Joan Barker received a Master’s in Linguistics at Central Connecticut State University and spent much of her career abroad, holding positions in Africa and the Middle East. She’s worked as technical consultant, writer, instructor, and trainer, contracting with the Department of Defense to design and implement language courses. She’s currently employed here in the States as a public safety officer.

Joan Barker on LinkedIn

Joan Barker’s freelance journalism

Topics include:

– Peace Corps – TESOL – technical writing – cross-cultural communication – government contracting – language instruction

If you’d like to support this show, we’ve got a Patreon!

The post Episode #86: Joan Barker first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Jen Polk is a career coach for professors, postdocs and PhD students looking to make the jump from academia to industry. She got her PhD in history at the University of Toronto and since 2013 she has guided students and faculty in identifying fulfilling opportunities that align with their goals and values, through 1-on-1 coaching, group facilitation and workshops, webinars, conferences, and through her written work, which has been published in various journals, books, and on her blog and business website, From PhD to Life.

Jen Polk on LinkedIn

PhD To Life

Anna Marie Trester’s Career Linguist

Tori Wobber’s Coaching and Consulting

Topics include:

– history – career coaching – job search – entrepreneurship – elevator pitches – networking – LinkedIn

If you’d like to support this show, we’ve got a Patreon!

The post Episode #85: Jen Polk first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

If you’d like to support us, we have a Patreon and our first Patron is the fantastic Lingthusiasm podcast!

And if you would like to be a guest on the pod, or know someone who would, get in touch via our contact form.

New episodes coming soon!

The post Linguistics Careercast Update! first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Abby Bajuniemi is a linguist with 10+ years of experience leading UX research and content initiatives across multiple industries, working for organizations such as Google, Calendly, Medtronic, Princeton University, and the non-profit New_Public. She is a contributing writer on the intersection of UX and linguistics for Code Like a Girl, and has published a number of articles at Medium. She is a self-professed word nerd and loves the oxford comma.

Abby Bajuniemi on LinkedIn

Abby Bajuniemi’s website

Abby Bajuniemi on Medium

Code Like a Girl

Topics include:

– UX research – Hispanic linguistics – networking – social media – comment moderation – implicature – resumes – LinkedIn

If you’d like to support this show, we’ve got a Patreon!

The post Episode #84: Abby Bajuniemi first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Shannon DeJong is a linguist, namer, brand agency founder, writer, performer, artist, business advisor and coach; she’s worked big firms like HP, Google, Adobe, and Logitech as well as with non-profits, mission-driven orgs, startups, entrepreneurs and artists. She double-majored in linguistics and mass communications at UC Berkeley. In addition to her branding work, she also co-produces a literary salon in Sonoma County, California, and occasionally hosts a podcast.

Shannon deJong on LinkedIn

Shannon deJong’s website

Da Salon

ArtistCEO podcast

Topics include:

– naming – branding – coaching – semantics – career journey – networking – sociolinguistics – marketing

If you’d like to support this show, we’ve got a Patreon!

The post Episode #83: Shannon DeJong first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Deborah Ball has been working in naming, branding, content creation, marketing, and communications for more than 10 years in the UK and the US. Her special focus has been brand naming. She has a Master’s in Linguistics from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Durham University Business School. Over the years, she has immersed herself in the study of naming, including the grammar of brand names, to understand how meaning is more fully shaped when phonetic forms are placed in context.

Deborah Ball on LinkedIn

“Exploring the landscape of proper names and their grammatical characteristics to understand how brand names fit in” ANS Presentation on YouTube

NAMES, the journal of the American Name Society

Topics include:

– naming – market research – Egyptology – neurolinguistics – marketing – project management – medtech – brand strategy

If you’d like to support this show, we’ve got a Patreon!

The post Episode #82: Deborah Ball first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Emelia BensonMeyer is a speech-language pathologist specializing in evaluation and treatment of voice, airway, and swallowing disorders. She has an undergraduate degree in linguistics and a Master’s in Communicative Sciences and Disorders. Her background in linguistics has equipped her to critically consider and be mindful of the disparities in the profession of speech-language pathology as they apply to the culturally and linguistically diverse populations who are served.

Emelia BensonMeyer on LinkedIn

ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association)

Topics include:

– speech pathology – physiology – neurology – language development – laryngology – dysphagia – speech science – pragmatics

If you’d like to support this show, we’ve got a Patreon!

The post Episode #81: Emelia BensonMeyer first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Eukene Franco-Landa is sociolinguist with a Ph.D. from the University of Miami who works at the intersection of language, identity, and legitimacy, especially in minoritized and bilingual communities, especially Basque, of which she is a speaker. Her dissertation explores how linguistic features become tied to perceptions of authenticity and nativeness. She is the founder of Minority Languaging, an Instagram-based platform that connects linguistic minorities so they can reflect and learn about minority languages, cultures, and history.

Eukene Franco-Landa on LinkedIn

Minority Languaging on Instagram

Minority Languaging website

Topics include:

– Basque – minority languages – language revitalization – sociolinguistics – language policy – morpho-syntax

The post Episode #80: Eukene Franco-Landa first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Panelists: Aubrie Amstutz, Responsible AI Research Scientist at Grid Dynamics Alicia Beckford Wassink, Director of the Sociolinguistics Laboratory and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington Katie Swindler, specialist in discourse analysis and sociolinguistics, most recently a Program Manager at Mother Tongue AI and currently freelancing as a consulting linguist

Part 1 of the discussion is here

Topics include – generative AI – ethical AI – AI hype – anthropomorphization – language use – journalism – activism

If you’d like to support this show, we’ve got a Patreon!

The post Episode #79: The AI Con Discussion Panel (Live) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Darrell Penta on LinkedIn Josh Martin on LinkedIn Midam Kim on LinkedIn

YouTube video of this panel

Topics discussed include: – user experience – user research – UX – human interaction – ChatGPT – speech science – AI – job interviews

The post Episode #78: User Experience Research for Linguists (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Erin Kuester has a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from Ohio University, and is a copywriter and content creator for service businesses, as well as a writing mentor and editor. She is also an experienced instructional designer. She is very active on Instagram and Tiktok, and at her own website.

Erin Kuester on LinkedIn Erin Kuester’s website Erin Kuester on TikTok

Topics include:

– instructional design – technical writing – content creation – career coaching – TikTok – gen AI – BookTok – copywriting

The post Episode #77: Erin Kuester first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Aubrie Amstutz on LinkedIn Patricia McDonough on LinkedIn Alfonso Sánchez-Moya on LinkedIn

YouTube video of this panel

Resources doc mentioned in this panel (readings, orgs, people)

Topics discussed include: – generative AI – ethics – qualitative research – technology – multiculturalism – fairness frameworks – LLMs – chatbots – identity

The post Episode #76: Societal Impacts and the Ethical Use of AI (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Host Laurel Sutton will be joined again by Alicia Beckford Wassink, Katie Swindler, and Aubrie Amstutz to continue the conversation from our live episode at LingFest25, which we released as a podcast on April 22, 2025.

The 90 minute panel will take place in Zoom and will include a Q&A portion. After the panel, we’ll move to Gather for an hour of networking. We invite attendees to mix and mingle, and to have space to process the great conversation.

PANEL DISCUSSION/LIVE PODCAST: 10:00 – 11:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) GATHER NETWORKING EVENT: 11:30AM – 12:30PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Tickets are $5 for LSA members, and $7 for the general public. Registration can be found on Linguistic Society of America (LSA)’s website:

https://www.lsadc.org/ev_calendar_day.asp?date=8/16/2025&eventid=106&mc_cid=d47d2d569b

Big thanks to LSA for sponsoring this event!

Haven’t read the book yet? Pick up a copy or stop by your local bookstore!

The post Live Linguistics Careeercast August 16 2025 – The AI Con Discussion first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Logan Kearsley is an experienced software engineer with a history in the education, solar power, and entertainment industries. He earned a BS in Computer Science and an MA in Linguistics, both from Brigham Young University, and is currently employed as a software engineer at Idaho National Laboratory. He blogs about conlangs and xenolinguistics, and he has a YouTube channel where he reads Beowulf.

Logan Kearsley on LinkedIn

Logan Kearsley’s blog

Logan Kearsley on YouTube (Daily Beowulf)

A Hybrid Approach to Cross-Linguistic Tokenization: Morphology with Statistics

Topics include:

– computational morphology – animal communication – networking – lexicography – conlanging – xenolinguistics – typology

The post Episode #75: Logan Kearsley first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This workshop presents content creation and social media usage as skills, and how these skills can be leveraged as an alternative career or to boost an alternative career. This is especially useful for anyone who is interested in starting their own business, freelancing (whether full-time or part-time), or becoming a content creator in general. In it, you’ll learn about finding and understanding an audience, types of content, carving out a niche, platform-specific strategies, using content to market a business, monetization, and alternative careers.

Erin Kuester on LinkedIn Erin Kuester’s website Erin Kuester on TikTok

Erin’s “Vent” on TikTok Koreader’s TikTok Under a Tin Roof’s TikTok

Deck used in this presentation

TikToks in the video:

Topics discussed include

– alternative careers – content creation – branding – freelance – social media

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

The post Episode #74: Content Creation – A Path to Alternative Careers (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Kathryn Hymes is a technologist and computational linguist, currently serving as a director of product and innovation at Doctors Without Borders. Previously, she worked in leadership positions at multiple technology firms, most recently as the head of international product expansion at Slack and an advisor at Airtable. She holds an MS in computational and mathematical engineering and an MA in linguistics, both from Stanford. Her writing on language and technology has appeared in the Atlantic, Wired, and the New York Times. Kathryn is also a co-founder of Thorny Games, a design studio that explores the stories behind the language we speak.

Kathryn Hymes on LinkedIn

MSF Science Portal

Thorny Games

Topics include:

– computational linguistics – project management – localization – field research – non-profits

The post Episode #73: Kathryn Hymes first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Tim Durgin (杜腾飞) is an ATA-certified Chinese-to-English linguist, translator, and analyst based in the Washington DC area. His primary focus is on written translation in several key domains, including video games, politics, national security, and contracts. Beyond his freelance endeavors, Tim has contributed to teams at NetEase, Amazon, Google, and R2Games. He holds a Master’s in East Asian Studies, and he is passionate about video games.

Tim Durgin on LinkedIn

Topics include:

– LSPs – translation – localization – recruiters – networking – generative AI – LLM – LinkedIn

The post Episode #72: Tim Durgin first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Andy Edmonds has an MS in Human Factors, Applied Psychology from Clemson University. He started his working career as a webmaster in 1995 and has since developed a huge breadth of expertise in UX, e-commerce, web analytics, online experimentation, data science, information retrieval, and software development methods at tech companies including Microsoft, eBay, RedBubble, Adobe, Facebook, and LinkedIn. He is now a product manager at Quora. He also holds nine patents.

Andy Edmonds on LinkedIn

Tabtopia on Github

Anthropic blog

Topics include:

– experimental design – cognitive science – applied psychology – data science – HCI (human computer interaction) – LLMs (large language models) – Quora

The post Episode #71: Andy Edmonds first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Colette Feehan is an audiobook director with a PhD in linguistics who specializes in multi-language books, books with technical jargon, and multi-book series that require maintaining a strong pronunciation database. Colette’s doctoral research focused on the intersection of articulatory and acoustic phonetics and vocal performance specific to character voiceover – using ultrasound to look at how actors move the parts of their vocal tract around to make different voices.

Colette Feehan on LinkedIn

Colette Feehan’s website

Colette Feehan on YouTube

Colette Feehan on TikTok

Natalie Naudus’s book Gay the Pray Away

Rosina Lippi-Green’s book English with an Accent

Topics include:

– acoustic phonetics – voice over – audiobooks – voice acting – pertubation theory – pronunciation guides – accents – contract work

The post Episode #70: Colette Feehan first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This is a special mini-podcast of the Linguistics Careercast called Linguists at Work. It’s a series of 5-minute interviews with career linguists, conducted by grad students in the Georgetown Linguistics program, in which they ask the question: “What’s your job and how did you get it?” Every interview focuses on a job that a linguist not only can do, but adds value to based on the unique skillset we develop as language scientists.

Today’s pod features Lexi Slome, who is an associate trial consultant. She earned her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University in 2024, where she focused on discourse analysis of courtroom language, including research examining the role of identity construction in telling persuasive opening statement narratives. In her current role as a trial consultant, she uses both her linguistic knowledge and research skills to provide data-driven analysis of juror reactions to complex legal cases through research exercises such as mock trials and focus groups.

The interview is conducted by Joana Fehr, a graduate student from Germany in the MLC program at Georgetown University. She has lived and studied in seven countries across Europe, North America, and South America, and brings a global perspective to her work.

Lexi Slome on LinkedIn

Joana Fehr on LinkedIn

The post Mini-pod: Linguists At Work with Lexi Slome first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is a recording of a special live episode of the Linguistics Careercast podcast.

Our panel of linguists discusses how artificial intelligence (especially Gen AI) is impacting linguistics as a field. We’ll cover topics like AI bias, challenges in training data curation, and implications of GenAI on online language data collection. These are conversations that linguists are having behind the scenes about the future of this changing technical landscape.

The panel was held on April 12, 2025, during LingFest, a part of LingComm 2025

Panelists: Aubrie Amstutz, Responsible AI Research Scientist at Grid Dynamics Alicia Beckford Wassink, Director of the Sociolinguistics Laboratory and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington Katie Swindler, Content Management for Generative AI at Mother Tongue AI

Producer: Alex Johnston, MLC Director, Georgetown University

Topics include – generative AI – large language models (LLM) – ethics – trust and safety – minoritized dialects – language bias – automatic speech recognition – discourse analysis – product policy

The post Episode #69: Live at LingFest 2025 first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Jyoti Iyer earned her PhD in linguistics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Since then she’s made the journey from theoretical linguistics to expertise in customer-facing language experiences.  She is currently employed as a conversation designer, working at the interface between customer-focused experience design and enterprise AI, and focused on LLM-powered chat: guardrails, analytics and metrics, and API integrations. She’s also an LCL alum!

Jyoti Iyer on LinkedIn

Jyoti Iyer’s website

Topics include:

– theoretical linguistics – teaching – semantics – conversation design – networking – human computer interaction – LLMs

The post Episode #68: Jyoti Iyer first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

Alfonso Sánchez-Moya on LinkedIn

Lex Konnelly on LinkedIn

Jyoti Iyer on LinkedIn

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

Topics discussed include

– qualitative research – job search – networking – transferable skills – reframing – language context – language bias – career transition – job descriptions

The post Episode #67: Jobs in Tech (LCL audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

Nancy Frishberg on LinkedIn

Emily Pace on LinkedIn

Laurel Sutton on LinkedIn

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

Topics discussed include

– career journey – navigating careers – precarity – intuition – personal life changes – work environment – networking

The post Episode #66: Re-Finding Your Career Path (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

The deck used in this presentation is available here

Alex Johnston on LinkedIn

Sue Steele on LinkedIn

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

Topics discussed include

– job market – academia – tenure track positions – PhD outcomes – faculty advising – career outcomes – alumni community – career resources

The post Episode #65: The New Role of Faculty – Advising Linguistics Students (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

The deck used in this presentation is available here

Alex Johnston on LinkedIn

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

Topics discussed include

– salaries – salary negotiations – job research – self-advocacy – pay transparency – job interviews – Handshake app – salary expectations – benefits

The post Episode #64: Salary and Benefits (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Marta Baffy is a lawyer and linguist who has over a decade of English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching experience both in the United States and abroad. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University and her JD from the Cardozo School of Law. Her research focuses on the discourse processes underlying law students’ socialization to law school and the legal profession, as well as discourse analysis of interactions in the courtroom and congressional hearings. Marta’s current position is Professor of the Practice and Director of Academic Success at University of Baltimore School of Law.

Marta Baffy on LinkedIn

Academic Legal Discourse and Analysis: Essential Skills for International Students Studying Law in The United States, by Marta Baffy and Kirsten Schaetzel

Topics include:

– teaching English – law school – second language education – sociolinguistics – networking – LL.M,  Master of Laws – forensic linguistics – legal English

The post Episode #63: Marta Baffy first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

The deck used in this presentation is available here

Alex Johnston on LinkedIn

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

Topics discussed include

– LinkedIn – community building – career learning – career discernment – networking – personal branding – career preparation – job research – resumes

The post Episode #62: Leveraging LinkedIn (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Carole Chaski is a forensic linguist who is considered one of the leading experts in the field. Her research has led to improvements in the methodology and reliability of computational linguistics and inspired research on the use of this approach for authorship identification. She has provided expert testimony in several federal and state court cases in the United States and Canada. She is president of ALIAS Technology and executive director of the Institute for Linguistic Evidence, a non-profit research organization devoted to linguistic evidence.

Carole Chaski on LinkedIn

Carole Chaski on Wikipedia

Forensic Files “Letter Perfect” on YouTube

ALIAS Technology

The New Yorker, “Words on Trial”

Topics include:

– computational linguistics – LLMs – expert systems – forensic linguistics – junk science – discourse analysis – authorship identification

The post Episode #61: Carole Chaski first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

The deck used in this presentation is available here

Alex Johnston on LinkedIn

Informational Interviewing: Best Practices and Etiquette Guide, by Alex Johnston (work in progress, PDF download)

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

Topics discussed include

– informational interviews – professional relationships – networking – career preparation – job research – community building – career learning – career discernment – interview etiquette

The post Episode #60: Informational Interviews (LCL audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Mary-Caitlyn Valentinsson earned her Ph.D. in anthropology and linguistics in a joint program from the University of Arizona in 2019. Her dissertation research was on fandoms – the way communities engage with pop culture. After finishing her doctoral degree, she taught at Appalachian State University for three years. In August 2022, she took a position with Universal Parks and Resorts in Orlando, Florida, where she works as a manager of ethnographic research.

Mary-Caitlyn Valentinsson on LinkedIn

Topics include

– anthropology – networking – transferable skills – ethnography – qualitative research – quantitative research – focus groups – sociolinguistics – discourse analysis – fandom

The post Episode #59: Mary-Caitlyn Valentinsson first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

The deck used in this presentation is available here.

Alex Johnston on LinkedIn

Action Verbs to Make Your Resume Stand Out

How to Beat the Applicant Tracking System

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

Topics discussed include

– career management – career preparation – resumes – portfolios – accomplishments – career learning – job applications – job market – STAR Stories – transferable skills

The post Episode #58: Effective Resumes (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The video of this presentation is available at the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

The deck used in this presentation is available here.

Small Talk, Big Deal (Ep 51 of the Lingthusiasm podcast)

Alex Johnston on LinkedIn

This episode of the podcast is generously sponsored by Amazon Science.

Topics discussed include

– networking – career management – reframing – informational interviews – small talk – community building – career learning – career preparation

The post Episode #57: Networking for Introverts (LCL audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Christopher Farina holds a doctorate in linguistics from the University of South Carolina. He has over 10 years of experience across a wide range of functions in qualitative and quantitative research in applied linguistics and in the social sciences. He is currently Associate Director, Listening & Linguistics, at InVibe Labs, a voice research company that works with healthcare organizations.

Christopher Farina on LinkedIn

Harry Frankfurt, On Bullshit

Topics include

– historical linguistics – pre-med – business writing – discourse analysis – conversational analysis – interviewing – professionalizing – work environment – power point – mentoring – medical communication

The post Episode #56: Christopher Farina first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Minnie Quartey is Vice President of Impact & Innovation for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. She earned her PhD in linguistics at Georgetown University and embarked on a career working in the non-profit organization management industry. Her research has been featured on the front page of the Washington Post, she has been a guest on NPR, and she was the primary field researcher for the first publicly accessible Corpus of Regional African American Language (CORAAL) funded by the National Science Foundation.

Minnie Quartey on LinkedIn

Minnie’s LCL21 panels: Being Black and Successful Beyond the Academy, and Linguists in Non-Profit Organizations

Write the Damn Dissertation

Topics include

– sociolinguistics – storytelling – data management – networking – non-profits – disabilities – adjuncting – organization management – non-linear paths

The post Episode Guide #55: Minnie Quartey first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Elizabeth Briody is an anthropologist who has been involved in cultural-change efforts for over 30 years – first at General Motors Research and later through her own consulting practice, Cultural Keys. She has led many career initiatives including an analysis of AAA Mentoring programs, numerous career webinars, and the Career Tools for Anthropology Workbook, just published by the Anthropology Career Readiness Network, of which she is one of the founders.

Elizabeth Briody on LinkedIn

Cultural Keys LLC

Anthropology Career Readiness Network

Career Tools for Anthropology Workbook

Transforming Culture

Topics include

– anthropology – employee culture – data science – research science – company culture – alumni speakers – medical communication

The post Episode #54: Elizabeth Briody first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Andrea Berez-Kroeker is the Linguistics Department Chair at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and an At-Large member of the LSA’s Executive Committee. She is primarily a documentary linguist specializing endangered language preservation.

Andrea Berez-Kroeker on LinkedIn

Andrea Berez-Kroeker’s website

Kaipuleohone, University of Hawai’i’s Digital Language Archive

Brendan Regan is an Assistant Professor of Spanish & Linguistics at Texas Tech University and the Director of the Sociolinguistics & Bilingualism Research Lab. He is a mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) researcher.

Brendan Regan on LinkedIn

Brendan Regan’s website

The Linguist List

Leaving Academia, by Christopher L. Caterine

7000 Languages

Topics include

– linguistics faculty – career preparation – networking – language for the professions – linguistics and law – linguistics and social work – graduate school reform – alumni speakers

The post Episode #53: Andrea Berez-Kroeker and Brendan Regan first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Taylor Melton is a linguist and educator with over 15 years of international experience in teaching, language consulting, and data-driven research. She earned her Master’s in Linguistics from National Taiwan Normal University, as well as attending Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Atlanta, Georgia. Her career has included lecturing at Overseas Chinese University in Taiwan, crafting tailored language programs for corporate clients in Germany, and writing freelance for culture magazines. She is currently writing an Introduction to Linguistics textbook for undergraduate students.

Taylor Melton on LinkedIn

The Language of Food by Dan Jurafsky

The Extensive Reading Foundation

Topics include

– language teaching – second language acquisition – discourse analysis – international travel – cooking – culinary language – networking – entrepreneurship – study abroad

The post Episode #52: Taylor Melton first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Serena Williams received her PhD from UC Davis. She is a linguistic entrepreneur who leads walking tours, does genealogy research, is writing a textbook, developing K-12 linguistics courses, and is even writing a memoir about her time spent doing van life with her daughter while teaching her lessons tailored to the places they were visiting. She founded both the Language and Heritage Institute and Chronos Heritage Services.

Serena Williams on LinkedIn

Chronos Heritage Services

Language and Heritage Institute

From PhD to Life (Jen Polk)

Topics include

– genealogy – entrepreneurship – work environment – translation – language rights – language access – language justice

The post Episode #51: Serena Williams first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

There will be workshops, panels, interviews, and even financial planning sessions! Here’s a selection of what’s on offer:

• Working for the Government in National Security Organizations
• The Current State of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Work
• Re-finding Your Career Path: The Never-ending Journey of Your Work Life
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI): Working with Large Language Models (LLMs) as a Prompt

We’ll also have two courses:

• Document Design & Usability 101, taught by Dr. Nancy Frishberg: The class project is revising the California Olive Oil Council’s (COOC) Seal Certification Kit for extra virgin olive oil, as shown on its website
• Career Discernment, taught by Dr. Anna Marie Trester: Learn how to demonstrate how your unique set of skills – from critical thinking to cross-cultural competency – make you invaluable in any professional setting.

Tickets are available at Eventbrite.

Please visit LinguisticsCareerLaunch.com for more information!

The post Linguistics Career Launch 2024 Last Chance! first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Peter Benson received his PhD in linguistics from UC San Diego in 1973, in addition to studying neuroscience, neuropsychology, and computer science. He’s worked on speech recognition, user interface, and artificial intelligence. He had a long career in aerospace communications, while navigating life as a single parent. He is now retired and pursuing a life of gardening, woodworking, philosophy, and crossword puzzles.

Peter Benson on LinkedIn

Dialect Identification (Peter Benson, co-author), research for the Air Force Research Laboratory

Topics include

– neuroscience – neuropsychology – single parenthood – financial concerns – work environment – user interface – computer science – speech recognition

The post Episode #50: Peter Benson first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

There will be workshops, panels, interviews, and even financial planning sessions! Here’s a selection of what’s on offer:

• Networking for Introverts
• Finding Alternative Careers through Content Creation
• Leveraging LinkedIn
• Getting Familiar with Gen-AI
• Negotiating Salary and Benefits
• Chat GPT, your job search assistant
• How to Taxonomy: Bringing useful order to less useful chaos

and two open discussions:

Everything about work environments that you were afraid to ask

and

But what KIND of degree? In which we tackle the ubiquitous question: Should I get a PhD or a masters? What’s right for me?

We’ll also have two courses, each of which will meet six times during LCL:

• Document Design & Usability 101, taught by Dr. Nancy Frishberg: The class project is revising the California Olive Oil Council’s (COOC) Seal Certification Kit for extra virgin olive oil, as shown on its website
• Career Discernment, taught by Dr. Anna Marie Trester: Learn how to demonstrate how your unique set of skills – from critical thinking to cross-cultural competency – make you invaluable in any professional setting.

Early-bird registration for hashtag#LCL24 is ending on 6/24! Get your ticket before prices go up. Or take advantage of the special early bird group rate: save over $100 by registering 4 people together! Register as a department or with friends.

Tickets are available at Eventbrite.

Please visit LinguisticsCareerLaunch.com for more information!

The post Linguistics Career Launch 2024 Promo! first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Emily Pace has a breadth of experience across the non-profit, public, and private sectors, including at several technology companies, the National Association of Attorneys General, the Close Up Foundation, and the Library of Congress. She was one of the leaders of Linguistics Career Launch 2021 and is now heading up Linguistics Career Launch 2024. Emily holds a B.A. in French and Arabic and an M.S. in Theoretical Linguistics, both from Georgetown University, as well as certificates from the Paris Chamber of Commerce and the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Emily Pace on LinkedIn

Linguistics Career Launch 2024

Topics include

– computational linguistics – corpus linguistics – annotation – NLP – networking – sabbaticals – LCL24

The post Episode #49: Emily Pace first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Alexandra Botti is a radio and podcast producer, sociolinguist, ballet dancer and ballet teacher. She is a dual citizen of the United States and France, and grew up primarily in the Boston area; she holds a Master’s degree in Language and Communication from Georgetown University. After embarking on a career in journalism, she worked for multiple media outlets including WAMU, WNYC Radio, and NPR. She is currently employed as a supervising producer at Axios.

Alex Botti on LinkedIn

Alex Botti’s website

Topics include

– bilingualism – discourse analysis – public radio – journalism – framing – storytelling – audio production – dance – sociolinguistics

The post Episode #48: Alexandra Botti first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Jackson Kuzmik was born and raised in Hong Kong and received his Master’s in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge in England. Alongside various research positions, he has worked in outreach for an environmental research center, as a product management intern at a language-technology startup, and as the Head Mentor for his undergraduate department. He is currently working in the cleantech/climate space at Carbon Limiting Technologies in London, a specialist consultancy for scaling key climate innovations.

Jackson Kuzmik on LinkedIn

Topics include

– working abroad – job search – analyst – consulting – data research – environmentalism – green tech – clean tech

The post Episode #47: Jackson Kuzmik first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Emily Sabo is a writer and data analyst who specializes in scientific communication, applied research, and digital content creation. While she was earning her PhD at University of Michigan, she traveled around South America, Europe & Asia researching how languages are processed in the bilingual brain. In her industry career, she’s written and produced YouTube videos and podcasts for a language learning app. She’s also had experience in standup comedy, and gave a TEDx talk on the power of language.

Emily Sabo on LinkedIn

Emily Sabo’s website

Emily Sabo’s TEDx talk, “Where Humor Hides in Language”

Critical Language Scholarship program

Topics include

– public relations – language teaching – changing identity – job search – content development – content marketing – brand engagement – interviewing – moral issues

The post Episode #46: Emily Sabo first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Emily Gref has been a bookseller, copy editor, literary agent, and, most recently, an exhibit content manager for the Planet Word museum in Washington, DC. She received her BA in linguistics from McGill University and an MA in Language Documentation and Description from SOAS, University of London, where she began creating books and resources for minority language communities. Her current position is as a Project Manager at Dragonfly Editorial.

Emily Gref on LinkedIn

Emily Gref’s website

Planet Word in Washington DC

ACES: American Copy Editors Society

Endangered Language Alliance

Topics include

– editing – publishing – indigenous languages – endangered languages – copyediting – museums – literary agents – organizational skills – networking – project management – data analysis

The post Episode #45: Emily Gref first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Brad Davidson is a linguist and medical anthropologist with extensive experience in marketing, positioning, branding, and overall customer and patient provider experience. He received his PhD in Linguistics from Stanford University and worked as a professional namer, before moving into life sciences and healthcare marketing. He’s currently employed as the SVP of Medical Anthropology at Havas Health, and hosts the podcast Breaking the Code.

Content warning – there are some swears, and discussions of medical conditions and treatments.

Brad Davidson on LinkedIn

Breaking the Code podcast

Topics include

– applied linguistics – medical anthropology – medical linguistics – naming – branding – networking – research – medical communication

The post Episode #44: Brad Davidson first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Dmitry Tereshenko is a neurodivergent, first-generation college graduate who earned his Master’s degree in the MLC program at Georgetown. His work has explored human-human and human-computer interaction (HCI), specializing in the intersection of how digital technologies mediate our communication in virtual spaces. In his employment, Dmitry has variously labelled himsels as a language specialist, discourse analyst, language engineer, and language technologist. He is currently employed as a Generative AI Strategist and Conversational Interface Developer at Deloitte Consulting.

Dmitry Tereshenko on LinkedIn

Dmitry Tereshenko’s website

Topics include

– cancel culture – interactional sociolinguistics – LLM – generative AI – conversational AI – language technologist – language engineering – discourse analysis

The post Episode #43: Dmitry Tereshenko first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Daniel Ginsberg is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the American Anthropological Association, where they bring their knowledge of association management and organizational anthropology to help association leaders understand the culture of the AAA community and create new pathways into active, engaged membership. For the previous four years as Director of Education and Professional Practice, they oversaw the AAA’s professional development and public outreach efforts, including nonformal education such as internships, workshops and mentoring, as well as informal education such as career development resources, youth outreach and webinars. They have taught as an adjunct professor in the American University departments of anthropology and world languages & cultures, and as a public high school ESL teacher. They also serve on the Program Committee at the LSA.

Daniel Ginsberg on LinkedIn

Annals of Anthropological Practice, vol 47 #1

American Association of Applied Linguistics

World on the Move: 250,000 Years of Human Migration

Topics include

– anthropology – TESOL – networking – Center for Applied Linguistics – post docs – AAAL – project management – non-formal education

The post Episode #42: Daniel Ginsberg first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Aubrie Amstutz is a cognitive linguist & researcher working towards AI Fairness. She earned a Master’s in Linguistics and Cognitive Science at University of Siena in Italy. She is interested in using empirical linguistic research to dispel language myths. This has taken the form of promoting anti-accent stigma in second language development at Duolingo, exploring the downfalls of prescriptive grammar rules in foreign language learning guides, conducting research into anti-bias and discrimination in AI-powered language systems at Microsoft Research, and most recently in guiding product policy decisions and developing safety strategies for TikTok’s text-based features.

Aubrie Amstutz on LinkedIn

Aubrie Amstutz’ website

The Linguist List

Amanda Montell’s book Cultish

Topics include

– creative writing – screenwriting – networking – auditing – administrative academia – cult of academia – analytical linguistics – content moderation – prompt engineering

The post Episode #41: Aubrie Amstutz first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio presentation of a talk called “Alexa, how can I transition to industry positions with a background in (mostly qualitative) critical discourse analysis?” The presenter is Alfonso Sánchez-Moya, who previously appeared as a guest on this podcast. It was given in October 2023 at Georgetown University, as part of the Linguistics Career Series, a monthly talk series held by the Linguistics Department. In this series, Linguists who work outside academia speak to students about their personal career path, as well as introduce opportunities for linguists in different sectors of employment.

Alfonso Sánchez-Moya is a discourse analyst currently employed at Amazon.

The video recording of this talk is available on our YouTube channel, Linguistics Career Launch.

Alfonso Sánchez-Moya on LinkedIn

Alfonso’s website

Topics include

– discourse analysis – digital discourse – NLP – Alexa – tech work

The post Episode #40: Alfonso Sánchez-Moya at Georgetown University first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Eric Jackson is a linguist, namer, and brand strategist. He earned his master’s degree in linguistics from Boston University, where his thesis was called “A linguistic introduction to brand naming”. His employment as a namer has spanned top-tier companies like Lexicon Branding, Salt Branding (now Material), and Northbound, and he’s created names for companies like Philips, New Balance, Verizon, Gillette and Nestlé. He’s also a fan of Dungeons and Dragons.

Eric Jackson on LinkedIn

Sketch Engine (corpus analysis tool)

Corpus of Contemporary American English

Catchword soda names

Topics include

– networking – theology – job hopping – small agencies – naming – branding – internships – taxonomy – linguistic analysis

The post Episode #39: Eric Jackson first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Marina Zhukova is finishing a PhD in linguistics at UC Santa Barbara. During her time in school, both in the US and Russia, where she was born, she has held a number of internships related to linguistics, most recently at Amazon, working on Alexa. Marina is skilled in Conversational AI, Customer Research, and Product Management; she was selected as one of the 60 students out of 1,500+ applicants to attend Google’s Product Inclusion and Equity Summit.

Marina Zhukova on LinkedIn

Marina Zhukova on github

LSA 2024 Panel: Securing an internship, contract work and part-time jobs during your degree program: A practical guide for linguistics students & faculty advisors

Imagine PhD

The Graduate Program in Management Practice (GPMP)

Beyond Academia at UCSB

Topics include

– internships – computational linguistics – informational interviews – LinkedIn – knowledge engineer – Alexa – conversational AI – international visas

The post Episode #38: Marina Zhukova first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Falene McKenna is a linguist, tech enthusiast, conversation wizard, and a “true robot whisperer”. She studied Computational Linguistics at the University of Alberta. Since then, she’s led QA crusades, expanded beta programs across North American homes, and built customer support systems from the ground up. Falene has presented at various events, including the Conversation Design Festival 2022, emphasizing the importance of bot building standards, language expertise in AI experiences, and persona building. She is also an active member of Women in Voice, promoting gender diversity in the voice technology industry.

Falene McKenna on LinkedIn

Falene McKenna’s speaking profile on Sessionize

Alberta Language Technology Lab (ALT Lab)

Conversation Design Institute

Danielle Boyer’s Skobots

Topics include

– language revitalization – computational linguistics – QA – robotics – conversational AI – conversation design – data science – academic precarity – job interviews

The post Episode #37: Falene McKenna first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Anna Marie Trester is

Michal Temkin Martinez

Anna Marie Trester on LinkedIn

Buy Anna Marie’s books, Employing Linguistics and Bringing Linguistics to Work

Career Linguist network

Michal Temkin Martinez on LinkedIn and on Wikipedia

Michal Temkin Martinez’ website

Boise State University Linguistics Dept.

“Employing Linguistics” class at Boise State

Topics include

– informational interviews – entrepreneurship – sociolinguistics – Boise State University – transferable skills – career readiness – internships

The post Episode #36: Anna Marie Trester and Michal Temkin Martinez first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Kaitlyn Tagarelli earned her PhD in Linguistics from Georgetown University and eventually made the move to the language-learning industry, making it more fun, accessible, and effective through evidence-based solutions. She is currently Head of Research for Mango Languages. She draws on her interdisciplinary background in linguistics, language learning, pedagogy, educational technology, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience to drive research initiatives and collaborations.

Kaitlyn Tagarelli on LinkedIn

Kaitlyn’s blog posts, Adventures in Language, at Mango Languages

Kaitlyn’s YouTube series: Science Behind Language Learning Mango Methodologies

The Linguist List

Topics include

– neurolinguistics – postdocs – the Linguist List – job interviews – transferable skills – research studies – thought leadership – applied linguistics

The post Episode #35: Kaitlyn Tagarelli first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

The moderator in Kaitlyn Tagarelli.

Panelists:

• Anastassia Loukina on LinkedIn
• Sam Cooper on LinkedIn
• Emily Moline on LinkedIn

Anna Marie Trester’s Career Camp

Topics discussed include

– educational technology – project management – transferable skills – coding – informational interviews – soft skills – collaboration – internships – indigenous languages – salary negotiations

The post Episode #34: Linguists in Ed Tech (LCL audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

After getting her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Berkeley, Suzanne Wertheim held faculty positions at Northwestern, University of Maryland, and UCLA. In 2011, she left the university system in order to apply her expertise to real-world problems. Suzanne has done fieldwork with speakers as diverse as Tatar nationalists in the former Soviet Union, Native Americans in central California, comedians in Los Angeles, and female engineers of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. She now runs Worthwhile Research & Consulting, which specializes in analyzing and addressing bias at work. Her book, The Field Guide to Inclusive Language, is an essential resource for anyone interested in inclusive language. It’s out now!

Suzanne Wertheim’s website

Suzanne Wertheim on LinkedIn

Worthwhile Consulting

Buy The Field Guide to Inclusive Language

Topics include

– DEI – inclusive language – endangered languages – grieving academia – hierarchies – language bias – consulting

The post Episode #33: Suzanne Wertheim first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Bozena Pajak is is the Vice President of Learning and Curriculum at Duolingo, where she works at the intersection of learning science and product development. She got her PhD at UC San Diego, training in linguistics and cognitive psychology. She now focuses on developing digital educational products that are both effective and motivating for learners.

Bozena Pajak’s website

Bozena Pajak on LinkedIn

Topics include

– language learning – multilingualism – second language acquisition – cognitive science – two-body problem – language learning courses – Duolingo – metrics – management – data analysis – language typology

The post Episode #32: Bozena Pajak first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual career panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021. Our three panelists followed different routes from linguistics into work in non-profit organizations. They share their decisions about taking these routes, and what’s involved in working in this sector.

The moderator is Alex Johnston.

Panelists:

• Marissa Fond on LinkedIn
• Meg Montee on LinkedIn
• Minnie Quartey on LinkedIn

Topics include

– non-profits – Center for Applied Linguistics – applied linguistics – testing – government work – data analyst – framing – collaboration – grant proposals – funding

The post Episode #31: Linguists in Non-Profit Orgs (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Kate Mesh is a linguist who is working as a disability-inclusive researcher in London, England. She helps major brands to improve their designs by observing the friction points, and innovated solutions, of their customers with a range of specific access needs. She leads accessibility-oriented projects that shape strategy and design choices for businesses ranging from retail corporations to government innovation agencies. Her fieldwork in grad school was focused on studying how hearing people gesture while they speak, and how deaf people adapt many of these gestures to use in young sign languages that are just now being created.

Kate Mesh on LinkedIn

Kate Mesh on Github

International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP)

CPACC Certification

Nancy Frishberg

Topics include

– ASL – sign linguistics – deaf studies – post docs – work environment – networking – research design – project management – ethnography – bible translation – Chatino

The post Episode #30: Kate Mesh first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual career panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021. It’s true: Developing brand names is a real job, and one for which linguists are particularly well-suited. In this Career Linguist panel, three professional namers will share their career journeys, how they use their linguistic training at work, and discuss the opportunities available in naming and branding for interested linguists.

Panelists:

• Will Leben on LinkedIn
• Eric Jackson on LinkedIn
• Laurel Sutton on LinkedIn

LCL panel on translation/localization (YouTube video) LCL naming workshop (YouTube video)

Topics include: – naming – branding – sound symbolism – linguistic skills – trademarks – cross-cultural communication – teamwork

The post Episode #29: Linguists in Naming (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Alfonso Sánchez-Moya is a discourse analyst currently employed at Amazon. He earned a PhD in English linguistics in Spain and did post doctoral work at Harvard and at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He is particularly interested in online discourse and multimodal communication, mostly looking at the connections between language, ideology, power and identity. He is also interested in digital discourse and communication as key components of online education, fields he has been involved with in professional terms for the last ten years.

Alfonso Sánchez-Moya on LinkedIn

Alfonso’s website

Topics include

– success in grad school – discourse analysis – non-linear paths – digital discourse – resumes – bilingual education – NLP

The post Episode #28: Alfonso Sánchez-Moya first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a live recording of the Linguistics Careercast podcast. The panel was held on June 24, 2023, as part of the 2023 LSA Summer Institute at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Today our three panelists will discuss non-academic career options combining cognitive science and linguistics, focusing on their journeys from academia to industry. Each of the panelists speaks about their experiences for about ten minutes, and then we go to questions both in the Zoom chat and live at the Institute, where the lovely and talented Hadas Kotek (Apple) moderates.

The video is available on the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel.

Best practices for informational interviews (LCL video)

Panelists:

Ann Thyme-Gobbel, Vice President, UX & Design, Milo Jayden Ziegler, Vice President of Product, Alembic Technologies, Inc. Michelle Gregory, Senior Vice President of Data Science at [24]7.ai

The panel was moderated by Christopher Stewart (Google) and Laurel Sutton (Catchword Branding).

Producer: Alex Johnston, MLC Director, Georgetown University Integrity Communications

Topics include – cognitive science – data science – machine learning – NLP – product management – informational interviews – UX – summer internships

The post Episode #27: LCC Live at Amherst: Careers for Cognitive Science Linguists first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Careers for linguists in government roles are more that just working for a three-letter agency. The government is a big space which presents lots of room to work on different problems of public interest. In this panel, three linguists talk about their path from academia to government roles at the federal and state level.

Panelists: – Sarah Clark on LinkedIn (U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory), – Bill Marcellino on LinkedIn (RAND Corporation) – Cecilia Castillo Ayometzi on LinkedIn (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority)

Moderator: Emily Pace

Topics include: – sociolinguistics – government work – networking – job titles – data analyst – qualitative data analysis – behavioral science – mixed methods – transferable skills – salary schedules – public policy

The post Episode #26: Careers in Government (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Kristina Wagers is a Principal Solutions Architect at Gainwell Technologies; she is part of the Conversation Design Team for Gainwell’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. After starting out as a biology major, she switched to English Language and Literature and then earned her Master’s in Applied Linguistics through the University of Birmingham, specializing in discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. She’s also been an English language instructor in Europe and the US.

Kristina Wagers on LinkedIn

The Professor is Out (Facebook group)

Conversation Design Institute

Topics include

– teaching English – TEFL – transferable skills – discourse analysis – sociolinguistics – market research – conversation design – chatbots – self-care

The post Episode #25: Kristina Wagers first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Presenter: Dana Chisnell (US DHS) Moderator: Nancy Frishberg

Dana Chisnell’s website

Dana Chisnell on LinkedIn Society for Technical Communication Center for Civic Design United States Digital Service

Topics include

– technical writing – document design – government policy – US Digital Service – civic design – language access

The post Episode #24: Language Access to Government (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Joseline Segovia is an experienced Language Access Specialist with expertise in facilitating multilingual and multicultural communication through community-centered practices and innovation; she is passionate about the advancement of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. She has provided language services in fields including education, public service, government, tech companies, and the entertainment industry.

Joseline Segovia on LinkedIn

Topics include

– interpreting – conversation design – language access – language bias – language coaching – networking – entertainment – DEI – resumes – LinkedIn

The post Episode #23: Joseline Segovia first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021. The title of the panel is Linguist in the C-Suite, and the moderator is Nancy Frishberg. The panelist is Andrea Leszek, who is a technology leader with broad experience building products that customers love. She is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Technology at Salesforce, responsible for engineering and business operations, agile, and employee enablement. Andrea is also responsible for customer enablement via technology communications, documentation, and in-app user assistance. She is a founding member of the Salesforce Women’s Network, and is passionate about diversity in tech. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in Linguistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Andrea Leszek at LinkedIn

Topics include:

– technical writing – transitions – MIT – C-Suite – management training – speech recognition – internships

The post Episode #22: Linguist in the C-Suite (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Nora Díaz holds a B.A. in English Language Teaching and Translation. She is a full-time published EN-ES translator and translation team leader, working on a wide variety of topics. Her interest in productivity has led to a constant exploration of technology to boost productivity, such as CAT tools, speech recognition and custom macros. In her blog, Nora Díaz on Translation, Teaching and Other Stuff, she shares what she has learned with translators from around the globe.

Nora Díaz on LinkedIn

The Translator’s Toolbox

American Translator’s Association

ProZ.com (Online Community and Workplace for Language Professionals)

Translator’s Cafe

Topics covered:

– translation – conference interpretation – work environment – self employment – T & I (translation and interpretation) – language service providers (LSP) – remote work – project management

The post Episode #21: Nora Diaz first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021. The title of the panel is Stages & Changes over the Course of your Career, and the moderator is Susan Steele.

Academic linguist, career linguist, whatever linguist. This part of your life has to negotiate with the other roles you fill – parent, partner/spouse, child. The negotiation is ongoing, but the terms may vary with time and circumstances. The members of this panel will discuss examples of such negotiation from their own lives and consider the major changes that ensued.

Presenters:

Judith Klavans Evelyne Tzoukermann Susan Steele Nina Macdonald

Topics include – partners – changing jobs – marriage – negotiation – children – parents – being a female linguist – two-body problem – taking risks

The post Episode #20: Stages & Changes Over the Course of Your Career (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Nicole Rybak recently completed an internship in naming at Leaderboard Branding. She received both a BA and an MA in linguistics from Georgetown University, and is bilingual in both English and Polish. She is a sociolinguist who has also served as a high school speech coach.

Nicole Rybak on LinkedIn

Topics covered:

– naming – branding – internships – sociolinguistics – marketing – advertising – business basics – networking – resumes – pharma naming

The post Episode #19: Nicole Rybak first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Alicia Chatten works in Technical Communications at Kargo, where she focuses on company-internal communication across teams. This consists of technical writing, intranet management, and the development of learning and training materials. She holds a BA in linguistics from Washington University in St. Louis, and an MA in linguistics (with a concentration in phonology and phonetics) from New York University.

Alicia Chatten’s website

Alicia Chatten at LinkedIn

Write the Docs

Topics covered:

– multilingualism – music – project work – informational interviews – phonology – computational linguistics – technical documentation – technical writing – advertising

Download the transcript here (Word doc) or view online here courtesy of  Luca Dinu

The post Episode #18: Alicia Chatten first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is a recording of a special live episode of the Linguistics Careercast podcast.

Our show features interviews with linguists who have made the transition from academia to industry, at all stages of their careers, and in a wide variety of businesses, from tech to marketing to education and more.

The panel was held on February 11, 2023, during LingFest, a part of LingComm 2023

Panelists:

Aubrie Amstutz, Product Policy Analyst, Text Features, TikTok Alfonso Sánchez-Moya, AI/ML Data Linguist, Amazon Juan Rosas, Language Access Policy Coordinator, City of Long Beach Laurel Sutton, Professional Namer, Catchword Branding

Producer: Alex Johnston, MLC Director, Georgetown University Integrity Communications

Cultish by Amanda Montell

Worthwhile Consulting, Suzanne Wertheim

Topics include – language learning – AI – language policy – UX – discourse analysis – sociolinguistics – Alexa – NLP – linguistic anthropology – language access – marketing – salaries – free labor – DEI

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #17: LCC live at LingFest first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Ezra Wyschogrod is a Language Engineer at Amazon Alexa, focusing on entertainment, including music, video, and sports requests from customers. His work spans Natural Language Understanding and Automatic Speech Recognition. He holds a BA in linguistics from Columbia University, and an MS in Linguistics from Georgetown.

Ezra Wyschogrod on LinkedIn

Georgetown MLC Program

Topics covered: – phonetics – sociolinguistics – job search – networking – government work – tech – Alexa – salary negotiations

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #16: Ezra Wyschogrod first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021. The title of the panel is National Language Processing and the moderator is Christopher Phipps.

Natural Language Processing or NLP is a branch of artificial intelligence concerned with automated interpretation and generation of human language. The goal of NLP is how to program computers to process and analyze large amounts of natural language data, including both text and speech data. Unlike earlier fully rules-based methods, more recently NLP proceeds by using machine learning and statistical methods.

Our panelists followed different routes from linguistics into Natural Language Processing (NLP). They share their decisions about taking these routes, and what’s involved in this profession. They also discuss the common question for working in NLP: how technical do I need to be?

Ezra Wyschogrod on LinkedIn Esmé Manandise on LinkedIn Rich Campbell on LinkedIn

Topics include – natural language processing – natural language technology – NLP – Alexa – project management – networking – job qualifications – coding – Python – salaries

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #15: Natural Language Processing (LCL audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

David Peterson received a master’s degree in Linguistics from UC San Diego in 2005 and he’s been creating languages since 2000. He served as a cofounder and original board member of the Language Creation Society, and served as its president from 2011 to 2014. He has worked as a language creator on numerous television shows and films, including HBO’s Game of Thrones, Netflix’s The Witcher, the CW’s The 100, and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. In the fall of 2015 he published his nonfiction work The Art of Language Invention with Penguin Books.

Jessie Sams got her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Colorado Boulder, and until recently was a professor of linguistics at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, where she created a conlanging course and taught students how to construct a language from the ground up. She is now a full-time professional conlanger and works with David Peterson.

David Peterson on LinkedIn

Jessie Sams on LinkedIn

David Peterson, The Art of Language Invention

Language Creation Society

LangTime Studio on YouTube

Topics include – language creation – conlanging – grad school – Hollywood – language learning

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #14: David Peterson and Jessie Sams first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021, and the moderator is Sue Lindner. The title of the panel is Linguists in Technical Communication.

Technical Communication includes not only writing, but editing, training, UX design, and other tasks related to communication. We’ll hear from three linguists with experience in large corporations, freelance contracting, and consulting, in a variety of positions, about how they plan, execute and evaluate their work, and the special skills that their linguistics training provided.

Joe Devney on LinkedIn Madeleine Adkins on LinkedIn Cate de Heer on LinkedIn

Society for Technical Communication

Write the Docs

Jonathan Price and Henry Korman, How to Communicate Technical Information

Roger Shuy, Fighting over Words

Topics include – technical writing – technical communication – documentation – cultural communication – content strategy – content creation

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #13: Linguists in Technical Communication (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Eva-María Suárez Büdenbender holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from Pennsylvania State University and received her Master’s Degree from the same institution. She also holds a Master’s Degree in History. She was as Assistant Professor of Spanish at Shepherd University for 12 years before moving to industry. Today she designs, creates, and delivers a wide variety of language content to multiple levels of language learning in Spanish and German, at online learning companies like Mango Languages, Babbel, and Education First.

Eva-Maria Suarez Büdenbender at LinkedIn

Anna Marie Trester/Career Linguist

Linguist List

Topics covered:

– Multilingualism – Content creation – Research – Sociolinguistics – Language learning – Apps – Contract work

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #12: Eva-María Suárez Büdenbender first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021; the moderator is Minnie Quartey Annan (Georgetown/Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington DC).

From #BlackInTheIvory and beyond: The panelists discuss their experiences in and out of academia as they navigate success. the importance of networks, and whether DEI in the workplace is productive or just performative.

Mackenzie Price on LinkedIn

Na’im Tyson on LinkedIn

NWAV (New Ways of Analyzing Variation), annual conference

Topics covered:

– Changing jobs – Structure of labor – Free labor – Affinity groups – Imposter syndrome – Networking – DEI – NWAV

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #11 – Being Black and Successful Beyond the Academy (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Joseph Tyler is is a conversational designer at Uber, where he designs, builds, and delivers multi-modal conversational interactions for mobile, web and chat interfaces. He finished his PhD in linguistics in 2012 at the University of Michigan. He then did a psycholinguistics postdoc in Kentucky and was an assistant professor in Qatar before leaving academia, moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, and exploring work opportunities in tech. Prior to Uber, his primary design experience was 4.5 years with the avatar-driven conversation platform and health tech startup Sensely.

Joseph Tyler at LinkedIn and his blog

Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program at Michigan

Anna Marie Trester/Career Linguist

Jen Polk

What Color is Your Parachute – The flower exercise

Topics covered:

– Conversational AI – Conversation designer – NLP – Meetups – Networking – Chatbots

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #10: Joseph Tyler first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021; the presenter is Nancy Frishberg, one of the LCL organizers.

In this session, Nancy provides a historical perspective on the intersection of linguistics and user experience and design. She addresses questions such as: What is design? Who is a designer? What do we mean by user research? What is the difference between art and design? And how do your skills as a linguist translate to user design?

Nancy Frishberg on LinkedIn

Nancy Frishberg on Quora

Link to slides presented in this session

Books and other resources to learn about design, user experience and user research

• Don Norman’s Design of Everyday Things https://jnd.org/tag/book/
• Jeff Johnson’s Designing with the Mind in Mind  http://uiwizards.com/
• Jeff Johnson & Kate Finn’s Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population  http://uiwizards.com/
• Christian Rohrer’s https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/ (2017, rev 2022)
• Carolyn Jarrett’s Surveys That Work https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/surveys-that-work/
• Steve Portigal’s Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries (User Research War Stories) https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/userresearch-war-stories/
• UXPA: User Experience Professionals Association https://uxpa.org

Topics covered:

– Design – Digital design – User research – Survey design – Methodologies

Download a transcript here (Word doc) courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #9: User Experience and Design (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Victoria Hamilton is a computational linguist with an interest in language learning technology. She earned her Master’s in Computational Linguistics at Stony Brook University. Over the years she’s had a number of jobs, including as a graduate career coach and graduate coordinator at Stony Brook. She is now working as an analytical linguist at Grammarly.

Victoria Hamilton at LinkedIn

Topics covered:

– Music – Life priorities – Employment during grad school – Being Black in linguistics – Networking

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #8: Victoria Hamilton first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021; the moderator is Alexandra Johnston.

In this session, Kelsey Kraus of Cisco presents an overview of selected jobs in HLT industry, many of which make use of skills in NLP, data science, and coding. She covers how to find them and what employers are looking for. She also discusses skills and self promotion, tips on structuring a resume and how to promote your research. Along the way, she addresses the common questions about technical skills that are required (or not) for industry work.

Link to slides presented in this session

Kelsey Kraus at LinkedIn

Daniel Jurafsky and James H. Martin, Speech and Language Processing

Topics covered

– HLT/Human Language Technology – LinkedIn – Hiring process – Job search – Linguists in tech

Download a transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #7: Human Language Technology (HLT) Industry Jobs (LCL Audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Aine McAlinden is a recent graduate from Georgetown University’s Master’s in Language and Communication who is currently transitioning to a career in conversational design. She has experience in discourse analysis, professional communications, and social justice work, and she is also the host and creator of the podcast Language • n • Justice.

Aine McAlinden at LinkedIn

Topics covered:

– Sociolinguistics – Conversation design – UI and UX – Informational interviews – Dialogue design

Download the transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #6: Aine McAlinden first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021, and the moderator is Nancy Frishberg. Our guest is Janice (Ginny) Redish, who has had an exciting and fulfilling career applying her love of linguistics to making written materials easy for the people who must use them. Over the decades since she finished her Ph.D., Ginny has led teams turning government regulations into question-and-answer conversations, revolutionizing user manuals to be task-oriented and user-oriented, and giving website visitors what they need in well-organized plain language. She has also written numerous peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, as well as 3 books:

Letting Go of Words User and Task Analysis for Interface Design A Practical Guide to Usability Testing

Ginny Redish’s website

Topics covered:

– Document design – Non-profits – Job titles – Content strategy – UX writing

Download the transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #5: Ginny Redish (LCL audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Wendy Kempsell Jacinto was an exchange student in Germany during high school, which deepened her interest in languages. She went on to study linguistics and graduated with a PhD in Sociolinguistics from the University of Washington in 2015. Her research was on language mixing, particularly in the Spanish-English and Turkish-German bilingual communities. After graduating, she worked in Translation and Interpretation Project Management in healthcare settings for 6 years. She is currently a Linguistic Services Consultant at Acrolinx, a content improvement platform.

Wendy Jacinto at LinkedIn

Topics covered:

– Sociolinguistics – Phonetics – Healthcare – Translation – Interpretation – Degree choices – Financial concerns

Download the transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #4: Wendy Jacinto first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021. The moderator is Emily Pace.

In this discussion, we’ll talk with linguists who are in their first career role after graduating. We’ll talk about the transition from school to work, what they wish they’d known when job searching, and what it’s been like to job search during the pandemic. There are three panelists:

Sophia Chan (ETS Canada)

Mark Norris (Grammarly)

Tripp Maloney (inVibe Labs)

Topics covered:

Analytical linguistics – Job titles – Job search – Dealing with rejection – Remote work – Networking – Negotiations – Transition to industry

Download the transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #3: Getting Your First Job Beyond Academia (LCL audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

Marc Ettlinger is a linguist who is currently employed as a Linguistic Engineering Manager at Meta in California. He received a BA in Mechanical Engineering from Rutgers University and a PhD in Linguistics from UC Berkeley in 2008. Since then he’s been employed in the public and private sector as a linguist specializing in data research and analysis for machine learning, NLP systems, and AI.

Marc Ettlinger at LinkedIn

Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid

ARLIS, Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (formerly CASL, Center for Advanced Study of Language)

Topics covered:

– Neuroscience – Engineering – Government – Job hopping – Research – Data science – Psychological journey to industry

Download the transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #2: Marc Ettlinger first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

“Find a champion. Find someone who smiles, but is ruthless.”

This episode is an audio version of a virtual panel held at the Linguistics Career Launch in the summer of 2021, and the moderator is Nancy Frishberg.

Our guest is Anne Krook: She is a former academic who transitioned successfully to the corporate and nonprofit workplaces: she helps graduate students and postdocs transition to non-academic workplaces and helps undergraduate humanities majors translate their skills into jobs. She works with companies and organizations on integrating younger women into the workplace, preparing them for success, and coaching them on interacting with colleagues.

She’s got a book called “Now What Do I Say?”: Practical Workplace Advice for Younger Women.

Her website is annekrook.com. Links to her website and other resources are in the show notes.

Topics covered:

– Faculty advice – How to talk to faculty about leaving academia – Student placement – UX – Translation – Conversational design – NLP

Download the transcript here (Word doc) or view it online here courtesy of Luca Dinu

The post Episode #1: Anne Krook (LCL audio) first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.