Today we’d like to introduce you to Irene Orellana
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am the daughter of two immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador. I always wanted to be a lawyer growing up, but my third grade teacher told me that wouldn’t be possible for me. I didn’t let her sway me otherwise, but the reality was that my anxiety wouldn’t allow me to imagine commanding a room full of people. I graduated from Bell Gardens High School and was given two options by my parents; either I went to school and didn’t have to pay rent or I worked and paid rent. I applied for community college without any resistance.
Going into college I knew I enjoyed learning languages and had began to teach myself German and Japanese. At my second year in Cerritos College I took a German class and was inspired to get an AA in it. Through that time I was still held back with the idea of getting at least a business degree. However, I found it very lackluster and wondered into a linguistics class. The class peak my interest, but the teaching was taken over by video lectures and nothing to show for getting an A in class. I was accepted into Cal State Long Beach where I decided to retake my first linguistics class again and start fresh. By my second semester I was accepted into BUILD, a hands-on research and training opportunities for undergraduate students. I worked as a research assistant for Dr. Hall at the Phonology Lab. During my two years as a researcher I conducted projects, such as perceptual /r/ dissimilation in English, how depression affects speech sounds in Spanish, and I was tasked in annotating the Hocank language. With that opportunity I was able to not only present in conferences and auditoriums, but I was published as an undergrad. Into my two months of annotating characteristics of depression and crying alongside the audio, Dr. Hall mentioned that there was a branch of linguistics that analyzed suicide letters for insurance companies and law settings. It perked something in me and I went into a rabbit hole, where I found Dr. Robert Leonard’s work in Forensic Linguistics. BUILD required us to apply to Master and PhD Programs, and it so happened that Robert Leonard taught at the only school (at the time), Hofstra University, to have a MA in Forensic Linguistics. For those who don’t know, Forensic Linguistics is the application of linguistic knowledge, methods, and insights to the legal system. It involves analyzing language-related aspects of legal cases and investigations. I like to say I’m a modern day Sherlock Holmes that works with written evidence. So, I reached out to Dr. Leonard and to my surprise he asked if I would like to call him to talk about what is needed to apply. Long story short I applied, had my interview, and on a cold winter in New York. where I was presenting one of my projects, I was notified that I was accepted into Hofstra. I called my parents and my mother yelled to my dad in the background, “She did it!”.
I received my BA in Linguistics in 2018 and moved to New York in 2019 to start my grad student life. Once there I remembered why California is hated, I didn’t see the sun for weeks. During my time there I worked for Leonard as an intern for the Innocence Project, where I worked on capital murder cases. I was able to work on threatening and anonymous letters, witness statements, interrogations, and interviews. Also, I took a a Forensic Linguistics Intensive course with Dr. Leonard and James Fitzgerald, the FBI agent who helped catch the Unabomber. During the intensive we investigated cases like the Facebook Murder and conducted linguistic profiling and threat analyzation. In my last year, Covid happened and while spending time in Los Angeles with the family I was forced to stay due to airports shutting down. So for my last year as a grad student I was taking classes online. I wrote my capstone on the language of persuasion used by the Mexican Drug Cartel. For this I analyzed and compared the language of the Nazi regime, Isis, Italian Mafia, and cults to the language used by the Mexican Cartel. It was accepted by the school and I graduated in a small party at my house in May 2021.
Thankful for my approach to “the worst they can say is no” I had a job offer after graduation where I transcribed live wires. I traveled for work and was able to get acquainted with the United States. I eventually left the job due to wanting to be more stable and be near my home. I wanted a job that dealt more with what I graduated with. Unfortunately for me and any other Forensic Linguist, people and jobs think that a linguist is someone that knows languages. It’s a trigger for me. Some government jobs have the job title as a linguist and the description is basically translating and transcribing. I die every time I see something like this. So, I put myself out there and made a profile on Upwork as a freelancer. Somewhere along the lines of luck and chance, I began getting request to help in analytical linguistics approach. In 2022, I received my first case and asked one of my cohort friend to work on it with me. We did what we were trained for and eventually the case was won. This was when the idea of creating my own consultation practice started itching my brain. I got a job working as a data label analyst for Meta and had my thoughts on my business. At the beginning of 2024 I decided it was time for me to actually do something and so I opened up my business called Lingua Investigations. Currently, I am working on a case for my business and have had some work, but I’m always hopeful that the universe will not let me fail in life and more work will be coming in the future. No one knows they need a forensic linguist, until they need a forensic linguist.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh no, it’s been horrible. I cried every time I got rejected from a job. If only they gave me a chance to explain what I do and how I can apply it to the job. However, people see linguists and think “oh hey translator”. There’s also no job titles in the US, that I know of, that is looking for a Forensic Linguist.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Lingua Investigations?
It is a Forensic Linguistics consultation business. Typically what I do is I conduct authorship analysis on written evidence; this can be threatening letters, defamation, anonymous emails, suicide letters, ransom notes, trademark disputes etc. For example, a CEO of a company receives anonymous letters where the author is threatening the company and sending defamation emails to stock holder. They hire me to analyze the letters and compare it to employees emails and any written evidence on hand. I look into dialect, discrepancies in writing, grammar errors, etc. Someone abbreviating a word constantly or having a common phrase can be a giveaway. I would like to talk about some of my cases, but I don’t think I’m allowed haha. Usually a case would take 5 months or less. It all depends on the data. So, if someone is sending you anonymous text messages or you’re in a trademark dispute please don’t hesitate and reach out.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I do spend a good amount of time listening to En Clair, a forensic linguistics podcast. I also stay up to date with research papers and attend online symposiums when I can. Reading anything Robert Shuy is a must as well. Keeps the mind always intrigued. I also have an unhealthy relationship with crime documentaries.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linguainvestigations.com
- Instagram: lingua.investigations
