<p>I'm very interested in foreign languages, and I've read that there's a severe shortage in the workforce of language majors (specifically Arabic). I also really enjoyed math, and I was wondering if Linguistics is a good combination of the two.</p>
<p>I think I'd like to become an interpreter or work in some govt. agency here or abroad, but I'm not interested in internat'l relations/politics.</p>
<p>I really don't know what to look for. Any advice?</p>
<p>Math and Languages (especialy ones that use different alpabets such as Arabic) go well together, becuase they use the same type of thinking to give the symbols meaning.</p>
<p>Yeah, that was exactly my logic. Is that linguistics in a nutshell--that kind of combination?</p>
<p>KInda. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Here's a bit from berekeley's linguistic's department website.</p>
<p>"Linguistics is the general study of language. It addresses those features which all 5,000 languages have in common, and the ways in which languages may differ from one another, and the ways in which languages change over time. In Linguistics, you will learn how language is processed in the brain (cognitive science), sounds and their patterns (phonetics), word structure (morphology), sentence structure (syntax), meaning (semantics), how languages evolve over time (comparative and historical linguistics), and how language is used in society (sociolinguistics). The study of Linguistics teaches students to think analytically and to solve problems enabling them to successfully pursue diverse career tracks."</p>
<p>Many schools have similar information about the subject, and some are far more in depth. If you go to any school's website, and search linguistics, if they have it, it will show up. Also, some schools have much better Middle Eastern language departments, some specialize in African languages . . . find the school with the best combo for you.</p>