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Languages in translating | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work |  | |
| classicwho101 Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4520 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 1 of 10 19 December 2011 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I am a native English speaker and i want to become a translator, but i don't know what two languages to learn. I am doing a french GCSE but i don't like learning the language so do not want to continue whith it. I live in the UK, so Spanish wouldn't be very useful. I heard that the for the best jobs i should learn one major language and a less learnt language, is this true?
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| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4925 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes  Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 2 of 10 19 December 2011 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
Off the cuff question: Why do you want to become a translator? R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| classicwho101 Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4520 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 3 of 10 20 December 2011 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
I am really intested in languages and enjoy communicating with people of other culture's, so i decided this was the best job for me. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4925 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 4 of 10 20 December 2011 at 8:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
I asked the question because I don't think I've ever met a translator (or interpreter, for that matter) that decided to go into the profession without knowing which would be their working languages - at least their first language pair. It takes quite a while to learn a language to a level that would be useful for a translator professionally, not to mention learning the culture behind the languages. And it usually involves living a significant period where your working languages are spoken. R. == 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4846 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani | Message 5 of 10 20 December 2011 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
I fully agree with hrhenry. classicwho101, you can find out what a career in translation entails on the following website: proz.com Take a look at the forums. There's a section for students, as well as on "getting established" as a professional translator. Edited by espejismo on 20 December 2011 at 9:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4925 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 6 of 10 20 December 2011 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I might also add that the actual translation profession is often a lonely one. Other than initial contact with clients and handling the details of the translation, the editing, etc., you really won't be communicating with many people of other cultures, at least not in real time.
R. == 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6714 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 10 20 December 2011 at 10:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Not to mention hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and did I mention hours and hours and hours of hours of time spent alone in front of the computer screen translating documents and doing internet research about topics often so boring you can barely stay awake, pouring over and revising meticulous details best described as mind-numbingly tedious, often staying up for days on end without sleep just to survive for little money, relatively speaking.
Be prepared to spend two weeks or more working day and night translating a document, reading and revising, reading and revising, reading and revising, only to have the entire thing sent back to you days later full of the editor's corrections and suggestions where you must change or justify your translation of each one of hundreds of corrections. Translation in real life is nothing like translating in school. Edited by translator2 on 20 December 2011 at 10:25pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5259 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 8 of 10 20 December 2011 at 11:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
This description bears no relationship whatsoever to my life as a translator. I work a steady 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, take on a new job every day or two, spend only a few hours, or at most a whole day, revising my translations, rarely receive anything but praise from my clients, and earn an excellent wage. The only thing I could possibly agree with is that you will, as a translator, spend long hours alone in front of a computer screen. You are still young enough to get started on your career path. I actually began studying the language I translate from, Japanese, at the ripe old age of 23, and although I knew I wanted to be a translator from about the same age as you, I had no idea what languages I would be using in my future career. I just knew I loved learning languages. My advice would be to continue with French to A Level, take another language GCSE at Sixth Form if possible, or if not, start a new language from scratch at university. Look on YouTube for clips of any languages you think might interest you, and buy a beginner's course in the language you choose. Be skeptical about the often quoted myth that you must know obscure languages to be a successful translator. Languages in demand right now, and for the foreseeable future, are German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, maybe French, maybe Korean, and maybe Russian. Good luck! 7 persons have voted this message useful |
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