Student Profile

Hi, I’m Giordana and I have been studying Linguistics as my first major at Waikato for the last two years.

Growing up in a multicultural environment in my native Switzerland, languages have always been part of the scenery of my life. But, speaking different languages was not enough; I wanted to know how they worked, so linguistics was a natural choice. Being passionate about the subject, it would be difficult to tell you which of the courses I have taken were the most enjoyable, they were all interesting to various degrees.

Before enrolling I had some idea what linguistics was about, but didn't realise how widely it applies to different aspects of life. The paper "Use of language" was certainly the opening to this new world. Through this course, particularly good as an introduction to how we use language daily, I realized that linguistics is not simply confined to theory, dictionaries or grammar but is applicable to all sorts of other areas such as animal behaviour, communication studies, law, learning a foreign language and, of particular personal importance to me, language-related discrimination and social factors.

The papers 'Describing language', 'General Linguistics' and 'Historical Linguistics' appears to be very technical and puzzling at first, but if you like problem solving, these can be great fun. 'Typology' enlarged my understanding of languages through examining differences and similarities across a variety of languages.

Linguistics has helped me in learning Spanish, as I could see more easily how the language operates, and appreciate other ways to express the same idea differently.

I am interested in continuing my studies in linguistics at a PostGraduate level. I'm particularly interested in the fields of endangered languages, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, and psycholinguistics and looking to the future, I would like to contribute to work relating to one or more of these fields.

Whatever your chosen field of study, linguistics can easily be included in your program of study as a major, support subject or 1 or 2 papers for interest. Language, is the core of our communication system; a solid understanding of it will enable you to more effectively communicate in a wide variety of circumstances and situations. So, why not join us and find out more about it, and maybe become passionate about Linguistics.