Linguist

What if you could use your language skills in local communities?

At Wycliffe Bible Translators we believe that when people encounter Jesus through Scripture, lives are transformed forever. Lack of Scripture is a massive barrier to evangelism, discipleship, church planting and other forms of ministry, and today there are 686 languages that still need Bible translation work started for the first time.

As a supported* linguist for training and language development, your contributions will open doors to language communities. Are you ready to join in this transformational work?

You’ll make an impact when you...

• Facilitate and train others in linguistic analysis, write-ups and application.


• Facilitate and train others in language development principles and best practices.


• Assist people in documenting their language, engaging with technology, making dictionaries, increasing their language's online/digital presence, and exploring all manner of ways to increase their language's vitality.


• Network with linguists and language activists.


• Teach and help facilitate workshops.


• Carry out independent linguistic research.


• Focus on phonology, morphology and syntax, text collections, lexicography, discourse, semantics/pragmatics or language documentation.


• Use firsthand data collected from local language speakers.


• Use secondary data collected from institutional libraries, archives and collections.


• Prepare reports using the results of research projects.


• Make research results available to language teams, to other agencies requesting the project, and for use in further applied or theoretical research activities.


• Publish results in technical journals and other outlets.


• Archive data and findings appropriately.


• Facilitate and train others in linguistic analysis, write-ups and application.


• Consult with stakeholders to develop plans for projects.

This job might be for you if…

• You have excellent interpersonal communication skills.


• You’re an organized planner.


• You’re an analytical problem solver.


• You work well as part of a team.


• You have taken a course in cultural anthropology.


• You specialize in one or two subfields of linguistics.


• You’re ready to learn another language.


• You have a master’s degree in linguistics, plus one to three years of relevant experience or the equivalent combination of education, training and experience.


• You demonstrate the desire and ability to support corporate biblical and religious goals and participate in regular work-related spiritual activities without reservation (Spiritual Bona Fide Occupational Qualification).

You’ll thrive here if…

• You ground yourself in Jesus.


• You embrace collaboration.


• You encounter change with resilience and flexibility.

Discover your next step: wycliffe.org/explore-missions

Job Location: Overseas

*ABOUT SUPPORTED POSITIONS

Wycliffe Bible Translators is a faith-based organization, and as supported staff (missionary) you will receive a non-traditional salary (including benefits and ministry expenses) through the faithful giving of your personal partnership team. We provide extensive training and resources as you build your financial and prayer partnership team.

Non-traditional salaries are needs-based determined by factors of housing and personal expenses based on geographic location, including dependents and their ages, retirement savings, ministry expenses and taxes. Although salaries vary significantly and it’s not possible to provide an exact number for this position, a typical non-traditional salary for a missionary household is $42,600 to $80,982 annually. These salaries do not include your partnership-raised funds for health insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, or Wycliffe assessment.

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