As an actual academic linguist, I felt compelled to make this post based on another post I saw today. Someone was claiming to be a _Japanese linguist_ but went on to describe their role as someone who can speak Japanese and who has a general love for the language. __That is not what a linguist is…__
Essentially, there are two official uses for the term _linguist_: ① in the academic setting, one who studies linguistics (the scientific study of human language(s)), and ② in the military setting, one who trains themselves in a certain language so as to be able to use that language in field work.
To hear someone relate my actual profession to just “liking” or “using” said language feels degrading and almost insulting. Do you realize how many hours of study and work go into becoming an actual linguist? Do they realize how many thousands of dollars go into paying for such an education? If you work as a translator for that language, you are a translator, not a linguist. If you interpret, you are an interpreter, not a linguist. Now actual linguists may have such skills, of course, but a distinction needs to be made based on actual training and qualifications. Please do not degrade or misuse my actual profession which I have put so many years into.
You are not a linguist. You are a language enthusiast at best.
~End rant~
12 comments
Lexical Morphology Researcher here. While what you say has some merit, it is open to interpretation – particularly because I have no idea what I’m talking about and Lexical Morphology Researcher is not a thing sorry.
I’ve seen many translator positions be described as linguist positions. Also military linguists are most often doing translation, and are still considered linguists.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/1650937/military-linguists-rapid-training-track-with-no-experience-required/
It annoyed me too. I work in entertainment in Japan and sometimes I use English, am I an English linguist? No. I went to DLI and worked my ass off when I was in the Navy and earned my actual title.
I was just starting thinking to complain about this rant when I saw it…. Sorry bro
As someone who has studied linguistics for a while, but never went for any degrees or anything, I have to say “linguists” are so effing whiney about the fact that the word “linguist” also means “one accomplished in languages,” not *just* a linguistician…
That said, I would never represent myself as a __________ linguist unless I’d spent a LONG time studying and researching and publishing on the linguistics of ___________.
A linguist can be someone who is skilled in languages though. I’m not agreeing with the earlier post as I thought it was a bit off too, but the term linguist does have another meaning besides someone who studies linguistics.
I came here to see if anyone else was triggered by the *inaccurate*(cough) Japanese in the title, “皆さんに日本語でだけ下さい”
Wouldn‘t an actual linguist from an academic background know the many better ways to express the same idea? I’m not the one to say but there are so many other things about languages than simply getting your point across.
I came here looking for “cunning linguist” translated into Japanese but I’ll see myself out now.
Honestly, that whole post felt like a troll. I recall they said something like, “I can say basic greetings in 20 langauges, so you can tell I love langauges!” Which… c’mon, that’s gotta be a troll, right?
Also, I got the feeling English might not be their first langauge. Some of their phrasing was strange to say the least, and the mistakes they made weren’t common native mistakes. But I might’ve been reading too much into it. Plus, like I said: Troll.
I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a phonetics linguist or a cognitive linguist, and I agree that being bilingual is not enough to qualify oneself as a linguist.
Basically the distinction between learning another language and knowing how to learn another language would be the difference. At least to qualify as an SLA ‘linguist.’ Though I don’t know, the term definitely seems weird to use unless you’ve really researched it thoroughly.
Gatekeeping linguistics to some sort of academic prestige niche is just stupid though; for example, everyone knows you can major in Japanese and learn jack shit, and on the other hand some people have become fluent completely alone.
My girlfriend says I’m a cunning linguist, and I trust her over your opinion
I don’t know about the person mentioned in your post, but a number of dictionaries suggest your definition is too narrow.
Cambridge Dictionary:
Linguist:
someone who studies foreign languages or can speak them very well, or someone who teaches or studies linguistics
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/linguist
Collins Dictionary:
1. A linguist is someone who is good at speaking or learning foreign languages
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/linguist