Linguists Needed?

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Re: Outkast

Postby Outkast » Wed Dec 14, 2005 9:42 pm

Vincent wrote:Hate to tell you, but those languages are not high-demand languages, in government anyway.

Chinese, Pashtu, Farsi, Dari and Arabic, probably in that order, will get you to teh front of the line.


Yeah, I know, but they're kind of like "gateway languages" for me. Once I nail one from a particular family, it becomes easier to move on to the harder ones in that same family. The kanji I'm learning in Japanese are the same for Chinese, just different oral readings.

You got to start somewhere, I guess...
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Postby SRR » Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:01 am

I can confirm that my skills as a cunning linguist have in return provided me with many 'jobs.

Food for thought.
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Postby nowonmai » Wed Dec 21, 2005 1:27 am

Esperanto, its the way ahead.
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Postby marie-angelique » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:27 pm

SRR wrote:I can confirm that my skills as a cunning linguist have in return provided me with many 'jobs.


Geez, I was just waiting for someone to finally go there,
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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby db36046 » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:18 am

Currently in AZ the rules in hospitals require an official interpreter to translate when a non-english speaking patient is involved. A family member or friendly bystander is not enough. The translators often sit in a room in the basement or somewhere and do the interpreting over the phone rather than running from one end of the hospital to the other. Pay is currently in the neighborhood of US$60 per hour for Spanish, likely considerably more for more "exotic" languages of the asian or middle eastern persuasion.
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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby JITW » Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:41 am

Outkast wrote:Anybody know of some places currently requiring linguists? I'm getting ready to learn my next language, and I wanted to know where interpreters, etc. are needed in the world right now...


DOD and State Contracts are currently the highest paying and easiest to get linguist employers, 99% of the time you will need a security clearance (but many company's will sponsor you for one) - expect to make a good 6-figs a year. I have a few buddy's who are linguists, a couple work in Iraq and other shit holes

Don't expect to get a contract linguist gig in any Asian or Latin American languages, cuz there are so many 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen middle class Asian/Latin Americans who have been speaking their parents native jibber-jabber and English from birth that the market is flooded with Asian and Latin American linguists

So basically pick a language with the least amount of middle-class 2nd+ generation (insert country here) Americans and you should do ok finding work

And good luck getting a civilian linguist job stateside if you are not a native speaker

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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby db36046 » Mon Jul 08, 2013 5:11 pm

We may not be talking about the same thing. A linguist is one thing, a polyglot is another, and a translator is something else. Most linguists become polyglots in the course of their studies; some work as translators. But not all translators and not all polyglots are linguists. Being able to speak several languages makes you a polyglot, but not necessarily a qualified translator, nor a linguist.

Linguistics is a branch of Cultural Anthropology that studies the science of human language, especially looking for commonalities that enable us to quickly and efficiently learn a new language, analyze its phonological and grammatical structure, and compare those structures to those of other languages, to see what we can learn. Usually there is a practical motive for this exercise beyond the mere accumulation of knowledge, such as Bible translation in order to spread Christianity, or a government-sponosred program to develop previously ungovernable areas, whether for the benefit of the people (health, education, etc.) or for the benefit of the government, or both.

I was trained as a linguist. They dropped me off in a remote place in South America where I learned the previously unwritten local language, reduced it to written form, invented an alphabet for it, and developed a literacy program that enabled the locals to teach each other to read and write. I imported a mimeograph machine and a typewriter (computers were not yet available there at that time) and showed some friends how to produce an inexpensive newspaper in their own language.

After I left somebody else came and translated the Bible into that language, starting out where I had left off.

I just discovered last week that that Bible translation is now available for download on my iPhone. Unbelievable. I am going nuts reading the Bible in a South American dialect for which I developed an alphabet under fairly primitive conditions decades ago, on my iPhone.

Went to NYC last year and stumbled on a group of musicians in Central Park playing South American music in a dialect one province away from mine. We had a nice chat, partly in English, partly in Spanish, and partly in contiguous dialects of that native american language.
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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby nowonmai » Mon Jul 08, 2013 11:14 pm

Went to NYC last year and stumbled on a group of musicians in Central Park playing South American music in a dialect one province away from mine. We had a nice chat, partly in English, partly in Spanish, and partly in contiguous dialects of that native american language.


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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby Skirita » Wed Jul 17, 2013 4:42 pm

The military. Intel analyst. You'd probably have to learn Durkadurka though.
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Re:

Postby Skirita » Wed Jul 17, 2013 4:43 pm

nowonmai wrote:Esperanto, its the way ahead.


Interlingua guys would cut you for this.
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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby AztecDave » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:58 am

Skirita wrote:The military. Intel analyst. You'd probably have to learn Durkadurka though.



not an intel analyst but an interrogator.
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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby vagabond » Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:13 am

Old thread but should probably take a look at what the US gov considers 'critical' languages:

http://www.nsep.gov/students/languages/

They might even give you some money for it: http://www.clscholarship.org/

And there are courses at ASU, so you can at least party / get laid: http://cli.asu.edu/
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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby Osiris » Mon Sep 02, 2013 6:23 pm

Hawaii has signs all over looking for Japanese speakers...
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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby Bouncer » Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:00 am

Osiris wrote:Hawaii has signs all over looking for Japanese speakers...


That's cause they need folks to work the check in desk at he Hilton Hawaiian village. Swear to god, I went to check and they reffed me over to the "english" desk. Never been more "WTF!!!" in all my years. Not being racist, just never ever expected to be a second class citizen at a goddamn Hilton in goddamn Hawaii USA! Swear to god I was poleaxed. Struck dumb. Not even angry, just cow-eyed and all "Whaaaaa?"

True story.

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Re: Linguists Needed?

Postby Big Duke 6 » Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:36 pm

AztecDave wrote:
Skirita wrote:The military. Intel analyst. You'd probably have to learn Durkadurka though.



not an intel analyst but an interrogator.


A lot of interrogators these days aren't even linguists and the ones I've known only knew English...and analyst is out of the question....go straight linguist...all branches have them.
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