Linguistics University of Cambridge

Overview

Through the Linguistics (Hons) at the University of Cambridge you will study lots of different aspects of linguistics. One day you might be poring over a medieval text for evidence of how the grammar of a language has changed. The next, you may be learning about how the larynx creates sound energy for speech, or how we can record brain responses to language. 

You will also cover a wide range of disciplines. For example, the study of meaning draws on philosophy, the analysis of the speech signal uses methods from physics and engineering, and the study of language acquisition draws on psychology. 

From your second year, you can choose to specialise through optional papers, if there is a particular discipline that interests you.

Career opportunities:

On the course you will gain transferable skills that are greatly sought after by employers.  

Linguistics graduates find employment in a wide range of professions. Recent graduates have taken up roles at: 

• Google 
• Amazon 
• Facebook 
• the Foreign Office 

Some students have also gone on to postgraduate study at top universities in the UK, Europe and North America.  

The course also provides good preparation for vocational training, in fields such as: 

• speech therapy 
• teaching 
• speech and language technology, for example, developing speech recognition and translation software 
• law 
• translation 
• interpreting 
• forensic linguistics 

Being familiar with a range of languages is a huge advantage in careers where you need to learn unfamiliar languages quickly. For example, this can be very useful in the Diplomatic Service.