Dear all, I'm working on my master in Chinese Linguistics and my specialty is Chinese internet linguistics. For long time I heard everyone talks about how ciritical that Chinese language is for US gov. and military. However, when the time is down to the actual job ground. There aren't many internships nor entry level job offers. All I can see are translation or interpetation jobs. But those aren't linguistic at all. Linguistic is a complex matter of language encoding/deconding process and translation is merely explain the meaning from one language to another. For myslef, I am invited to make a speech in conference of Harvard easily and publish 2 articles at 1st semester of my master student, in both of Chinese and English. But I don't know where I can get a real linguist job, not just a translator. Can any one provide me some suggestions or point out a direction to go?
Answers
I would think your skills and background could be very helpful to manufacturing companies looking for suppliers in China - particularly those that do not have offices in China. While there is a new trend bringing some manufacturing back to the US, there are some areas (like high volume, low complexity plastic molding) where China is likely to remain among the lowest cost sources, and companies around the world will need to find and evaluate potential suppliers in China. So your understanding of the Chinese internet and language skills could be an asset to "flesh out" these opportunities. This can be considered a Purchasing/Sourcing function or a Quality Control function.
Charles, it is difficult to gain access at entry level in most fields. People with experience nearly always have the advantage. My advice to you is to get experience period, whether it be translator, teacher... etc.. then progress through that experience by staying plugged into the network of contacts you will meet, always looking for that position you desire.
Hello Xiangxi,
I have seen quite a few positions for languages other than english in both private and public sectors. You should be able to just type the information into any job search and find something that would probably be of interest.
Regards... Charles
There is a need in many aeronautical related fields for people who can interpret Chinese. Many Chinese are coming to the states for work with our companies such as GE Aviation, Piper, Boeing, etc. I would submit your resume to these types of companies. They also like engineers but just an interpreter might be handy.
@Peter: Thank you for your advise, I've send you an email.
@Harry, those companies more interested about hiring locals since it's much cheaper. Moreover, they're looking for engineers w/ language skill instead of linguist...
Agree with Peter. In addition to the intell agencies, there is the State Dept, FBI, and firms that are working overseas -- GOOGLE, Apple, and the list goes on.
I think you should consider applying to a variety of intel 3 letter agencies, possibly as a simple analyst. That job takes in a lot of unique "skill sets" and backgrounds and think a few would be interested. Please send me an email at peter.nesbitt@gmail.com if you have any follow up questions. I was a Korean-linguist signals intelligence guy so know a few people in the field.
Your Answer
Pleaselog into answer this question.