Meet our new Linguistics Intern

What led you to apply as a Linguistics Intern at Pipplet?

I have been passionate about language learning my whole life and currently speak 5 languages (English, French, Korean, Chinese, Irish), 3 of which I have studied at a university level. I have also taught English in South Korea for a number of years. I had been looking for an opportunity in the language field which would allow me to utilise my language skills while also accumulating professional experience. As soon as I saw the Linguistics internship for Pipplet I knew that it was just what I was looking for. I have taken my fair share of language exams and proficiency tests, and Pipplet was like a breath of fresh air to me. Its approach, focusing on speaking and writing skills, as opposed to listening and reading like most tests, blew me away, as did its modern format. During my interview I almost gave a speech about how I thought they were going to change the language learning world! 

What is one of your first objectives at Pipplet?

I am passionate about Asian languages, particularly Korean and Chinese, which I speak, and so my first objective is to take an in-depth look at the tests in these languages to see if there is anything that can be tweaked or improved to give a better user experience. I already love the tests but I'm hoping that I can be a pair of fresh eyes to offer some suggestions based on my experience with these languages. The Pipplet office environment is very dynamic and fast-paced, so I am primarily hoping to participate in as many different projects as possible to get the most out of my time here. 

What next - what are your plans in Linguistics?



I am particularly interested in the way in which language testing and standardised proficiency tests can influence the direction of a learner's studies. I believe that many learners focus their learning on the skills necessary for the test, such as cramming vocabulary, and that these skills are not necessarily those most important for overall proficiency. For this reason the possibility to continue on in the language testing and test creation field would be ideal. Beyond this, I am interested in learning more about different forms of AI-language driven assessment, such as machine learning and natural-language understanding and how their ability to assess language level compares with that of human evaluators. As such I intend to learn some basic programming languages such as Python and C++ in order to be able to break into the field of Computational Linguistics.

Miranda will intern at Pipplet for a duration of 6 months.