translator/interpreter

[Scoff]

I am going to college in the fall to get rid of my general education requirements and hopefully transferring to purchase next fall (if I don't change my mind). I don't know what purchase has to offer as far as foreign languages, but If I do go there, it will be for music.

anyways,
I was talking to my brother about what I should do with my life and he mentioned being a translator/interpreter. His friend apparently lives in Korea translating and makes a nice sum of money. Now if I were to get into something like this, I would be looking forward to relocating. to be honest, I would just love to move japan.....thus I would learn Japanese. I am just really in the fog about this....

any translators/interpreters in the house?

are certain languages "in demand"?

I was thinking Japanese and Spanish. Maybe French....


help, please.

 

[sn0wburt0n]

i believe that i heard that arabic, russian and chinese are in demand. i've thought about being a translator too. that would be cool.

 

[_a_A_C_c_]

i think most translators are fluent the languages they deal with. and at 18-19, i don't think you are going to be able to get fluent in japanese from university studies alone...

why don't you get your degree in whatever and then move to japan and teach english. you will learn japanese much better when you are immersed in the culture.

 

[Scoff]

You def. make a good point......

I am thinking I might do a study abroad program either in the spring or next fall if I decide I really want to do this. thanks peoples.....

 

[schmangle]

Translation - Asian languages

I work in the translation field, specializing in Asian languages.

Most lacking/most needed translators in Asian languages - Korean to English

There are a LOT of japanese to english translators already but its a steadily expanding market with increasing amounts of work.

Chinese - is going to just expand more and more and more. There is an ever-increasing demand for good Chinese to English/European language translators.

For both JA and CS, remember you will be in competition with a huge number of English-fluent Chinese and Japanese natives.

To make good money from translating, you need to be really good at both source and target languages. You are normally paid per source word/character, so the more words you can translate per hour, the more money you can make. And you need to be GOOD. Most agencies will have a third party review your translation, if you turn in rubbish once, you won't receieve another offer.

Additionally, there is a lot of translation specific software - if you're prepared to buy and use it, this will be a huge plus in your favor.

If you produce quality work, you can demand quality money. If you produce crap, you may actually coast along for a while, but good agencies (ie. agencies prepared to pay good money) will catch you out very quickly, and from a karmic perspective, do you really want to be producing crap when it could endanger someone's life?

Translating is not nearly as easy as many people seem to think - it requires a deep understanding of the nuances and grammatical/cultural conventions of both source and target language.

If you're thinking of this field, you will need to do A LOT of studying of your non-native language, and ideally live in that country for a number of years. Its not something you can do after 1 year of study.

On the plus side, its a job you can do anywhere, you don't have to sit in an office, you make your own hours, and if you're good and quick, you can make good money from it.

Any specific queries, you're welcome to PM me.

 

[Jamshyd]

Translation is a field I wish to work in. I love learning languages, and I understand English and Arabic (both Standard and Levant dialect) at a native level. I've had lots of fun translating historical arabic documents into enlgish at univeristy as special assignments.

My recommendation, building on what schmangle said, is to study something about the literatures and cultures speaking the languages. It also helps to specialize in one area of translation in which you accquire an extensive lexicon of jargon in both languages, for example law or business..etc. In any case, a background in Linguistics can be very, VERY helpful - IF you are able to work with linguistics well.

To share my experience, I found that with my background in comparative religions I found certain popular translations of the Kor'an or Sufi poetry to be rather off.

I suppose, if you wanted to know which languages are in demand, it would depend on which country you reside in. If you're thinking more in terms of Academia, then dead languages such as Coptic or Avestan are in vogue due to recent discovery of documents in those languages. German and Latin are also always good things to know in such instances.

Speaking of Latin, if you plan on studying romance languages (spanish, french, italian...etc), then a background in Latin is very helpful. You don't even need to study latin itself - lot of schools offer courses along the lines of "Greek/Latin influences in English". Sorry if this is actually making too many suggestions. It could be that because Arabic, like other semitic languages, operates on roots upon which all words are built, and so cognates are very important. Although English and Romance languages don't depend so heavily on roots, there are LOTS of cognates amongst them that aren't too obvious.

p.s., I recently found out that Spanish is actually a very easy language for English speakers. It is worthwhile to study it on the side anyways As for Japanese, I might be moving to work in Japan in a month's time, and so I plan on learning at least enough to communicate. My first impression of this language is not a very positive one, lol. But many people seem to enjoy it. French is a beautiful language IMO, but is rather bitchy to study.

 

[rikki_tikki]

In my opinion/experience (and I speak three languages on par with their native users), translating is not a very rewarding work. It pays good money if you are prepared to work equally hard, and that's it. It's a great job for a student, allowing me to fund my many fairly expensive hobbies. The really rewarding thing about the whole deal is getting the feel for the language, as every language is subtle and beautiful in its own way. But to make it a career? No way.

 

[schmangle]

Not a rewarding career?

rikki-tikki - I don't really understand why you think its not worth pursuing as a career??

Sure, you won't make huge bucks, but when you are really familiar with the languages and its 1) easy subject matter (quantity - you can churn through 3-5,000 words per day) or 2) really specialized (quality - you can demand high rates per word) you can make very good money. Not huge money, but very good money.

If you work as a freelancer, you have absolute freedom of when you work, where you work, what work you accept, what clients you are happy to deal with etc.

In the beginning, maybe you can accept crappy jobs from crappy clients for low pay, just as a learning experience, as per just about any career.. But once you have a real handle on what you are doing, are truly offering quality translation, are dependable, realize what you want out of the job etc. you can form excellent partnerships (still on a freelance basis) with quality companies. And just get rid of all the irritating, impolite, non-paying on time clients.

Note: direct clients pay really really well, but you are dealing with people who have NO idea about translation; translation companies pay less, but you are generally dealing with people who have an idea of what translation really entails.

The main thing is to realistically figure out what you are worth and what fields you are good at, and then stick to it. Good companies pay good money and have competent project managers. (and pay promptly). A company with a PM who has no idea about what translation entails, not the foggiest idea about the languages they are working with, continually expects little extra freebies, ridiculous deadlines etc - should be stricken from your client list.

If you are good and professional, there are a huge number of companies interested in your services, who appreciate that for quality translations, they should pay quality rates (not exorbitant, just quality rates).

Also, be aware: many companies with inhouse translators offer PM jobs as the "pinnacle". DON'T ACCEPT. If you are a good translator and enjoy translating, stick to that, ask for promotion to senior editing or go out as a freelancer. Translators do not generally become good project managers (its a whole different skill set).

PMing has lower salaries (if worked out per hour), far longer work hours, major stress re deadlines, and you're always the one who gets blamed for ANYTHING that goes wrong, and you won't be doing what you originally wanted to do - translation and working with languages.

To summarize from what I observed working with the over 200 freelance translators I use regularly: if you enjoy languages, are not scared of learning new software (which is increasingly an intrinsic part of being a desirable translator), want to be your own boss, are not too concerned about buying the latest model BMW but would like to earn decent money, want to have the freedom to work the hours you choose, where you choose, this can be a very rewarding career.

god, another ramble...

 

[Pretty_Diamonds]

My mother was a Japanese-Chinese translator and made a lot of money, since she was getting paid twice as much (one paycheck from Japan, the other from China). I'm fluent in Japanese as well, but translation isn't really my thing. If you aren't fluent in Japanese already, I will say it's a very hard language to read and write because of the never ending list of Kanji characters.