If you are interested in majoring in linguistics in college or studying the field on your own, the first step is to understand what linguistics is. Essentially, it is the scientific study of language, centered around the idea that people use languages to communicate. Though different languages are spoken all around the world, they all share a common theme: grammar. In general, humans understand grammar. It’s how they communicate. Linguists investigate why and how humans understand grammatical order.
The big question in linguistics is “Why?” Why do individuals understand languages? How is each person conditioned to understand his native tongue? Why do people understand word order? How do they know to change their inflection when asking a question? Linguists get the answers to these questions and countless others through observation, study and running detailed experiments.
An in-depth understanding of communication is key to succeeding in the linguistics field. Pursuing a career as a linguist goes far beyond a general understanding of your own native language. Being able to speak more than one language is a plus, but so is a desire to understand more about physical communication between individuals in addition to just the spoken word. Other areas of study for linguists include phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics and sociolinguistics.
Before studying linguistics, it's wise to have an understanding of career opportunities available for linguists. An education career is an option; linguists help develop assessment tests and curricula and train teachers. They can also enroll in English as a Second Language programs and teach English abroad or in the United States to immigrants. Other career opportunities include becoming a translator or interpreter, working with computers, teaching at the graduate level or working with sociologists to study other cultures. More unexpected careers include working with actors to improve dialect or master a foreign language for a film, working with government agencies like the FBI or with national and international companies to develop product names.