How to Start a Career as a Translator
Become a translator
Translation is just like writing, you have different forms and styles. Specializing in something increases your chance of finding a good job whether your experience is in medicine or in sewage disposal. You actually get higher pay if you are a specialist translator in what you do.
It is not advisable to make a start in this field of translating literary pieces no matter how exciting it may seem. Translating for import-export companies may seem ordinary and boring, but this is the better way to go. You will be surprised how much some businesses transact internationally to pay for translating their documents.
Working as a translator gives you the option to either work as a freelancer, under a translation agency or as a personal linguist. Most agencies require their translators to have a special education, training, or credentials especially when dealing with certain languages. You should not be discouraged if you don’t qualify. Start small and gain experience under less prominent companies. If you like working at home, you can consider freelancing, though you have to put more time and effort into that. If you are a freelancer, you can work for more than one company at a time and you can receive work on a weekly or monthly basis. Usually, you work in an office if you are exclusively translating for a client. Transnational corporations or newspaper companies with a foreign news section are examples of employers hiring part-time or full-time translators.
Translating and writing often go together and you get numerous opportunities when you do both. I was once asked to write a number of articles about business in my country as a result of translation. In addition, because I can write, more translating jobs also came my way. Know the ins and outs of this trade and connect with different people. Copy editing is another way to make good use of your writing and translation skills. My career in writing and translation started here. You learn to improve your language when you scrutinize and edit your translations.
To conclude, there are numerous things that you should remember as an English translator. You have to conduct yourself in a professional manner. Be on time in submitting your work. Sometimes, the completion of an important project will depend on your timely delivery and a delay can mean the end of your career. Record everything so that when you need it you will waste no time and effort finding the information you need. There are uncommon words or phrases that you frequently use in translations and it would help to have a list of them or add them in the list of words in the dictionary of your computer. Always check your work for accuracy and clarity to make sure you do not get in trouble for your translation.
Lastly, improve your knowledge and proficiency in your language by reading books or newspapers. It is not easy to do something new to you. English to Spanish can be quite hard at first, but it also has its rewards once a translator gets the hang of it. You can even build a good career in freelancing if you can write and translate to English at the same time. It can also be something you will do for the rest of your life if your heart is into it.
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