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Polyglottery as a vocation | ||
Tags: Polyglottery | Career | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Ponape Pentaglot Groupie Spain Joined 5774 days ago 42 posts - 58 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Greek, Basque, Swahili, Tagalog, Arabic (classical), Quechua, Vietnamese, Turkish, Korean, Serbo-Croatian, Hindi | Message 1 of 6 04 October 2008 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Let me share with you a little concern:
I find polyglottery fascinating, I have always loved learning languages and I know several ones in different degrees, which has also helped me obtain a much richer view of our world and its cultures. However, I am a bit disappointed about the fact that one should be able to work in something related to his/her vocation: musicians, programmers, politicians, lawyers, journalists, doctors... they all can do that. But what about people competent in polyglottery? What opportunities do they have, where can they use their skills, and not just use their knowledge of one or two major languages as an auxiliary tool? I sometimes feel that, although love learning languages, and my university studies are those of English Philology (with quite good grades), this knowledge is not useful at all in the job market, unless it is "added" as an extra to a different skill (eg business / tourism / computer studies). In fact, this is my present situation, I have an anodyne administrative job related to language tourism. Certainly, my knowledge of languages helped me get this job (even though my employer did not seem to believe that I can be proficient in more than two languages...), but I do not feel that I am using my polyglot skills at all, but for writing e-mails in English ocasionally. This situation makes me a little sad, because I feel as though I cannot find the ideal job for me. So, what job careers or ideas can you suggest for competent polyglots, with no other technical studies? How can be polyglottery be effectively used? I would be very interested in your suggestions. Thank you, danke, gracias, merci, grazie, eskerrik asko, hvala, efharistó, te$ekkürler, shukran, asante, dhanyavaad, cam on, salamat po, kamsahamnida, yusulpayki, etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6251 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 6 04 October 2008 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Regardless of profession, most people seem to make money by doing something useful for other people, that other people are willing to pay for. Musicians and programmers get paid for their concerts, CDs, or programs - not for the copious effort they put in to learn how, or time spent practicing. Similarly, studying philology isn't something it makes sense to get paid for; writing a substantial book about what you have learned is, though how much it makes depends on how many people are interested and can purchase it.
One of the most inspirational people I've heard of whose knowledge of multiple languages is critical to what he does is Stuart Jay Raj. He's the closest I know of to someone who lives on polyglottery, although his work includes teaching, translating, interpreting, and helping businesses bridge cultural boundaries. Carlos do Amaral Freire recently published an anthology of his translations of poems in dozens of languages into Portuguese. This is an example of a way that money can be earned from extensive polyglottery, although I doubt it is enough to live on by itself. Basically: knowledge alone doesn't earn a living, whether it is knowledge of law, medicine, programming, or languages. There needs to be a use of knowledge, in ways helpful to others. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| bluecollar Groupie United States Joined 5966 days ago 43 posts - 48 votes | Message 3 of 6 01 November 2008 at 10:59am | IP Logged | ||
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Ponape
It is amazing you are learning so many languages.Maybe you should work for the UN. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| bela_lugosi Hexaglot Senior Member Finland Joined 6266 days ago 272 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English, Finnish*, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish Studies: Russian, Estonian, Sámi, Latin | Message 4 of 6 01 November 2008 at 5:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've found a nice way of making a living: translating. :) I currently translate from 6 languages into Finnish/English, and I consider it a job that satisfies my need to render my linguistic abilities useful in some way.
Apart from translating/interpreting, another language-related job that comes to my mind is working as a secretary in a multi-national company. I think in that job there is a good chance to get to use your language skills in replying to e-mails/faxes from all over the world. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Leopejo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5921 days ago 675 posts - 724 votes Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English Studies: French, Russian | Message 5 of 6 01 November 2008 at 5:47pm | IP Logged | ||
I have the opposite view than yours about translating... :-D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ikarias Triglot Newbie Spain multilinguae.wordpreRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5843 days ago 29 posts - 36 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, GermanB1 Studies: ItalianA2, DutchA2, FrenchA2, Mandarin | Message 6 of 6 01 November 2008 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Have you thought about moving abroad? ^^
I´m sure that out there you will find something interesting and satisfying. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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