Become a Linguist and Make Yourself Indispensable
Linguistics is a diversified field. A student with a degree in linguistics has many career options and hence can do a lot of things. When one studies the subject, it helps the person to work on his own skills and bring about an all round development. The word linguistic is a world in itself. It is just not about the language which many of us might think. It is a long term assessment of the language that we have learnt.
How Can a Degree in Linguistic Help?
A linguist is an expert programmer of language. Based on specialization, a linguist can be anything between a research experts to a marketing analyst. The major specialities are computational linguistics and applied linguistics. Many times it is even overwhelming to know what a language can do. A linguist can help in framing government regulations and assist the state in keeping public interest. Even in the entertainment industry there is always a requirement of dialect coaches. Additionally, linguists also have a role to play in criminal investigation whenever there is a requirement of voice identification. Thus there is an unending role of a linguist in our everyday life.
Eligibility Criteria
To become a linguist, one should have English and Mathematics at the 10+2 level and must score more than 50% marks to be eligible for admission. You can get B.A in linguistics, M.A and Ph.D also in multiple branches of the course. The top universities of linguistics in India includes Jawaharlal Nehru University , Aligarh Muslim University, Benaras Hindu University and Calcutta University. You can also get online professional certifications and become a professional linguist.
Key Skills
One must be proficient in writing and speaking the language that has been taken up. Native-level fluency is undoubtedly an added advantage. An enhanced level of speaking, writing and listening skill is a priority. One must have a profound knowledge about the different tools and techniques implemented while processing the original languages.
Career Options of a Linguist
Some important career options for a linguist includes:
- Translator
- Speech therapist
- Accent coach
- Audiologist
- Lexicographer
- Foreign language teacher
- Linguistic professor
Salary
When one has an unending amount of career options, it is quite likely that the income will not be fixed. A linguist has a privilege to generate more income based on the specialities. However for a salaried employee in India, the average income is about Rs 22000/-.per month. Talking about international countries, for a salaried linguistic employee the income ranges anywhere between $57k to $118k per annum based on his experiences.