The World’s Scarcest Resource

What -- oil?  water?  tungsten maybe?

No -- linguists!  Satisfactory intepreters and translators.

We earlier outlined Germany’s shortage of adequate translators, in a CT context:

   Where is an Arabic Linguist when you Need One?

There, the unmet need was for Arabic.  And now, in the more general context of the massive influx of immigrants to Germany, today’s Die Zeit documents how, since 2017, over two thousand interpreters had to be let go -- in large part, owing to inadequate command of German:

http://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2018-04/bundesamt-migration-fluechtlinge-dolmetscher-zusammenarbeit-beendet

So:  Should you ever have the good fortune to run into a practicing, credentialed philologian -- Be nice to them!  Do them little kindnesses -- Bring them coffee!  And managers -- Double their salary.  A really good linguist is hard to find.

For further True Life Adventures of these rare beings,  try this:

   Why do linguists wear red capes?

   Forensic Linguists  Save the Day !

   Navy Linguists  Save the Day !!