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Career In Portuguese?

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10 messages over 2 pages: 1 2 
iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5050 days ago
2237 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 9 of 10
18 November 2012 at 12:30am | IP Logged 
These days, yeah, you need a degree, absolutely- but; do you really need a degree in Portuguese. For translating, I'd say it would be important but yet there are specific programs set up for people who are translators that have to do with the art of translating. Check out Benny's recent post on translating with a professional Translation: FAQs Fi3M. Benny got his degree in electrical engineering. He taught himself French and wrangled a job translating technical writing into English. He then parlayed that experience into a freelance position which he gave up after Fi3M took off.

As far as teaching goes, no offense intended, but if I had a choice between hiring an American with a degree in Portuguese or a native speaker- I'd go with the native speaker every time. I'm not saying you can't do it but what I am saying is that you should use Portuguese as your ace in the hole so to speak, not as your whole hand.

Passing the CELPE Bras exam and/or having a minor in Portuguese (or even a double major)is definitely a qualification, that along with a specialized degree in something else would, in my opinion, be more useful than a degree solely in Portuguese, especially if you want to work in Brazil. A degree in Portuguese won't do you much good in Brazil, other than being on a rough par with the native speakers- who also speak Portuguese and with whom you'd be competing against. You are right. You do need to separate yourself from the herd. Try to be rare. Rare is good. If you have a specialized degree and either a minor in Portuguese and/or a CELPE Bras qualification, I think you will be more valuable.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Edited by iguanamon on 18 November 2012 at 12:31am
2 persons have voted this message useful



ohiotalk
Newbie
United States
Joined 4207 days ago
9 posts - 9 votes

 
 Message 10 of 10
18 November 2012 at 1:08am | IP Logged 
iguanamon wrote:
These days, yeah, you need a degree, absolutely- but; do you really need a degree in Portuguese. For translating, I'd say it would be important but yet there are specific programs set up for people who are translators that have to do with the art of translating. Check out Benny's recent post on translating with a professional Translation: FAQs Fi3M. Benny got his degree in electrical engineering. He taught himself French and wrangled a job translating technical writing into English. He then parlayed that experience into a freelance position which he gave up after Fi3M took off.

As far as teaching goes, no offense intended, but if I had a choice between hiring an American with a degree in Portuguese or a native speaker- I'd go with the native speaker every time. I'm not saying you can't do it but what I am saying is that you should use Portuguese as your ace in the hole so to speak, not as your whole hand.

Passing the CELPE Bras exam and/or having a minor in Portuguese (or even a double major)is definitely a qualification, that along with a specialized degree in something else would, in my opinion, be more useful than a degree solely in Portuguese, especially if you want to work in Brazil. A degree in Portuguese won't do you much good in Brazil, other than being on a rough par with the native speakers- who also speak Portuguese and with whom you'd be competing against. You are right. You do need to separate yourself from the herd. Try to be rare. Rare is good. If you have a specialized degree and either a minor in Portuguese and/or a CELPE Bras qualification, I think you will be more valuable.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Thanks for all of that
I was thinking of majoring in Business administration (and management)(I've a community college 10 minutes from my college with that field) With that said, I could learn Portuguese on the side and graduate with just a Bachelor's degree in BA. If I could, I would get a couple years of experience, then I would choose to move to Brazil and work (if even possible)or go back and get a MBA.      
Or I could go to a big name university and just have Portuguese as my minor and business administration as my major(or something that would be better for me to work there).
Sorry for the cluelessness, I just want to know what I'm striving for before I enter college.
1 person has voted this message useful



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