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What language other than Spanish? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3914 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes  Speaks: French | Message 1 of 23 30 July 2015 at 8:15pm | IP Logged |
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I'm considering becoming an interpreter, and here in the south Spanish is very prevalent. I want something other than Spanish, my language interests, tend to be eastern Europe, or Asian, and I don't want to pick a language that I won't get a job for. Asian languages I'm interested in, and have dabbled in: Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, eastern Europe: Russian. I've only dabbled in these and have not focused on learning them. I'm open to other languages as well.
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| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4890 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 2 of 23 31 July 2015 at 2:39am | IP Logged |
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What kind of interpreting are you looking for? I think that would impact what you
choose. I used to work for an "Access" program that would arrange for translators and interpreters for the courts, hospitals, and police stations. I wan't an interpreter myself; my job was to arrange the jobs. The languages we had the greatest need for surprised me. There was a huge call for Japanese, Chinese, and Philippine language speakers. But, we also had a huge supply of native speakers on call. They would get all the contracts, without question. A second-language learner wouldn't be able to compete with them. A bilingual Kurdish speaker, however, would have cornered the market. It always surprised me, but during the American wars in the Gulf they would send Kurdish allies here for treatment - and neither the military or us civilians could find a single interpreter for them. Other than that, I know a few French speakers who make money on the side translating articles and books. You could probably do this from anywhere in the world - but again, these are all either native speakers or Americans who were raised in France. And I don't know how much these gigs pay. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3914 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes Speaks: French | Message 3 of 23 31 July 2015 at 4:12am | IP Logged |
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I really don't know, I just have a skillet I'd really like to use, and you seem to be telling me it's near impossible
for anyone other than a native to get jobs, I'm just looking at what's out there, I'm beginning to feel that everything I'm good at is useless in helping me make some sort of living, and be happy. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| aokoye Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5542 days ago 235 posts - 453 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese | Message 4 of 23 01 August 2015 at 6:34am | IP Logged |
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This is going to be dependent on where you live. In Portland, Oregon Russian would be a very good
language to learn, as would Ukranian, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Mandarin. ASL is another good one. I would, however, think that you'd need at least a BA in the language if not at the very least a certificate in interpretation to actually be hireable. I wouldn't let that stand in your way, but I think it would be a bit foolhardy to try to make a living as an interpreter without getting formal training especially if you aren't a native speaker of the languages that you're working in. What situations are you wanting to interpret in? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3914 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes Speaks: French | Message 5 of 23 02 August 2015 at 6:04pm | IP Logged |
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I'm uncertain about what situation I would like to interpret in. There are a lot of those, possibilities I've
considered, are courtroom interpreting, and corporate, like at the moment my current major is in electronic engineering, I thought Russian might be a good language for the field, but now am seriously considering ditching the EE degree and just going for an interpreter degree of some sort. I just want help in picking a language. Edit: my focus was going to be on aerospace. Edited by Tyrion101 on 02 August 2015 at 6:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 6 of 23 02 August 2015 at 6:30pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I don't think ditching your degree would be a good choice. There is still demand for interpreters in various technical fields, people who know what they are translating. An electronic engeneer with one or a few languages seems to stand a better chance these days than just another general translator. That is one of the reasons why I haven't ditched medicine, no matter how much I hate it at times. There are so many people studying much easier humanities (including translating and languages), that it is not a real advantage anymore.
You are in a hard position since the whole world learns your native language (and many to good level). But still, I don't think your chances are that bad. Especially as these days, you can do a lot of translating and such work from your home, wherever that is. So you might actually have a chance to work for Germans, Russians or whomever else, if the American companies prefer the natives. Most languages can be of use, if you learn them to high level. I'm not an engineer but I'd say people in the technical fields cannot go totally wrong with German, Russian, or Japanese. Perhaps Brasil is on a rise in engineering as well? Most people learn Spanish, not Portuguese. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| jtdotto Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5230 days ago 73 posts - 172 votes Speaks: English*, Korean Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, German | Message 7 of 23 04 August 2015 at 7:45pm | IP Logged |
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I once went to a roundtable sponsored by my university with a number of professionals who use foreign languages
as a living. There was a Russian woman who was a court interpreter and who spoke very good English, I believe there was a Korean one as well. The Russian woman gave some good advice - if you are not a native in the language, you should probably steer clear from *translating* into that language. Always translate into your own language. If you're an *interpreter*, you need qualification, which requires professional training. When I lived in Korea I had a friend who was going to a university that specialized in foreign languages, and she told me of her friends in the interpreting school. They would train like athletes, taking audio and interpreting in real- time, while their colleague or teacher would make notes and discuss afterwards, always fine tuning and perfecting. It's a real art. I also have a friend who is Vietnamese and speaks great English, having been raised in the States since she was 12. She is a professional translator, and can actually do both English and Vietnamese, and has done court room interpreting. Her circumstances really gifted her this opportunity, since she has spent real time in educational systems in both countries, which really is the pressure cooker for learning a language to a native level. I have another friend who speaks completely flawless English at 26, though she only started learning English when she was 14 after moving here from her native Korea. She could do both professionally if she wanted, but she's more interested in Japanese. Again, her circumstances gifted her this, and her mind made it happen. As for me, having been raised in a monolingual environment and only starting to learn a language seriously when I was 19, I have done business translation and interpretation in both the States and Korea, but it has always been through small companies or individuals I had good working relationships with, and it was never high paying work. Had my goal been to become a true qualified professional, I could have worked my butt off and possibly received decent work, but I could never touch the level of my friends above. Had I not left Korea in 2013, I could possibly be near native by now, that was my trajectory, but music is my life and so I moved back to start a band. But near native and native are very different. To summarize, interpreting is a skill that is saved for those natives that have the circumstance and opportunity to learn the other language to a very high degree through living that language. It requires an oral fluency in both languages that takes years to develop in an immersed environment. As for translation, that's an entirely different art. As the Russian woman advised, translate into your native language. Another man at the roundtable was an FBI/CIA type who had studied Russian way back in the day and basically writes one research paper a week based on Russian news analysis, gov't documents, etc. His Russian was very good, not native, and he couldn't do the interpreting the Russian woman does, but he can take Russian text and make it English, no problem. If you have a gift for language, you can do this at a high level, novels and essays. If this is something you're interested in, you could reach this kind of level in maybe 5 years, depending on the difficulty of the language. Something like Spanish or Portuguese, sure. Korean or Arabic, make it 8-10 years with real time in the country where it's spoken. Plus daily studying and immersion into the culture through native friends in your city. Smart study routines, an unending appetite for podcasts and books and films, notebooks of phrases you pick up from hanging with friends, etc. It is very doable. And fun. My advice is stick with engineering if you enjoy it. If not, do some deep soul searching and try to zero in on what you enjoy, and immediately jump right into it at your university. God knows US higher education is absurdly expensive, so use your time there as best you can. I started Korean at my university in a summer intensive class because I had always been interested in learning a language and had been around Korean for a while. It all just took off from there and I don't regret it. However, I did not anticipate my other passion, music, would overwhelm me while I was in Korea, and so my dream of being a very fluent speaker of Korean was placed on the back burner. Again, I don't regret it. You talked about trying to find something you are good at that you enjoy and can be happy with - if you can quiet the noise and pressure of the moment and peek inside yourself, the answer will be there. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 4008 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 8 of 23 04 August 2015 at 8:43pm | IP Logged |
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I'd recommend you stay the course with your electrical engineering degree (if you are enjoying it - or some
other technical degree) and learn one or two languages to a high degree. In my career, I have seen those with a technical degree plus a high level in a second language (including specific vocab relates to your field) do extremely well. I think your potential earning power is much higher than if you went this way as well. Completing your EE degree and speaking Spanish to a high level I think starts to distinguish you - particularly if you add in a third language. I would think about what industries you would like to end up in and who the global leaders are. Is your desire to work in the auto industry where there are maquilladoras on the border - including German companies? Or focus more on design and manufacture of products possibly leading to Mandarin? Or work with some of the great European companies? I'd recommend coming up with some professional goals 5 and 10 years from now of where you'd like to be and the type of work you want to do and figure out the inch stones you need (including linguistically) to make it happen. I grew up in the southwest - on the Mexican border. Many of my friends were bi-lingual essentially from birth. I think it is hard for a non-native language speaker to compete linguistically in that environment- one of the reasonswhy I didn't focus on Spanish after my mandatory classes were completed. In fact, when I was considering majoring in French while in college, but did not want to teach, a professor told me the same thing. For what it is worth, I attended a seminar 6 or 7 years ago where a futurist spoke, and he indicated those who could speak English, Spanish and Mandarin would do very well in the global business environment in years to come. Who knows? Just remember to have fun along the way! Edited by Mohave on 04 August 2015 at 8:49pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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