加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校

Career Opportunities for Linguistics

Many of our B.A. students want to pursue careers in education. There are several ways to do this. Students interested in teaching grades 7-12 can enroll in the English Department Credential Program with a linguistics emphasis. Students can double major in linguistics and liberal studies, or minor in linguistics with a liberal studies major to lead to a Multiple Subject Credential for K-6 instruction. Students who pursue a major in linguistics by itself may enter the Multiple Subject Credential Program with satisfactory completion of the CSET Exam. Many linguistics graduates find jobs teaching English overseas.

Besides education, a B.A. in Linguistics can also prepare students for a career in translation, interpreting, publishing, editing and grammar checking, lexicography, indigenous language documentation and preservation, or software development.

Students with a B.A. or M.A. in Linguistics can go on for further education to pursue careers in a wide variety of fields. In law or criminology, they have a special understanding of legal issues involving language or the use of language evidence in litigation (forensic linguistics). In health care, students with a linguistics degree can take advanced training and pursue careers in speech pathology and related areas. With additional work in computer science, the linguistics student can find employment in software development or in the development of human and computer interfaces. After further training, some linguistics students work for the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Peace Corps, the United States Information Agency, the military, or the State Department monitoring foreign news or doing cryptography, language instruction, or translation. Many corporations recruit linguistics majors into management, development, and marketing positions. Enterprising linguistics students have developed service-related businesses in consulting, interpretation, translation, or communication.

Interesting Classes You Might Take

• Introduction to Language (LING 10, GE Foundation A2)
• Language through the Lifespan (LING 30, GE Breadth E1)
• General Linguistics (LING 100)
• Language, Culture and Society (LING 115, GE Integration IC)
• Japanese Language and Culture (LING 120)
• Language and Gender (LING 130, GE)
• Practical English Grammar for Language Teachers (LING 146)
• Arabic 1A-B (GE Breadth C2)
• Chinese 1A-B (GE Breadth C2)
• Hmong 1A-B (GE Breadth C2)
• Japanese 1A-B (GE Breadth C2)
• Persian 1A-B (GE Breadth C2)

What You Can Learn

• Linguistic methodology: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics
• The relationship among languages of the world and social class, race, age, sex, and other social subcategories