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Learning a new language for work only? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4144 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes  Speaks: French*, English | Message 1 of 8 30 December 2013 at 9:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm writing this because I really need to get this issue off my chest before I go completely crazy and I thought someone might be able to help.
For various reasons, I've decided not to finish my teaching degree. I said I would never do translation work because I find the working conditions and pay of most translators appalling, but it looks like this is my next best option. I know I don't have the required skills to work for a large European organization, and frankly, I doubt I have enough talent to "push" my English (let alone another language) to C2. However, I've noticed that some translation jobs don't require the translator to have a full mastery of the language, but only a good passive mastery of it. I have a pretty good command of my native language (French), and always get one of the best grades in translation. My main issue is that I'm much better at translating technical stuff, so I'd need to find a job in that particular field. I think working on my passive understanding of technical Italian is my best bet right now. I've studied this language (briefly) before and it's rather easy to get to B2 as a French speaker, or so I hear. Sadly, "rather easy"= hundreds of hours of work. Do you think this is a worthwhile goal to shoot for? How many hours do you think I'd need? Could I be "done with it" 6 months from now? Of course I'd work on my language skills, but in a more passive way (by translating from Italian to French). Thank you. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4862 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 2 of 8 30 December 2013 at 10:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The thing is that most agencies and clients prefer technical translators with a degree in the field. I did consider such a path in past and decided not to walk it for that reason. Today, you either need a translation and literature degree or something like that to translate literature and humanities and a lot of such stuff. For more specialized fields, you are expected to be an engineer/lawyer/doctor/scientiest/other specialist with good knowledge of the language.
It is true that you may not need to be totally mega super awesome in smaller languages compared to English as there is much less competition (and proportionally smaller demand, so that balances the smaller competition). However, Italian is not a small language. And I guess it has got no shortage of learners of all levels (from touristy phrases up to academic degrees) in France. Sure, you could get to B2 Italian in half a year of hard work, thanks to the advantage of your native language. And it will be a worthy skill on a CV for sure. But I wouldn't count on a B2 exam being the only needed qualification for technical translation. Of course, there are some clients looking for cheap solutions but there aren't that many and they are obviously not going to spend so much so it may be difficult to earn living this way. I know of a few translators who went this way. They just knew the language and it was enough even without a degree. But they began the career decades ago when the world was a different place. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6756 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 3 of 8 31 December 2013 at 12:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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Sorry, but in my opinion it does not make a lot of sense. Obviously, you can learn a new language and work as a translator of it later on but this is going to be a long process, and there is no way you can achieve the required level in six months or a year if you have only studied Italian briefly. You might get some translation assignments, but I'm afraid you won't be able to deliver the quality your customers will expect. Do you have any technical background? This could help but still, it's a long shot.
I work as a freelance translator (not as a main job, though) and even though I am thinking about adding new working languages, I can't imagine how much time I would need to start working from Dutch or Swedish. Translation is not a piece of cake, and 'only a good passive mastery' is not as easy to achieve as it may sound. If you want to work as a translator, start with English-French assignments. The competition will be certainly be large but you will have a better chance than with Italian that you don't even know yet. Oh, and the working conditions and pay of a translator do not have to be 'appalling'. It is a freelance profession, mostly, so you decide about your working conditions and rates to a large extent. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4983 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 4 of 8 31 December 2013 at 1:16am | IP Logged | |||||
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If I can ask, where in France are you located? If you are in a somewhat tourist area,
have you considered something outside of translation? It takes a long time to establish oneself as a freelance translator, and if you want to make a decent amount of money you'll need to specialize, making the process even longer. It you are interested in being around people, how about looking at being a tour guide. Truthfully, I have no idea what sort of job opportunities there are where you live, but I do know that there are plenty of English speaking tourists hopping all around Europe. There's bound to be a company or two that might need a bilingual tour guide. French and English is a good combination for that. Also, the "scope" of the work is fairly narrow, so it wouldn't take you a huge amount of time to get up to speed on the language and terminology needed for the job. Just a thought. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 31 December 2013 at 1:17am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4144 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 5 of 8 01 January 2014 at 1:01am | IP Logged | |||||
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I would rather not disclose where I live but let's just say it isn't a tourist area at all. :(
However, given that my English is a solid C1, I should probably try to do something with it... I just don't know what yet. I might actually teach adults for a while if I find a job that pays well enough. I also planned on cramming for either the TOEIC or the TOEFL, and maybe even the C1/C2 exam, but I don't know what good it would do. That's the only thing that matters to me right now, as I want to apply to a good school or university program in the near future when I know what job I want to get. A few years ago, I was able to score over 750 on a mock TOEFL (or was it TOEIC?) with no preparation. I know it's not a perfect score but it's more than enough to apply to any prestigious school/program in France, and probably abroad too. Right now, I'm trying to improve my vocabulary by reading books, which is something I've never tried before. Edited by Melya68 on 01 January 2014 at 1:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4721 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 6 of 8 01 January 2014 at 2:10am | IP Logged | |||||
...and exactly the thing you need for getting to C2. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4144 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 7 of 8 01 January 2014 at 2:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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Maybe, but to be honest, getting to C2 seems pretty useless now that we've established I can't be a translator.
Teachers, especially secondary schools ones, are all a solid C1 in France. I actually started teaching English right after I was out of high school, and I was more than qualified to tutor 13-year-old kids. If I had known, I'd have specialized in something instead (law, science...) like someone suggested. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4721 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 8 of 8 01 January 2014 at 2:52am | IP Logged | |||||
Is getting a degree in any of those fields not an option anymore?
What prevents you to enroll in law, science, or some other field that might be good for becoming a translator? But as you stated that you actually never really wanted to work in translation, I guess you might as well look into totally unrelated career choices if you have the option to get a degree. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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