Chapter 1 -- What is Linguistics? -- Many people, even highly educated people, will tell you that they have heard of linguistics but only have a vague idea of what it is about. Some people will tell you that a linguist is a person who speaks many languages and may work as a language teacher or as an interpreter at the United Nations. Still others will tell you that a linguist is someone who can help you decide whether it is better to say "It is I." or "It is me." Yet it is quite possible to be a professional linguist (and an excellent one at that) without having taught a single language class, without having interpreted at the UN, and without speaking any more than one language. As you will discover, the field of linguistics -- the scientific study of language -- goes far beyond the popular conceptions we have just cited.