Careers in the Translation Industry
Having a career of a translator or interpreter has been rated as one of the 50 best careers in the world. Considering global business trends, careers in the Translation Industry will continue to grow over the next decade.
Knowledge of a foreign language can be a huge selling point when it comes to looking for a job in a global market scenario. A postgraduate qualification is considered as a key requirement for becoming a translator or interpreter.
Due to the international presence of many businesses, demand is high for an aspirant with a desire to work as a translator using their excellent language skills.
How to become a Translator
To become established in the translation industry, it is necessary to have a suitable qualification and, perhaps more importantly, relevant experience. All agencies/clients tend to choose a translator with years of experience over a newly qualified graduate. However, getting work as a graduate is also possible provided one has impeccable linguistic skills with an ability to prove.
Many aspiring translators start off with voluntary jobs, translating for charity organizations or institutions. This can be a great way to gain experience in different subject areas and build up your CV which will yield benefits in future. Some fresh graduates get internship assignments working in-house under supervision of an experienced translator.
Interpreters
Other profession alternative to graduates is Interpretation which can be a lucrative and intriguing employment. Interpreters are required in many fields of business as well as society, starting from foreign business meetings, court interpreting to tour guides and conferences or seminars.
Project Management
The role of a project manager involves working with the translators to understand the clients’ requests and deliver as per client’s expectation. This requires good organization, negotiation skills with a lot of patience. Although project managers are not required to do actual translation, the job does require proofreading and acquiring knowledge of CAT tools can be an added advantage.
Professional Requirements
Knowledge of two languages is not sufficient enough to carry out a quality translation. Subject knowledge is essential as a translation does not mean replicating the text; it has to convey the nuance of one language and its culture into another.
A translation agency has to look for many factors before assigning a translation job to a translator which includes language pairs, domain knowledge, speed etc. A native translator is always preferred considering better quality output.
Translation agencies
Most of the freelance translators and interpreters get registered with one or more translation agencies. This provides them a platform for getting employment, over the time it can develop into a solid and recurrent business relationship.
Translation and technology go hand-in-hand and many of the larger agencies have a technology division working on relevant software.