What is Linguistics? Misconceptions answered.

I always get this question when I tell people my course, so here's my answer...

Misconception 1: Linguistics = Language = Literature/History

Every time I tell people I study Linguistics, people ask: "Oh, so what do you study in Linguistics? History of languages? Literature and classics?"
No, no, no, no, no...

Truth: Linguistics = The Science of Language

Linguistics is very different from language. To summarise in one short sentence, linguistics is the 'scientific study of language'.

I'll give you an analogy: If someone is studying Mathematics, you don't ask them "Are you studying numbers?" or "Do you study the history of numbers?" because Mathematicians study the theory behind all these numbers. Number is only a 'unit' they use.

In linguistics, we are interested in how language works, how our brains process language, how do we understand languages, what are the system behind languages. We use language as a tool to study how the brain works. Just like in Chemistry we study about how atoms form compounds, in Linguistics, we have a certain system that helps us analyse and understand languages.

Linguistics is not language. When learning a language, you learn about the 'correct grammar', but in Linguistics, we are interested in 'what makes the grammar correct'.

Misconception 2: Study Linguistics = Knows how to speak many languages

People always assume that someone studying Linguistics will know how to speak many languages. Never ask a linguist "How many languages can you speak?"...

Truth: You don't learn new languages in Linguistics.

Well, I can speak 3 languages fluently - Chinese, English and Malay. But that doesn't have anything to do with Linguistics - I never learned how to speak a new language in my course. In Linguistics, we are required to analyse language and discover their patterns, but not learning how to speak or write that particular language.

I will give another analogy: If you are good in music theory, it doesn't mean that you know how to play many musical instruments. Same in Linguistics, we are learning the theory behind languages. Having a linguistics background helps when you are learning a new language because you understand the basics, just like how people who learned music theory can pick up a new musical instrument easier, but that does not mean that you learn new languages in Linguistics.

Misconception 3: Study Linguistics = no jobs

As an Asian, your career options are only doctor, engineer, lawyer or accountant... If you study something else then you are a disgrace of the family.

Truth: Studying a certain course will not cause you to be jobless, but stupidity will.

The reason people think that studying Linguistics will lead to no job is because they never heard about it. Linguistics is indeed a rare course, especially in Asian countries where people tend to choose more conventional courses. However, that does not mean that your future will be doomed if you picked an unpopular course! Admit it, humans always like to stay in our comfort zone. Hence, when we hear about something that we never heard before, we judge it.

There is a reason why engineers or accountants are such a popular career path - because indeed we need many of them. However, as many people chose the field, it becomes more competitive as well. As for unpopular fields, because that it is rare and such a small field, it might be less competitive.

Never trust what your uncle aunty or random people tell you. Speak to someone in the field - they are the experts who knows what the field has to offer. Don't just blindly believe what other people say, do your own research and be responsible of your own life.

Anyways, coming back to Linguistics, the field is actually quite broad extending to Computational Linguistics which is related to Artificial Intelligence and Clinical Linguistics which is related to Speech Therapy. There are of course more career options (not just translation or teaching). After all, your career does not necessarily need to be related to your degree.

I guess that's all for now. If you are interested to know more about Linguistics, watch out this blog space as I will be sharing more about it (hopefully).