I don’t like stagnation. Hardly do I finish one training, I start looking for another one. That’s why at the end of last year I managed to find a crash course in Forensic Linguistics. Wasn’t easy to trace, though. What exactly is it? Well, you can play detective without actually leaving your home. It turns out a suspect may give himself away not only by leaving footprints, but also by displaying certain voice and vocabulary characteristics. How do you analyse recordings, utterances or even hasty letters? What should draw your attention when you listen to phone conversations? As always, it’s not only what is said, but also how it is said and what is left unsaid. After the crash course, I feel encouraged to continue expanding my knowledge in this respect. What makes me happy is that I keep finding new applications and areas of activity for linguists. Long time ago I heard that after language studies you could either teach or translate (and sometimes you could teach others to translate). In fact, the opportunities are much more diverse and increasingly challenging. And once you combine linguistic skills with new technology – there are virtually no limits to what you can achieve. But this wil be the subject of my next posts.

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