Why study Linguistics?

Making choices is never easy. The act of choosing presupposes that you will have to get rid of one option. Therefore, you will never know what you did not do or what you lost. However, making choices is also freeing. As we choose, we get rid of the option that has been nagging in our brain forever, creating more space and giving us more time to focus on the path we choose. We can finally appreciate the process that led us to form the decision we ended up choosing and concentrate on our future.In this article, I want to bring you closer to the 75% of my degree, which is Linguistics. I will explain what interested me, why I decided to study it, and how I like it.

First of all, I need to explain what Linguistics really is. To put it extremely simply, it is the study of language. Linguistics studies how languages work and how we use them to communicate. Most Linguists do know a lot of different languages, but really it’s much more than just the ability to speak a language. FYI the most dreaded and hated question all linguists get is how many languages they speak. So on behalf of all Linguists, I ask you to stop asking us that :).

Linguistics concerns itself with how languages are acquired and what psychological processes take place when uttering a sentence. As every language is different, the way of constructing and describing our world is disparate in each language. Knowing how other people form their sentences and what they mean behind them allows us to have a deeper understanding of the world that surrounds us.So as you can see, we do not only focus on sentences and grammar!

Now I want to tell you why I chose such an interesting field!To be honest, the main reason which drew me towards choosing linguistics was its interdisciplinarity.As I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I decided to choose something which wouldn’t narrow my later carrier choices but would help me become a real asset in the grown-up world.Moreover, during my research into what linguistics offers, I realised that after finishing my degree, I would leave with many sought skills.The first being the Quantitative and Qualitative research skills. Mastering those two research fields is helpful not only for conducting your own projects but also for familiarising yourself with how the data collection processes work and how you conduct a literature review.As you will need to showcase and analyse your findings so that everyone will understand, linguistics also helps you develop your critical thinking and discussion skills.

As you can see, Linguistics offers you a lot of different and beneficial skills applicable in all disparate fields. Studying linguistics allows you to continue your carrier in Marketing, Translation, Speech Therapy and even Technology.

Hopefully, this article has brought you closer to the many excellent qualities and possibilities that linguistics offers. And made you realise that it is indeed the right path for you.