undergraduate
Linguistics, interpretation, and translation
Best schools with linguistics, interpretation, and translation
What is a linguistics, interpretation, and translation major?
This curriculum concentrates on language, language development, and relationships among languages and language groups from a humanistic and/or scientific perspective. Course topics include subjects such as psycholinguistics, behavioral linguistics, language acquisition, sociolinguistics, mathematical and computational linguistics, grammatical theory and theoretical linguistics, philosophical linguistics, philology and historical linguistics, comparative linguistics, phonetics, phonemics, dialectology, semantics, functional grammar and linguistics, language typology, lexicography, morphology and syntax, orthography, stylistics, structuralism, rhetoric, and applications to artificial intelligence.
of students said a highlight of this major was the exposure to diverse perspectives.
of students found this major to be difficult.
of students said they were motivated to select this major because it fit their passion & interest.
of students and alumni plan on being or are currently employed in an occupation related to this major.
of students said limited career opportunities were a challenging aspect of the major.
How much do linguistics, interpretation, and translation majors make?
median average salary
$63,000/yr
The national average salary for linguistics, interpretation, and translation graduates in the United States is $63,000 per year. Those in the top 10 percent make over $155,000 a year, while the bottom 10 percent make under $22,600 a year. While salary ranges can vary by role, industry, and location, linguistics, interpretation, and translation graduates typically make between $39,100 and $100,000 per year.
How popular is linguistics, interpretation, and translation as a major?
Each year, around 2,680 students obtain a bachelor’s degree and around 65 students obtain an associate degree in linguistics, interpretation, and translation. In 2021, 2,646 students received a bachelor's degree and 74 students received an associate degree. This is relatively the same number of linguistics, interpretation, and translation majors as there were in 2020. Linguistics, interpretation, and translation is one of the most popular majors within foreign languages.
Advice from linguistics, interpretation, and translation majors
Share your experienceFind your motivating factor for studying a language, write it down, and place it somewhere you can see it. Motivation is a massive element of effective language learning. There are times where you might feel overwhelmed or discouraged, but it helps to remember why you pursued this field. Ultimately, it’s incredibly rewarding.
Figure out a prospective line of work before you begin your major so that you may work on the skills necessary for your job. For example, you can work in Computer Science with a background in Linguistics in an institute for AI and Machine learning, but you should study Computer Science during your time in university. Or if you aspire to be a teacher, start looking for work early.
You have to be prepared to learn a new language that is most exciting to YOU. When it comes to looking for the language you want to learn you should consider the following: do I really want to learn this language? Does it interest me? Do I have prior experience with this language? Why do I want to learn this language? Will it be fun learning this language?
This is a VERY niche field of study—acquiring another skill/major (business/psychology/political science/etc) will majorly increase your job opportunities once you graduate. That said, this field of study is both versatile and at its core a humanitarian track, the study abroad and Internship opportunities offered will be some of the most diverse and in-depth learning experiences you’ll ever get, very rewarding.
I think that going into linguistics may seem scary as there is this idea that having a humanities major like this one is useless, but as I've gone through the major I've found there are many different career branches you could take. There are also so many more subfields than I could have ever expected so I would recommend learning about as many of them as you can.
