Category Archives: Skills

Cuing into language that is particularly “othering” or unnecessarily alienating – in the style of “us” vs. “them” can be quite powerful because it can help highlight moments where language is being perhaps unintentionally exclusionary.  Such awareness is an important way to avoid miscommunication and also to build trust and understanding, especially in cross-cultural encounters. […]

In many workplace settings, questions are unconsciously avoided for many reasons. Questions are often seen as being the enemy to efficiency because they introduce complexity, they introduce ambiguity, but life is complex and ambiguous. Only by asking questions do we arrive at a closer understanding of the truth. And so we ask “What does X […]

We lead with listening Because we look at communication with an eye to improving understanding and improving relationships, we listen for what people really care about.  We can take on the perspective of the other person in an interaction and we know how to peel back to get at underlying assumptions.  Additionally, because we are […]

There are many skills that the study of linguistics cultivates, and the irony is that the longer you have been doing linguistics, the more natural each of these starts to become, and therefore, less visible.  Further, in the educational context, we can take our skills for granted because we are surrounded by people who share […]

Not only will you find that your lingustic skills are usable on the job once you have landed it, but they also may be brought to the series of texts and interactions that comprise job searching. Your research skills can help you uncover opportunities, your abstract and associative thinking might help you identify the need […]

This week, I want to invite critical reflection on our skills as linguists – I will blog about some that I have been thinking and writing about – and invite you all to share your own! use hashtag #skills Your skills in linguistics are transferable – Not only that, they are marketable! What skills do […]

We think in systems Training in linguistics is training in making meaning, which enables us in any context to be better at systems thinking and to recognize overarching themes.  We are trained to find patterns in chaos and to make the invisible visible.  Some people describe this as connecting the dots, systems thinking, or making models, […]