What do linguists study in universities? Fundamental and applied linguistics - bachelor's degree (45.03. Advantages of being a linguist

Language is one of the main means of understanding the world. With its help we learn, master culture, and communicate with others. Languages ​​are studied by philologists who graduated from the university with a degree in linguistics. They can either teach at a school or university, or work as translators, study the history of the language, compile dictionaries, and much more.

Graduate philologist - who is he?

One of the most common misconceptions is that people who study at philological faculties are deliberately “assigned” to school. In fact, linguists are not necessarily teachers of Russian or English or translators.

A person who has graduated from the specialty “Linguistics” can and has the right to work:

  • A teacher at a university or secondary educational institution.
  • Translator.
  • Secretary-referent.
  • Do research work.
  • Work in the field of artificial intelligence, especially if his specialty is applied linguistics.
  • Engage in the development of educational software and electronic dictionaries, abstracting systems.
  • Work as an editor or proofreader.
  • Work in the field of journalism.

Where to study?

You already know what to do as a linguistics major, but which university is the best to study at?

It doesn't matter which educational institution you choose. Almost all of them work according to more or less similar programs. During the training, students study the history of language development, dialects, phonetics, spelling, grammar and syntax of the language, vocabulary, and stylistics. Depending on the chosen specialty, additional courses may be introduced. For pedagogical specialties, a course on language teaching methods is required, and for applied ones, the emphasis is on language statistics, and even mathematics.

In Russia, the following universities are considered the most prestigious:

  • Moscow State Linguistic University.
  • M. V. Lomonosov.
  • Moscow State Humanitarian University named after M. A. Sholokhov.
  • University of the Foreign languages
  • UNIK Institute.

It is believed that the specialty “Linguistics” in the universities listed above is taught in the most in-depth and complete manner, and graduates themselves can later count on working in research institutes and laboratories, and work as translators in embassies and government services. But it is important to remember that not only the university, but also the grades in your diploma, your knowledge, influence the possibility of getting a job in a prestigious firm or company.

Areas of training

Studying at the chosen university can take place in the following ways:

  • Philology.
  • Linguistics - both fundamental and applied.
  • Translation from any language. Moreover, not only people who know English and German, Chinese, but also even Slavic languages ​​such as Polish and Czech are in demand.

Negative and positive aspects of the profession

The advantages of the specialty “Linguistics” include the following:

  • Demand in the labor market.
  • A high level of language proficiency, especially a foreign one, is a big plus, which further promotes career growth.
  • There is always the opportunity to earn extra money on the side.

  • Low level of payment in a number of regions.
  • Quite boring and monotonous work.
  • In the case of teaching, a graduate of the specialty “Linguistics” may encounter a problem: excellent knowledge of the language with minimal teaching skills.
  • Unstable work, especially for translators.

In general, the graduate, if he, of course, studied, has very bright prospects.

Quite often on forums you can find the topics “Specialty “Linguistics”: who to work with?” Reviews show that graduates are quite willing to answer questions posed and advise areas of work.

Often, philologists work not only at their main place (for example, in a translation agency or magazine, at a school), but also earn extra money through private language lessons, develop and sell their own programs for learning languages, are freelance journalists for magazines and newspapers, and earn extra money as copywriters.

In general, the profession is suitable for people with a humanitarian mindset, who have patience, love to read and research, and analyze certain processes occurring in language.

The profession of a linguist is incredibly in demand these days. Without knowledge of at least one language, it will be difficult for any modern person to enter our world of globalization. But linguists are people who speak at least three languages, but they know not just languages, but something more. So what do linguists do? What types of linguistics are there? What is the difference between linguists and translators and philologists? Let's look at all the answers to the questions in this article.

In contact with

Classmates

Activities of linguists

A linguist is a person who studies or has already studied linguistics (in other words, linguistics). A linguist understands how they are structured, their features in particular and in general, what is their difference, what is the history, features of speech sounds, from the point of view of acoustics and articulation, and much more.

Linguists also study long-extinct ancient languages ​​to understand language change in general. For example, Sanskrit, Latin. Linguistic students at Russian universities also study Old Church Slavonic and Old Russian in order to understand what changes their native speech has undergone and to identify the nature of exceptions to the rules in modern Russian. For all this we need linguistics. And, of course, in addition to linguistics and linguistics, specialists study several more languages.

Linguistics should not be confused with other specialties. What is the difference between a philologist and a translator? All specialists work with languages, but in different ways. Translators- these are people engaged in oral, written or simultaneous translation from or into another language. A philologist- a person who studies various literary works, expressed, respectively, through different languages ​​and all related sciences. Philologists study literary criticism more, and linguists study linguistics more..

It is worth noting that linguistic specialties are in great demand, so salaries are quite high and vary depending on the place of work. Specialists who know foreign languages ​​are needed everywhere. Specialists study the structures of languages ​​and their characteristics, but if you believe modern realities, they can work anywhere and not exactly in their specialty.

Before moving on to the list of professions for linguists, let’s consider the main areas of linguistics to see the diversity of the specialty.

Directions

Specialists can be divided into narrower classes:

  • According to the language being studied. Typically, students of language departments study any foreign language and almost always English. Therefore, language specialists are distinguished: Japaneseists, Arabists, Russianists, Sinologists.
  • By region: Africanists, orientalists.
  • By sections of linguistics: lexicologists, phoneticians and more.

It is worth highlighting one more linguistic direction, not so often found in universities - fundamental and applied linguistics. What it is? The fact is that linguistics intersects not only with other linguistic sciences, but also with applied ones, such as mathematics and programming. The question may arise as to how this can be connected, but there is still a direct connection.

Thanks to the junction of such seemingly different areas, the world knows: machine translation, computer lexicography, psycholinguistics, linguodidactics and much more. In other words, applied linguistics seeks practical, rather than theoretical, ways to solve problems, as well as practical methods for implementing linguistics in other fields.

Who can they work for?

So, what kind of job can a graduate specialist find? As already mentioned, the choice is extensive, since everything related to languages ​​is required everywhere.

The list of works is not limited to this. Since linguist is a broad concept, the choice of future professions is incredibly large. Anyone who knows languages ​​will never get lost and will always find a suitable job.

How to become a linguist?

To become one, you need to pass exams and enter a university in the linguistic field you need.

Usually you need to pass the Unified State Exam after 11th grade: Russian, English and social studies, history or literature (depending on the university). To enroll in the “fundamental and applied linguistics” major, you must take Russian, English and specialized mathematics.

Before enrolling, you need to decide which languages ​​you want to study. Universities usually post information about their fields of study and the languages ​​they teach. Thus, you can enroll in Oriental Studies, African Studies and any other. Or choose more traditional directions.

Note that linguistic areas differ in specialty and bachelor's degrees.

A linguist is a specialist in the field of linguistics (linguistics). Specialists in this profile can be divided and grouped according to their classification:

  • for a specific language - Russianists, Japaneseists, Anglicists, Arabists, etc.
  • by language group/family - novelists, Germanists, Slavists, Mongolians, etc.
  • according to the languages ​​of a certain region - Africanists, Americanists, orientalists, etc.
  • for a specific section of linguistics - phoneticians, morphologists, lexicologists, dialectologists, psycholinguists, etc.
  • in theoretical direction - generativists, cognitivists, structuralists, etc.

Linguists study language, its history, current trends and changes, and also study literature. Such scientific activities are often combined with teaching, translations, conducting excursions for foreigners and other activities.

Places of work

The position of a linguist may be present in research institutes, specialized universities and educational institutions, as well as in some IT companies working in the areas of text processing, analysis and recognition, machine translation, artificial intelligence, search technologies (for example, in Yandex, ABBYY or Google).

Also, representatives of the linguist profession are in demand in the labor market simply because of their good knowledge of languages ​​- in translation offices, travel agencies, hotels, tour agencies, museums, and so on. In a word, they are needed wherever a foreign language or several at once is needed.

History of the profession

Linguistics has its roots in ancient times - even before our era, experts studied the grammar of the native language, trying to determine the general patterns of its formation. The tasks of a linguist of that period included formulating the rules by which one “should” write and speak, and these rules were strictly normative in nature and did not take into account the dynamics of the development of a “living” language.

The most intensive development of linguistics occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was during this period that, in addition to the theoretical aspects of linguistics (morphology, syntax, semantics, etc.), its applied branches were actively developing: lexicography (compilation of dictionaries), stylistics, translation studies, linguistic expertise (for example, in judicial practice), etc.

To explain who a linguist is in modern times, it is necessary to combine in one person a language specialist, a historian, a sociologist, a psychologist, an anthropologist and an ethnographer. Recently, it is thanks to the broad outlook of linguists that many areas of linguistics have emerged: neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, etc. And with the development of computers, computer linguistics—machine translation, information retrieval, computer lexicography, etc.—becomes especially popular.

Responsibilities of a linguist

The functions and responsibilities of a linguist may include the following areas:

  • development and design of information retrieval dictionaries, thesauruses and ontologies;
  • development of algorithms and methods for automatic text processing;
  • creation of automated and machine translation technologies;
  • carrying out research work to create information systems or other products.

Sometimes the tasks of a linguist include written and oral translation, collection and systematization of information, writing instructions or manuals for created products and systems.

Requirements for a linguist

The basic requirements for a linguist are:

  • higher linguistic/philological education;
  • professional knowledge in the field of syntax, morphology, lexical and grammatical semantics of the native and/or foreign language;
  • skills in formal analysis of text and language material;
  • ability to work with huge amounts of text;
  • Confident PC skills.

Less often, a linguist is required to have knowledge of programming languages ​​(for the IT field), knowledge of the basics of computer linguistics and electronic lexicography, and experience in translation.

Linguist resume sample

How to become a linguist

To become a linguist, you need to graduate from a linguistic, philological, translation or humanities department - preferably with a major in linguistics. As a rule, specialists acquire the necessary skills during training and can work immediately after graduation. However, experience in a language-related field significantly increases your chances of getting hired.

Linguist salary

It is very difficult to say how much linguists earn - there are almost no open vacancies on the labor market and a lot of information is not publicly available. If you look at related areas, the salary of a translator fluctuates around 25-40 thousand rubles per month. At the same time, in the IT field, a linguist earns around 50-90 thousand rubles per month.

Linguist(linguist) is a specialist in linguistics (linguistics, linguistics), the subject of research of which is the history of the formation and development of languages, their structure and characteristic features. The profession is suitable for those who are interested in foreign languages ​​and Russian language and literature (see choosing a profession based on interest in school subjects).

Short description

The modern world is striving for globalization, and in the context of increasing international contacts, the profession of a linguist is acquiring fundamental importance. The work of a linguist includes a wide variety of functions and depends on the place of work:

  • at the research institute he is engaged in the compilation of dictionaries, reference books, the development of scientific, technical and special terminology, the improvement of the alphabet and spelling, scientific research in the field of phonetics, morphology, syntax, the study of dialects and spoken language, etc.
  • in teaching, a linguist teaches language to students;
  • linguists-translators deal directly with translations - oral, simultaneous, written.

There are several classifications of linguists:

by language being studied:

  • specialists in a specific language - for example, Russianists, Englishists, Tatar scholars, Japaneseists, Arabists, etc.;
  • specialists in a group of languages ​​- Germanists, novelists, Turkologists, Mongolians, etc.;
  • specialists in the languages ​​of the region - Americanists, Africanists, etc.

on the topic or section of linguistics:

  • phoneticians;
  • morphologists;
  • syntaxists;
  • semanticists, etc.

in theoretical direction:

  • formalists;
  • functionalists;
  • cognitive scientists;
  • structuralists, etc.

Specifics of the profession

The work of a linguist may consist of the following activities:

  • teaching activities;
  • consultations as an expert;
  • research activities;
  • preparation of specialized articles, textbooks, almanacs, etc.;
  • assistance in creating computer software.

Where to study to become a linguist

Education in the field of linguistics consists of three areas:

  • teaching training;
  • theory and practice of translation;
  • public communications.

Professional linguists are trained in philological (or specialized linguistic) faculties of universities.

Pros and cons of the profession

Pros:

  • High demand in the labor market: the opportunity for self-realization in any field - written translation, simultaneous interpreter, oral or consecutive translation, translation of films, books, magazines. A person who speaks a foreign language will be in demand in any field of activity: journalism, tourism, PR companies, management.
  • Knowledge of a foreign language is the key to a high salary and rapid career growth.
  • Possibility of freelance work.
  • The opportunity to freely communicate with people while traveling and exploring the culture of other countries.

Minuses:

  • Some people may find the work of a linguist boring, since scientific works on linguistics are simply systematization and rewriting of other people's ideas.
  • Not all linguists are inclined to teach, which requires maximum patience.
  • The work of a simultaneous interpreter is very responsible and stressful.
  • It is better to combine knowledge of foreign languages ​​with another profession (lawyer, economist, political scientist, journalist).
  • Unstable loading: in different months the volume of transfers may differ several times.
  • Delay in fees, which are not received immediately after delivery of the material, but when payment arrives from the customer.
  • Sometimes additional requirements are imposed on translators: accompany delegations to shops and bars, carry out courier orders.

Place of work

  • institutes, faculties and universities of linguistic education, secondary and higher educational institutions, courses for linguists;
  • educational establishments;
  • research institutes;
  • translation agency;
  • editorial offices of magazines and newspapers;
  • reception desks in various companies (secretary assistant);
  • work from home on a flexible schedule (translations) or individual work with students;
  • literary unions;
  • companies developing linguistic software;
  • departments, external relations departments of firms, companies, higher educational institutions, regional, regional and city administrations;
  • information departments, information and analytical services of enterprises, companies, banks, institutes of the Academy of Sciences, research centers;
  • libraries and departments of foreign literature;
  • museums, museum associations;
  • direction and management in international congress centers (conference centers);
  • Directorate of permanent regional, federal and international exhibitions and fairs;
  • hotels and hotel complexes;
  • domestic and foreign travel companies, agencies, bureaus;
  • press centers, radio and television centers;
  • international associations and associations;
  • international funds;
  • publishing houses.

Personal qualities

  • good hearing and memory;
  • patience and perseverance;
  • attentiveness;
  • good erudition;
  • analytic skills;
  • organization, self-discipline;
  • pedantry;
  • striving for professional excellence;
  • attention to detail;
  • concentration;
  • the ability to figuratively represent objects, processes and phenomena;
  • associative thinking;
  • deductive reasoning;
  • the ability to remember large amounts of information for a long time;
  • good visual memory;
  • memory for the semantics (meaning) of the text;
  • memory for words and phrases;
  • the ability to competently express one’s thoughts;
  • perseverance;
  • perseverance;
  • propensity for research activities.

Career

Salary as of 08/06/2019

Russia 20000—60000 ₽

Moscow 30000—80000 ₽

As a rule, linguists do not have problems finding employment. Currently, linguists are in demand in the field of information technology, mass communications, public relations and advertising. A linguist can also make a successful career in the scientific field, achieving success in research development or promotion in the administrative line. For example, becoming the head of a department or dean of a faculty. The salary of a linguist depends on his type of activity and qualifications.

Earnings in science are low. It is more profitable for linguists to use their skills in business by becoming representatives in international companies, referents and translators. To translate foreign articles, prepare PR presentations or conduct promotions for foreign investors. Such work is highly paid - up to 70 thousand rubles.

Famous Russian linguists

Description

Fundamental and applied linguistics today is one of the innovative and sought-after specialties in which specialists in this field are trained. According to the curriculum, on the one hand, students study such traditional areas as their native and two foreign languages, as well as traditional theoretical linguistic disciplines (semantics, phonetics, syntax, morphology, etc.) and applied linguistic disciplines (general lexicography, technology text processing, etc.), and on the other – innovative computer linguistics. In addition, the curriculum includes mathematical disciplines, history, translation studies, and theoretical courses in ancient languages ​​(Old Church Slavonic, Ancient Greek, Latin). Teachers teach students:

  • speak freely and understand speech in the foreign language being studied, translate (written, oral, synchronously) and edit texts,
  • use applied linguistic programs and telecommunication technologies,
  • create intelligent systems,
  • use linguistic technologies in the socio-political sphere,
  • develop and improve electronic language resources and databases,
  • engage in research activities and formalize its results in the form of articles and reviews,
  • carry out linguistic examination of texts,
  • optimize and create content for websites (both in Russian and in foreign languages).

Who to work with

Bachelors with a diploma in “Fundamental and Applied Linguistics” are in demand in many areas: both in academic science and in the field of information technology or in high-tech sectors of the economy. Young specialists can conduct scientific research in applied and theoretical linguistics, develop new methods of mastering a foreign language, electronic dictionaries and intelligent systems. After graduating from university, young people can get a job as a website administrator, translator (including simultaneous interpreter), foreign language teacher, Web developer, content manager, lexicographer, computer linguist, copywriter, linguist, editor, proofreader, linguistic expert, computer developer programs and databases, referent.