Jobs for a Language Savant?

Question

I&rsquo;m not sure if savant is quite the right word, but my son is a language genius. Taught himself to read at 3, started studying greek at 6, etc. We just finished a discussion about Navaho vs Georgian language structures, which I just barely followed along with. He&rsquo;s studying some sort of microbiology engineering at college simply to get a job, but it&rsquo;s not where his passion lay. Other than linguistics professor, are there other options in the job market for this sort of talent?

Bluestein · Accepted Answer

I'll humbly add my voice to those here and suggest - particularly if you see any inclination thereto whatsoever - you think of International law or legal studies.-
Baring work with actual linguistics the "next best actually practically useful work with language(s)" discipline is law.-
Language (and keen, precise language at that) is the ultimate tool of a jurist - and internationally, there's much good that can be done in that field by someone with such language talents.-
Now, given the quality (and quantity) of the gifts involved, and a penchant for language, I of course humbly also second "computational linguistics" - given how he seems to enjoy depth in the analysis (and, comparative analysis at that) of language structure.-

petercooper · Answer

If it politically vibes with him and if he prefers applied linguistics to theoretical/academic, then SIGINT/signals intelligence, whether in the military or for intelligence services. Potentially certain types of analyst position or even in the diplomatic services, particularly in regions of the world with many/complex local languages and dialects (e.g. sub-Saharan Africa or central Asia).

Zeetah · Answer

Working at an intelligence agency? United nations? International law?Any area where there is an intersection of ideas across languages and cultures?

maxwell · Answer

Sounds like a natural born computational linguist...