11 messages over 2 pages: 1 2
Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5853 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map
| Message 9 of 11 30 July 2009 at 7:14pm | IP Logged |
First you have to select which field of translation you want to specialize in.
I assume that in your case you want to do technical translations. Then you need a certificate for Technical English.
The translation business is very specialized. For example I studied German Law for 6 years and attended a correspondence course of Dutch Law (both without exam / certificate), but the company where I worked for in the office opinioned me qualified to translate legal texts (such as contracts) from Dutch into German.
I would say that "a general knowledge of English" is not enough, if you want to earn money in a specialized field of translation.
Fasulye
Edited by Fasulye on 30 July 2009 at 7:21pm
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| Ertugrul Diglot Groupie Turkey Joined 5668 days ago 63 posts - 124 votes Speaks: Turkish*, English Studies: Arabic (Written)
| Message 10 of 11 31 July 2009 at 10:34am | IP Logged |
I agree with Fasulye, you must be specialized in a field of translation.
The field that you master on it will become your earning money "tool".
I'm a translator and have been working in technical translation field professionally for 4 years. Mine is translating from English to Turkish. That's what i try to master.
Two-way translating is the best and a thing in demand by the employers.
But mastering in a one-way translating is suitable too. That depends on where you want to work.
And you don't have to a certification or an education to do this.
But you must know what to do in order to improve your translating skills.
I, personally, improved my translating skills by translating myself and without any certifications or education programmes.
To master both target and source languages' grammar is essential but not enough.
You need to translate something and practice this a lot.
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| Iwwersetzerin Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member Luxembourg Joined 5675 days ago 259 posts - 513 votes Speaks: French*, Luxembourgish*, GermanC2, EnglishC2, SpanishC2, DutchC1, ItalianC1 Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin
| Message 11 of 11 31 July 2009 at 10:51am | IP Logged |
I agree with most what has been said before. It is not absolutely necessary to have a certificate or degree in translation. There are many successful professional translators who have never studied translation. But, knowing two languages is in no way enough. You need to have excellent writing skills in your native language (I would recommend to translate into your native language only), be able to adapt to a variety of registers, writing styles and text types. It takes a lot of practice to produce high-quality natural-sounding translations. Maybe you could get an experienced translator as a mentor who proofreads your translations and gives you feedback.
A very important aspect, as has been said before, is that you need to specialize in a field, such as legal translation, medical translation, technical translation, marketing translation, etc. These fields are very different from each other and nobody can be an expert in everything. It is simply not possible to produce a good translation of a highly specialized text about cardiology, for example, if you have no idea about cardiology. I specialize in legal translation and I did a full law degree in addition to my degree in translation in order to specialize in this field.
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