Hiya, folks! I'm a big fan of this show, and I figure this is probably a good community for this question:
I am nearing completion of my anthropology degree at the University of Texas at Austin (I'll be done partway through this summer). In my case, I have an additional academic option: Due to having already completed many of the required hours by means of cross-listed courses, I can take another two part-time semesters and ALSO claim a linguistics degree. I'd like the opinions of anyone willing to contribute their wisdom: Apart from all the logistical factors (what jobs I can take while also in school, being tied to this city for an extra 9 months, tuition, etc.), would it be worthwhile to go for this second degree? How does an undergraduate degree in linguistics (I currently have no plans for graduate school) help in the Real World, especially when it's one of two BAs on my resume? Suggested career paths, specific job titles/companies to look for, etc. are appreciated. Thanks in advance!
(Also: If I should have said "BA's" or "resumé"/"résumé," let me know. Not that I'll agree with you, or anything; I just like to discuss this stuff.)
That's a toughie, YiddishSoul. But I'll leave you with a few ideas. My wife is about to finish her PhD in sociolinguistics, I have friends and colleagues who are linguists, and from browsing LinguistList daily I have a good idea of the kinds of jobs that are out there.
First, a bachelor's in linguistics will do little but get you into a Master's or Doctorate degree program in linguistics or a related field. It's not a ticket to much else that you couldn't get with any BA. It counts mostly as a simple "BA" and not as a "linguistics BA."
Second, the linguistics field is loaded with stellar talent and competition for jobs is stiff.
Third, what jobs there are tend to be about computational linguistics, machine translation, and so forth. They tend to require a strong computer programming background and a technical bent. You'll also need a better-than-average understanding of statistics.
Fourth, those two degrees, anthropology and linguistics, seem to make you a good candidate for fieldwork, perhaps chronicling disappearing languages. Those jobs tend to be in academia as part of graduate degree programs or at SIL.
My general advice when I get this query (or one about lexicography, about which job prospects I know a great deal more) is to make a job for yourself. Find work that needs to be done, draft it as a proposal, and blanket the planet with it until you can find someone to fund it.
Great question, YiddishSoul. (And congrats on nearing completion of your degree!) Grant makes several excellent points. I would also suggest that you think about the kind of work you'd like to be doing -- what your ideal day would look like a few years from now when the degree itself doesn't loom so large. Would it be a day doing the kind of computational linguistics Grant is talking about? Or being out in the field talking to, say, elderly speakers of Appalachian English or something like that? Or . . . ?
Thanks, guys! It's looking like I'm gonna go ahead and do it, so that's cool, but I don't know yet how I'm gonna use it. I'm seeing an on-campus career advisor regularly now, to plan this stuff. He said what you said, Grant: I should be making up my ideal job and going for that. But what that is (and how I can achieve it) we'll figure out as time goes on.
BY THE WAY, I'll probably be calling the show soon with several somewhat lame questions, because I just want an excuse to talk to you folks on the radio. RADIO GOOD.
>>>BY THE WAY, I'll probably be calling the show soon with several somewhat lame questions, because I just want an excuse to talk to you folks on the radio. RADIO GOOD.<<<
LOL! Love it, YiddishSoul. Please do!