Linguistics Feistiness

[epeuthutebetes]

Need to Prepare

Need to relearn French and learn German enough to read linguistics papers in them. I'm not sure reading through a German Wikipedia article on Sumerian will count, so that can't be my bar. Not that I can even do that yet. No, this isn't a whim, it's basically a linguistics grad school requirement for an M.A., so I might as well get

Comments

[expectfailure]

Okay, PLEASE don't start on your PhD language requirements NOW. PLEASE enjoy your undergraduate career with things other than linguistics. PLEASE. I -guarantee- you that you'll have *plenty* of time to study in graduate school. Instead of working on your language requirement, I'd advise you to explore the actual field of linguistics and find out what you're most interested in. Having a focus helps get you into grad school--telling them that you can ace their language exam doesn't.

And, knowing if you're a phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, socio, psycho, comp, coggy linguist is also going to help you narrow down that list of 20 schools you've got there. Actually, it's not really rankings that matter: it's who's there, what they're working on, and what their job-placement rate is. (Although, after the fact, rankings can make you feel pretty damned good about where you get accepted. :-)) And, depending on what you're interested in, I wouldn't even go below top ten.

[epeuthutebetes]

Sorry for the rantiness. Heh, don't worry, it was really much more of an "aaaah" moment than anything else. Ling is not my life. I'd be insane if it were.

Instead of working on your language requirement, I'd advise you to explore the actual field of linguistics and find out what you're most interested in.
Oy, it's taking so long. Second year and I still don't know where I'm going. I guess I'm pretty sure it'll sort itself out in due time, but life just looks awfully fast.

Having a focus helps get you into grad school--telling them that you can ace their language exam doesn't.
Very true. But reading German Wikipedia articles isn't bad, either.

And, knowing if you're a phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, socio, psycho, comp, coggy linguist is also going to help you narrow down that list of 20 schools you've got there.
I so didn't get what PMS referred to the first SLUgS meeting I went to, haha. I suppose I shan't be a phonetician, but that's all the narrowing I've managed so far >_<. Haida is sexy, and polysynthesis

[expectfailure]

Hey, don't stress about not knowing what kind of ling you like because (1) most people change halfway through their five-year PhD programs and (2) I didn't even START ling until late sophomore year. So you have time. :-)

[epeuthutebetes]

How useful's NAGPS?

[expectfailure]

Not at all. Probably cause I'd barely heard of it until you mentioned it.

LSA = MUCH more helpful!