viajero

Oh, I just re-read your original post and it seems that teaching doesn't interest you.

However, you might want to reconsider:

- The additional educational requirement is only one year
- For French teachers, employment is practically guaranteed assuming you have the correct temperament and receive satisfactory appraisals in your practica
- You get 10 weeks vacation in the summer, 2 weeks at Christmas, a week in March, every statutory holiday and even some non-stat holidays (Easter Monday, for instance). That's plenty of time to indulge your own interests if you find that you don't absolutely love teaching
- Some school boards offer a "4 and 1" option in which you work for 4 years at 80% of your regular salary, and then take the 5th year off during which you are paid the withheld 20% from the 4 previous years. You are of course guaranteed your job back in Year 6 (at which time you could probably start another 4/1 cycle)
- Unions in Ontario and other provinces have made it virtually impossible to fire crappy teachers so even if you're not good at it, who cares? You'll have a well-paying job for life

Shirtback

Have you *any* idea how hard it is to get a *permanent* teaching job in *any* province in Canada??

viajero

Extremely hard....except for French or Math teachers.

A French immersion math teacher would pretty much have his/her pick.

For all other subjects, graduates are more or less screwed.

Erika_

Thanks for your comments. I do understand that it probably won’t work this way – a 30 year old graduate vs someone who is 21 - doesn't seem very appealing to me, too. However, as far as I know, the job market in Canada is a little bit different – it is totally normal when someone wants to change a career and chooses a completely different major… theoretically (well, that’s what I have read).
I did work as an interpreter and translator, but at some point I understood that I would be always jumping through hoops of people who need the services of translation and interpreting. To be honest, translation turned out to be very stressful and nasty– always deadlines and I had to spend up to 16-18 hours a day translating. It was like a nightmare for me. That’s the main reason why I want to stay away from translation.
Psycholinguistics sounds good to me, but I don’t see a practical application, unless I want to do a PhD. Coincidentally, I just finished the book «Criminology for dummies» - but there was nothing about linguists who work in this sphere.
To be honest, I do like foreign languages, everyone is amazed when they get to know that I speak 5 languages (the only reason why I got accepted by Canada is because of my French, and it was the 5th language for me)– but after moving to Canada I realized that it is nothing. Anglos and francophones here in Montreal speak much better than me – so practically I came to Canada with almost no skills whatsoever (no need for Ukrainian here, German I need to check, Russian – well, I don’t really want to work with this language for now).
I am planning to stay in Montreal now – I adore this city and people, plus there are many perks for permanent residents who wish to study (I cant take prêts et bourses and receive a scholarship, though it will be enough only to pay my rent). I don’t have unlimited resources, free apartment or even friends here – so I will need to work things out. But it’s ok, not a big deal.
viajero Thanks for information about teachers, but I am just not interested in teaching (though I know that I am good at it, after 9 months my student passed German and got B1 level, that was quite an achievement because we started from zero).
Probably I should stop fidgeting at this point and go ahead with languages and see the real world, as you all wrote. The thing is that sometimes I feel extremely bitter – I have read so many discouraging posts that getting another degree in humanities (translation or linguistics in my case) is just a suicide… especially in Canada – Canada just doesn't need linguists. That’s the reason why I feel devalued here and started jumping from law school then finance then management. The main reason why I want to get a degree here is because my Master’s degree is not even considered here. I do not have a fancy degree from the UK, Australia, France or the USA, which is accepted in Canada, as far as I know.
Anyway, I do appreciate all your answers – you give me some very nice ideas and I am really grateful that you find the time to share your experience and thoughts.

JamesM

If I went back I'd take either Brewing and Distilling or Golf Course Management.

Siouxie

There is quite an interesting page on the UToronto website - listing many types of employment for Linguistics.. including some jobs that were recently advertised/filled.

It might be worth taking a look, to give you some ideas.

https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/careers/...or-linguistics

and another: http://www.academicinvest.com/arts-c...istics-careers

Have you considered Court interpreter, Airlines (Air Canada are looking), CBSA? I thought 'Acting Instructor' (voice work - dialect coach) could be interesting! What about 'Foreign Student Advisor'? No teaching necessary!

http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/student_das...601&los1=LOS05

Erika_

Thank you for the links! :-) I will have a look at them now.

Partially discharged

A perfect summation of why I never want to work in a union environment ever again. I have an immediate family member in the education field who had to basically do the job of two people as her co-worker was basically useless but got full union backing.

Erika_

I just want to thank you all. You helped me to make the right decision.
I will continue with linguistics (probably not translation) and get a Master’s degree from McGill. I am not sure how many years it wills take – all depends if they will take into consideration my previous Master’s degree in linguistics I got in 2011. Meanwhile I will find a language-related job in Montreal.
Thank you!

TrishP

Speech & Language Therapy?

Erika_

I am not really interested in speech and language therapy. At first I will try to get into McGill MA program (which will be really hard even with 4.0 GPA), then I will see. I was thinking about neurolinguistics, but still there is a lot to think about.

scot47

And where is there a labour market for people with degrees in Neurolinguistics ?

neill

Hi Erika,

Apologies if you already answered this, have you sent your overseas Master's qualification to an organization like WES to get them "Canadian equivalenced"?

cheers.

Erika_

Hiya. Yes, I did. It was - évaluation comparative des études effectuées hors du Québec. Then confirmed my MA degree, though it is not an equivalent. Probably.

Concerning neurolinguistics - it sounds interesting to me. I need to give a lot of thought to it (or maybe sth else, like computational linguistics... but I am not that smart :-) ). Next month I am going to write a research proposal for unis in Montreal, so I will see where it will bring me.

Siouxie

I don't think that's WES or one of the other specific companies that are normally recognised though - isn't that just the Quebec Ministry evaluation?
It may well be worth your while to get it assessed officially.

Have your education assessed (I know you don't need it done for immigration purposes, but this is a list of recognised companies/educational establishments who can assess your qualifications officially).