Hi! I'm a lang/ling/lit undergraduate and was wondering if you have any advice on picking a career & building it, in the area of langs, uni education, research? I'm not really sure where to start and am anxious about there not even being any demand? How do you work your way to teaching at uni? And how do I know if I could wing a research career & postgrad studies? Thanks a bunch xx
Hello! Lifeās always hard for the philology students, but there are ways to make it work in the field you study in.Ā
There are two types of languages, Iād classify it as niche languages and major languages.Ā With niche languages, it is easier to meet other people in academia and in research, because there arenāt many. As our hero Simone Giertz said in her TEDTalk -Ā āBecause as we all know the easiest way to be at the top of your field is to choose a very small field.ā (here) And thatās also the way I somehow ended up taking. I study English philology with focus on Linguistics. Officially. But Iām much more involved in the minority langs department because itās just so much more interesting to me and because of my interest, thatās where I plan to pursue a career. With major languages, you have to be good. Since theyāre major, there are many people doing them and itās a lot of competition.Ā When comparing major languages work market and niche languages work market - it reminds me of this video about buzz pollination. The meadow and the bees are the major languages. And if you do your work well, you can reach the top. You have loads to choose from, but also many people trying to take your place.Ā
Niche languages are like the buzz pollination. Itāll always be harder to find something, but then if you do find something, you wonāt face much competition. From experience - most demanded major languages are probably Mandarin, Spanish and French.Ā
Picking a career - teaching and translation always come to mind. You can always do: research, language promotion in a country where itās not widely spoken, language planning.
How I worked my way up - the niche way. Tiny department, good exam results, general interest and involvement and off I went. I hope it can help me in the future, because Iād love to achieve something besidesĀ ālanding a good jobā.
How to know if you can wing it - everybody is basically winging it! But if you enjoy learning, writing papers (you donāt have to love it, you just shouldnāt hate it, if you know what I mean) and you feel like you want to achieve something for your field of study field, you should definitely go for postgrad studies!
