<p>When I apply to college, I want to major in linguistics; however, I don't wanna end up living on the streets ("starving-artist" status). Is this major good enough to help support me out of college? Or should i minor in something? I would like to go to grad school after my B.A. Linguistics is the only thing that I'm good at, like really. Languages are the only thing that i can do without having to worry about failing. </p>
<p>Personal qualities to consider:
I'm okay in math (3.0 average in all my classes; i like it kinda), HATE PYSICAL SCIENCES, i like to dress suits (idk if that helps?), i like to travel, im very patriotic (but not that into politics), like working with strangers, etc. Average student. </p>
<p>I dont wanna be uber rich, i just wanna be well-off. But well-off=happy. rich=really happy. just saying</p>
<p>The rules are really out the door with this economy. It doesn’t seem to matter what you are studying anymore, the market is just so glutted with laid off workers in every field that have a boatload more experience than you do. </p>
<p>Just do what you like and absolutely don’t pay some heart-stopping amount for it. Particularly in the LA, it is rarely worth it to get more than $15-20k in debt. I’d suggest some vocational side step like a minor in accounting, math (for perhaps a later teaching certification), paralegal studies, technical writing to enhance your skill set. If nothing else, it will make you feel better about your chances in the job market.</p>
<p>Get certified to teach. The requirements are minimal in many states but very formal and strict, i.e. not hard but you have to do the red tape and coursework. This is easier while you are still on campus.</p>
<p>Learn a language or languages of geopolitical/economic importance. Good luck predicting what these will be.</p>
<p>Take ROTC. Don’t take any money from them unless you find you love the military and want to serve.</p>
<p>Take enough business courses to determine whether you want an MBA.</p>
<p>Be good enough in your major to get paid to go to graduate school.</p>
<p>Globalisations isn’t going to go away despite the current economic climate. Someone with fluency in two or more languages, a pleasing personality, a desire to travel and who enjoys meeting new people will likely find opportunities in international business. Perhaps pair your interest in languages with a minor in economics, business or international relations. My father-in-law traveled internationally as an engineer/project manager for a Dow component firm. His team always included a linguist (who was not necessarily also an engineer) who would assist team members in communicating with workers and managers in the host country.</p>
<p>(I’m a linguistics major, so perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part, but…) Linguistics can be a very useful major. It will help you learn foreign languages much easier, and I think it can very easily be applied to many different jobs. That said, if you go into computer linguistics you’re almost guaranteed a job. Unfortunately, that’s not what I chose to do…</p>
<p>Does linguistics really help learn other languages? My linguistics professor and the TAs all freely admit they’re terrible at their non-native languages. It’s a running joke in the department that linguistics suck at actually learning languages, apparently.</p>
<p>And yeah, if you’re worried about employment, computational linguistics is a very employable field. But it might require more math than you’re willing to learn…</p>
<p>Seriously, the FBI, NSA, and CIA are always hiring linguistics majors (I believe they look for people very good in a certain language however).</p>
<p>Best part about working for the guvmint is that they pay for your grad schooling, you get great health benefits, and you’ll probably get a security clearance too.</p>
<p>Linguistics has helped me learn other languages. I can’t speak for everyone, but as far as I know, it’s helped all of my friends in linguistics as well.</p>
<p>I can definitely understand how a background in linguistics would help someone learn languages faster, but it really depends on how the languages are taught. As a linguistics major, I really hate how foreign languages are taught at my school. I’m constantly thinking that I really wish vocabulary lists and the like were written in IPA so I wouldn’t be 100% reliant on my teacher’s pronunciation because sometimes I forget. Also, languages with case-systems like German would probably be much easier for linguistics majors simply because they know the difference between the dative, accusative, genitive, and nominative cases while other students have to be given a grammar lesson.</p>
<p>My parents don’t even know English. Neither went to college or high school. They rent a apartment in San Francisco, and raised me and my sister rather successfully. Yet, there’s plenty of people who is doing worst even though they speak English
America really is the a place where anything is possible - as long you strive it for it. Many homeless are mentally or physically ill, or quote: “Like being free.” If you have the drive and you are willing to work, you can succeed even without a college a degree. The chance of you ending up homeless is not that high, as not as you not an addict or mentally/physically ill.
There are plenty of rich people who don’t have a college - but don’t have a choice, and some just realize that it wouldn’t help them in their case. In San Francisco alone, the street is filled with working bees who don’t speak English and don’t have any education.
Find a college you like, study hard, look for interesting opportunity that can open your eyes (like study abroad), try out different things, be active - and challenge yourself. Take GE and elective classes with an open mind. Trying out different classes that interest you may open yourself to an unexpected minor or even major switch.
No matter what you major is, your major alone won’t get you a secure job or help you support yourself - your attitude and accomplishment will. Many student end up in jobs that are completely unrelated to their major, anyway.</p>
<p>wow. It was like I was seriously guided to this post. I was just about to go and search on linguistics, but I decided to check out one more post before I left…and it took me here! whew. So, isn’t linguistics the study of languages?? Doesn’t that mean they teach you more than one language? And if you know more tan one language, isn’t that a HUGE plus in business, travel, law, etc.</p>
<p>I think you’re confused by the popular notion of a “linguist”, someone who knows a lot of languages, with the actual field of linguistics. Linguistics is the study of “language”, not foreign languages. Think of it like a science major rather than a foreign language major. (From OAD: including the study of morphology, syntax, phonetics, and semantics. Specific branches of linguistics include sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, historical-comparative linguistics, and applied linguistics.) A major in linguistics usually doesn’t require any foreign languages.</p>
<p>A linguist DOES NOT have to know more than one language, they study other languages but rarely become fluent in them. A person studies lots of languages at once would be called an idiot. Pick one and focus on it, once you’ve mastered it progress to another.</p>