Linguist
Learn about this occupation – including typical duties, education required, salary and job outlook information, job boards and more.
Linguists study the origin, structure and development of languages and apply linguistic theory to problems in teaching, translation and communications. They are employed in universities and throughout the public and private sectors. (National Occupational Classification)
Occupational profile
Find detailed information about the occupation, including typical duties and working conditions, in the links below:
- National Occupational Classification (NOC) - Canadian occupational descriptions
- O*NET Online - U.S. resource for occupational descriptions and information
- OCCInfo by alis - Alberta-based occupational information
- Linguistics as a Profession - Linguistic Society of America
- A Day in the Life of a Linguist - American University
- Linguist Job Interview Series - from Superlinguo
- Interview about the roles of linguists in the job market - from All Things Linguistic
- Career Paths of Linguists - profiles from Career Linguist
Education
U of M Academic Calendar
The Academic Calendar & Catalogue outlines program admission and course requirements. Use the left menu to navigate to a specific faculty and program. To determine which degree path suits your unique occupational goals, speak with a Career Consultant. For support with course registration and academic issues, speak with an Academic Advisor.
Faculty and Department Homepages
Visit the U of M's faculty and department homepage to learn about program application deadlines and processes, as well as additional in-house resources and opportunities.
Exploring Other Education Options
Labour market information
Labour market information informs users of supply and demand for specific occupations and sectors. It includes such things as salary and job outlook information. These resources support informed career decision making and job search efforts.
Resources
- Trend Analysis - Job Market Report - Gov. of Canada Job Bank
- Occupational Outlook Handbook (Social Scientists and Related Workers) - Job outlook for the U.S.
- OpportuNext - salary range and job growth prospects - Manitoba
Professional Associations
Professional associations organize events and directories, job postings, career and labour market information. Student membership opportunities are also available. This is a great way to learn and network.
- Canadian Linguistic Association
- Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics
- Permanent International Committee of Linguists
- Association for Computational Linguistics
- Linguistic Society of America
- American Pragmatics Association
- Center for Applied Linguistics (U.S.)
- International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)
- Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Directories, Industry Associations, and Sector Councils
These resources provide industry news, labour market information and a list of potential employers. Remember, there are usually multiple industries worth exploring.
- Universities Canada - member universities
- Translation Bureau
- Government of Canada - Job opportunities
- Government of Canada - language resources
- Languages Canada - membership list
Job Boards
Search occupations of interest in the industry-specific job boards below to learn about skill requirements, employers, job duties and available jobs. You may also wish to search more general online job boards.
Other links
External resources that will provide you with additional information about the occupation, areas of work and opportunities to build experience:
- University of Manitoba - Career Compass: Linguistics (career guide and outline of sample jobs)
- Linguistics in Everyday Life - Linguistic Society of America
- Canadian Language Museum
- All Things Linguistics - a blog for general career advice
- The Linguist List - forum for academic linguists
- Canada Institute of Linguistics (CanIL) - formerly Canadian Summer Institute of Linguistics
- SIL International - non-profit for sustainable language development
- Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages - from the Government of Canada
- Language Portal of Canada - from the Government of Canada (free tools to improve language skills in English and French)
- North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad - contest for high school students
- Association for Logic, Language and Information
- Generative Linguistics in the Old World - an international organization dedicated to the study of generative grammar
- International Phonetic Association