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Here’s a simple fact: we at TrueLanguage would be nowhere without our translators. Is this stating the obvious? Maybe, but some obvious things can’t be stated enough. Translators, like interpreters, tend to be pretty amazing people. It’s a job that requires intelligence, creativity, punctuality, attention to detail, and rigorous self-evaluation… and as your translation skills develop, it can pay pretty well, too!

Recently, and from a couple of different sources, we were asked about working as a translator – how to get started, how to find work, how to establish yourself, and so on. And if you’re fortunate enough to be at least bilingual, translation can seem like an ideal, low-effort side business for yourself, especially if your language pair falls into the overlap between “in high demand” and “not very common”. However, as with any job that seems easy, there’s more to it than just knowing two languages. Translators come to the profession from all directions and in many ways, but there are several clear-cut steps that must be taken on the road to a career in translation.

1 – Be clear about your language pair. Let’s say you’re an English-speaking American whose second language is Arabic. This would make you an Arabic > English translator. Stating the obvious again? Perhaps not.

For one thing, notice the direction of the arrow in that job description, and the order of the languages. This is a golden rule of translation: always translate into the native language. In translation industry parlance, your native language should be the target language, with your second language being the source language. Comparatively few people are truly, fully bilingual to the extent that they can translate in either direction. As a speaker born into the English language, even years and years of studying Arabic language can’t guarantee the same level of ease and familiarity you’ll have with English, and that natural comfort with language is necessary for a good translation. Unless you’re dead certain of your native-level proficiency in Arabic, translate out of it, not into it.

For another thing, notice how “English” and “Arabic” are a bit vague upon closer analysis? Which of the multiple varieties of Arabic do you speak? And what about English? Would it be wise for a speaker of American English to translate Arabic into British English? Be upfront about your language skills, including your variants.

Lastly, note that I wrote “language pair” above. Singular. One pair. Some people do have a genuine gift for languages, and pick them up easily. If you’re one of these people, you may be able to carry on a conversation in five or six languages. Still, for translation purposes, it’s best to stick to the pair you have the deepest knowledge of.

2 – Get educated and certified. If you’re serious about making a go of it as a professional translator, you’ve got to professionalize, and that means investing in the necessary education to get the concrete qualifications you need. Many establishments offer training and certification programs in translation and interpretation, for individuals with developed skills in foreign languages; one prominent testing and certifying body is the American Translators’ Association. Education costs can and do mount up, but those letters after your name do open doors. It’s worth it to go back to school, and to pay membership dues to groups and associations that will help you advance.

3 – Get specialized. Did you attend a four-year college? If you did, you probably knew at least a couple of people who took a foreign language minor to complement their major. My boyfriend’s majoring in Engineering, and minoring in Japanese. My roommate? She’s doing a major in Biology, with a minor in French. And you know what? That boyfriend and that roommate are in pretty good positions to set themselves up as professional translators further down the road. A client in search of a translator does not only want expert linguistic knowledge. They also need expert subject-matter knowledge in their relevant domain. To be a marketable resource, you’ll need expertise in defined content areas. A certified translator in Brazilian Portuguese? Impressive, but a little broad. A certified translator in Brazilian Portuguese with proven experience in the field of medical technology? Congratulations – you just became a more desirable property.

4 – Learn to be an effective freelancer. It’s true that some businesses, generously funded enterprises with extensive global outreach programs, do employ full-time translators on-site. If your professional translation path leads you to one of these jobs, know how fortunate you are! In most cases, however, when you’re a translator, you’re a business unto yourself. So on top of all that education and skill development, you’ve got to learn to navigate the world of freelance employment. It’s on you to sell yourself as a competent business partner, to market your skills to their best advantage, and to not give in and quit looking for work. Freelancing is a very tough nut to crack, even with the Internet to help. You need persistence, perseverance, patience and humor to break through, so keep at it. They won’t know you’re out there if you don’t make them see you!

5 – Use the latest technology. Professional translation doesn’t happen in a basic word-processing environment. Well, not just there. Suppose you bid on a job to translate someone’s academic paper from Russian into US English, and your bid is accepted. You may well receive the Russian document as a file that can be opened with Microsoft Word, or any other common word processor. Some of these are quite powerful pieces of software, but they’re adapted for writing and desktop publishing, not translation. Sit down to translate that paper with nothing but Word and your linguistic knowledge, and you’ll add considerably to your workload and your time spent (and translators charge by the word, not the hour). There are programs and applications out there that are custom-built with translation workflow in mind, called computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools – not machine translation (still very much a developing field), but designed to let you, the translator, work in a productive and efficient manner. SDL Trados, memoQ and MemSource are a few of these. These tools allow you to import source documents into a translation project, broken up sentence by sentence into segments for translation. They present source and target texts side by side for analysis and proofreading, and collect your approved translations into a translation memory (TM) database for each client, to save time in the future, lower translation costs for frequently repeated translations, and ensure consistent translation in all the upcoming repeat business you’ll be getting once your clients realize how awesome you are!

Translation technology is an investment, like education, and just as worth making. Keeping your technical savvy current reassures potential clients that you’re not behind the times in other ways, and maintaining those TMs can keep your costs reasonable and your rates competitive. Besides, industries have their standard software for a reason – it works. Visual designers have Adobe CS. Screenwriters have Final Draft. Want to translate for a living? Investigate the tools and invest in the right one for you.

To any professional translators reading this: do you have any tips or guidance on making a career of translation? Leave us a message in a comment – we’re always looking for useful info!