Careers

What kind of career can you get with linguistics skills? As the alumni profiles below demonstrate, linguistics can take you just about anywhere!

Computational Linguist, Apple Computer

Yu Lha

"Yina" Yu Lha,'18

Majored in: Linguistics   Minored in: Planning, Public Policy, and Management

Yina grew up in Siyuewu, China, in a small community of about 500 people. Ambitious and curious by nature, she traveled to the province of Qinghai to study English. She arrived at UO to study linguistics with the goal of preserving her native tongue, Khroskyabs. As a student, she founded the Khroskyabs Language Project, which focuses on creating video and audio recordings for preservation and revitalization of the language, which has no written form. Upon graduating, Yina landed a job as a computational linguist at Apple. Yina visits her home village every summer and hopes one day to develop a writing system for her native language.

Cartographer, Political Geography Now

Evan Centanni

Evan Centanni, '09

Majored in: Linguistics, International Studies  Minored in: Spanish
Languages: Spanish, Chinese 

In the years after graduating from UO in 2009, Evan founded his own mapping and reporting company, Political Geography Now. The company operates a website that tracks current events and changes to the world political map, including a subscription service for maps of territorial control in conflict zones. This internet-based business has allowed him to move back and forth between countries and spend much of his time traveling. Evan’s coursework in International Studies served as an important foundation for his geography work, while his education in Linguistics has proved a welcome companion in his travels.