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People come into copywriting from all kinds of academic and professional backgrounds. In my case, my background is in Languages having studied French, Spanish and Portuguese at University. At first, it may not appear obvious that there are many similarities between linguists and copywriters. However, the more copywriting I do, the more parallels I see between the two so I decided to highlight some of these transferrable skills.
Here are 5 observations I've made as to why I believe linguists make good copywriters.
1. Translation and Interpreting
The most obvious comparison to be made between copywriting and languages is the skills used when translating and interpreting between languages. Through practice, linguists develop the ability to understand the overall meaning and/or the word-by-word meaning of a message in one language and are tasked with converting that into a target language (e.g. from Spanish into English). This same process is not too dissimilar to when you are promoting a product/service for a client. They will have their own way of describing its features and benefits (which may include some highly specific vocabulary) which you are expected to convert into a piece of copy that the target audience finds coherent. Both translation/interpreting and copywriting can be a delicate balance between writing in terms that can be understood by the target audience while maintaining the meaning and nuance of the original source material. Personally, it's this process of creating effective communication that makes me enjoy copywriting thanks to my experience of translating and interpreting.
2. Explaining difficult concepts in another language
Many experienced linguists are used to explaining things to people in a language that isn't their native tongue. They will have been in a situation in which they have good knowledge of a difficult concept in their own language but then are faced with explaining that to someone who doesn't speak it. In these moments, like with copywriting, linguists are forced to quickly think about the most effective way to explain what they know in their own language while perhaps not even knowing all the words in their target language and finding ways to get around that. They distill everything down to the most important points in order for the other person to understand what they are saying. Similar to how a copywriter gets rid of the waffle in their copy and focus on the specific messages they need to convey in order to sell the product/service. For example, while I was on my Year Abroad in Spain, I often had to explain complex tactical points about my sport (quidditch. Yes, it's real!) to my teammates during training sessions. I may not have known all the words in Spanish to explain the concept I knew in English but I was able to find a way to effectively transfer the thoughts in my head to my teammates who could then put those ideas into practice.
3. Living and travelling abroad
Speaking of my Year abroad, let's talk about foreign travel and living. As part of their studies or employment, most experienced linguists find themselves working, travelling or living abroad at some point or another. These experiences are vital to a linguist in terms of learning more about their target language and culture as well as getting regular practice. However, this also forces them to step outside their comfort zone and test their linguistic abilities. No one is necessarily going to know the vocabulary needed to set up a bank account or arrange a tenancy agreement in another language to their own yet these are the kinds of situations you may find yourself when living abroad. A good linguist would likely research key terms for this subject matter in much a similar way that a good copywriter would research a subject area outside of their niche and expertise (e.g. a copywriter working for a FinTech client for the first time). Linguists and copywriters are adaptable to the challenges they face in order to achieve their communication goal.
4. Awareness of other languages
Although as a linguist you may speak various languages, there are still times when you communicate with people where your native language is the common tongue between you and someone else. Within these scenarios, the other person's ability in that shared language may be limited in comparison to your own. As learners themselves, linguists can appreciate the difficulties involved in learning a certain language (especially if your native tongue is English) and naturally they will adapt the words they use when communicating, looking to slow their speech and use cognates and near cognates (words which have a similar origin to a word in another language. E.g. brother in English vs bruder in German). This links into Point 2 about how linguists are good at identifying the key points needed to effectively communicate with their target audience and finding the most effective way to do that. Like with copywriting, you don't want to alienate your target audience by speaking on a level above what they understand.
5. An eagerness to learn about the world
In my previous article, I stressed the importance of research in the copywriting process. While research skills are a common part of most undergraduate degrees, an attribute of a good linguist and copywriter is someone who is naturally curious about the world. Both want to learn anything and everything about the world around them and approach life with an open mind and passion for learning new information. The more a linguistic knows about the language and culture of where their target language is spoken, the better a linguist they become and similar can be said about a copywriter learning about all kinds of topics and industries. As a copywriter, the wider your knowledge is on a variety of topics, the greater your access is to a wide range of clients and over time you can build up a niche of experience in a certain area. Having the curiosity and worldly knowledge of a linguist will serve you well in your journey as a copywriter.
Perhaps if you're a language graduate like me, maybe reading this will have made you consider a career in copywriting. Through discovering these similarities, my interest and desire to get better as a copywriter has only increased. I look forward to using more of my linguistic skills as a copywriter in the near future.
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