Translation - art & business » Marketing for language professionals »
Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3]
What does a new translator have to do to find work?
Thread poster: anukorpi
784512 (X)
784512 (X)
Germany
Local time: 19:44
German to English
+ ...
Experience counts Dec 26, 2010

Rifraf wrote:

Nicole Schnell wrote:

Rifraf wrote:

Secondly: You are not a qualified translator (never having studied for it).

Because of the second reason, our agency couldn't work with you.



I have received the worst translations from candidates with a full yet fresh degree in translations.


And you're absolutely right: often translators fresh out of university still need a lot of practise before they are able to make excellent translations.

But everyone in the translation business can call himself a translator, so we prefer to work with translators who actually studied for it.


Late reply, but for the reference of others reading this....

I share Nicole's attitude.

Qualifications are great but they teach you nothing of how to please a client. Some qualifications are not worth the paper they are written on, whilst other exams are badly out of sync with the general practice of producing a good quality translation - e.g. many do not allow the use of online resources or even computers to type on during the exam! What modern translator possibly writes by hand, or uses exclusively paper sources? It actually puts some of the fastest (as typing skills are conducive to fast research and entering of translations) at a massive disadvantage!

Many of these qualifications I also feel are elitist, creating a financial rather than merit-based barrier to entry (e.g. money to purchase the highly expensive dictionaries and infinitely retake the exams).

Translation is about communication, so experience in life itself and communicating with clients, as well as, of course, specific translation experience, is far more valuable. Speaking as an outsourcer for proofreading services, I chose the ex Project Manager with a BA and excellent German, who works in German-speaking Technical Support the rest of the time, over the guy with the Masters in Translation but no experience.

Some of the best translations have no formal qualifications at all, just a wonderful feel for their source and target languages.

I say all this myself when I have a good BA and am working on an MA in my specialist field!

To the original poster - don't be put off applying to such agencies that ask for qualifications, provide them with samples of your work and offer to produce a (reasonable length - see other discussions if unsure) sample translation. Who can argue with proven quality? That is what counts for the client at the end of the day.
 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3]


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Kristina Radziulyte[Call to this topic]
Jorge Rodrigues[Call to this topic]
Mahmoud Akbari[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

What does a new translator have to do to find work?







Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »
Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »