreter: translating and/or interpreting spoken, written, or signed speech.

Voice Coach: training individuals on how to produce particular accents, correct speech impediments, or speak a certain way (applications to speech therapy, mass media, telecommunications, and film/television).

Advertising: applying sociolinguistic knowledge to advertisements (to know, for example, which accents/types of voices will make a product more likely to sell).

Marketing: advise companies in the creation of logos, brands, ads, product names, and other written/auditory material and test it across languages.

Language Documentation and Revitalization: the study of endangered languages in order to preserve them, recording native speakers and analyzing their language to construct a grammar, dictionary, and auditory/video records of the language.

Lexicography: the study of words in current use for the purpose of developing dictionaries (practical lexicography) and the study of words and how they relate to one another (theoretical lexicography).

Language Pedagogy: work to create language materials for the classroom and for self-taught learners, such as textbooks, curriculum, dictionaries, and tests.

Non-Profit Linguistics Organizations

I thought that I would end this post with a quick overview of some non-profit organizations that do linguistic work. While it won't necessarily put food on the table, working with these organizations will provide resources and experiences to its volunteers and will benefit the global community.

The Center for Applied Linguistics

The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages

The Endangered Language Fund

Language Hunters

Cultural Survival

Indigenous Language Institute

The Rosetta Project

The Institute for Language and Education Policy