| Stran v tématu: < [1 2] | Did you become a translator as a result of having done something else? Autor vlákna: Tom in London
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| It's not just that easy... | Sep 28, 2014 |
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz wrote: Sebastiano Massimo Barbagallo wrote:
One (in)famous Italian Prime Minister once famously said that long term jobs are actually monotonous and boring, so Italians should consider themselves lucky to change (or lose...) their jobs frequently.
Taking a leaf out of his book, I have been a practising lawyer, a University researcher and now I am a freelance legal translator.
In this respect, while you surely do not have to be a lawyer to succeed as a legal translator, a strong legal background is certainly a great advantage.
The other way around would not work that well, in my view. Anyway, I do not know of any translator who has become a practising lawyer. I suppose seasoned court interpreters can find it easier to understand what they learn in law school, especially when litigation is involved or points of substantive law that tend to get litigated somewhat more often than the rest. Legal translators should probably have an easier time becoming competent legal writers and may feel more at ease doing legal research than most other law school students. Some translation skill helps comparative studies and generally gives more perspective to your legal interpretation (as in construction, not as in interpreting).
Well, I still maintain that it's easier for a lawyer to become a translator than the other way around.
It took me just a few months to switch to my new career as a legal translator (having already a good command of my source languages due to travels and extensive reading), while a linguist should spend years to train as a (qualified) lawyer. I know many lawyers who are also legal translators, but not a single case of a translator who has become a lawyer. Do you?
[Modificato alle 2014-09-28 21:18 GMT]
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Sebastiano Massimo Barbagallo wrote: Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz wrote: Sebastiano Massimo Barbagallo wrote:
One (in)famous Italian Prime Minister once famously said that long term jobs are actually monotonous and boring, so Italians should consider themselves lucky to change (or lose...) their jobs frequently.
Taking a leaf out of his book, I have been a practising lawyer, a University researcher and now I am a freelance legal translator.
In this respect, while you surely do not have to be a lawyer to succeed as a legal translator, a strong legal background is certainly a great advantage.
The other way around would not work that well, in my view. Anyway, I do not know of any translator who has become a practising lawyer. I suppose seasoned court interpreters can find it easier to understand what they learn in law school, especially when litigation is involved or points of substantive law that tend to get litigated somewhat more often than the rest. Legal translators should probably have an easier time becoming competent legal writers and may feel more at ease doing legal research than most other law school students. Some translation skill helps comparative studies and generally gives more perspective to your legal interpretation (as in construction, not as in interpreting). Well, I still maintain that it's easier for a lawyer to become a translator than the other way around.
No disagreement on that.
It took me just a few months to switch to my new career as a legal translator (having already a good command of my source languages due to travels and extensive reading), while a linguist should spend years to train as a (qualified) lawyer. I know many lawyers who are also legal translators, but not a single case of a translator who has become a lawyer. Do you?
[Modificato alle 2014-09-28 21:18 GMT]
Yeah: This dude already translated when he was 18: http://www.metkowski.pl/, no matter that (I think) he only has a law degree and perhaps an after-master's in translation on top of that. And this lady: http://www.swigonska.pl/home.html. Seven years after graduating languages, six after becoming a sworn translator, she joined a law school programme. I know another suspect but am not sure if she took German or law first, I only suspect it was German. I also know a lawyer slightly older than I am, who'd got an MA in English studies first but sort of forgot all that (to the point of coming to me with questions about the language), and I doubt she even was a translator at any point.
I certainly had done some translating by the time I could do any lawyering, myself.
[Edited at 2014-09-28 21:55 GMT]
| | | | Anthony Teixeira
Japonsko
Local time: 04:20
Člen (2011)
angličtina -> francouzština
+ ...
It's nice to see so many people jumped in from another industry. I'm in this case too.
I've always had an interest in languages, but becoming a translator was never my dream. I studied IT at university. After graduating, I started working for a software localization agency, as a developer. Since I had a decent command of English, I was occasionally asked to help with translation projects. It is when I realized not only that I liked this job, but also that I could produce much better... See more It's nice to see so many people jumped in from another industry. I'm in this case too.
I've always had an interest in languages, but becoming a translator was never my dream. I studied IT at university. After graduating, I started working for a software localization agency, as a developer. Since I had a decent command of English, I was occasionally asked to help with translation projects. It is when I realized not only that I liked this job, but also that I could produce much better translations than some freelancers we were working with. To be fair, these were underpaid (when paid at all) translators chosen only based on their low rates - it was that kind of agency, but I had no idea at the time.
Anyway, after quitting my job, I started freelancing and kept a foot in both industries. We all like to complain about things that are wrong in the translation industry, but I soon realized that IT freelancing is even more troublesome. There are just too many clients who have no idea what they want, and the rate competition is even tougher, because programming languages are "spoken" by people of all places, including those countries where the cost of living is low.
So I became a full-time translator for both practical and emotional reasons, and I have no regrets over it. I would never want to get back to a full-time IT job.
I still enjoy programming, though, and occasionally put my skills to use for translation-related tasks (not that fixing Trados files is all that fun...). ▲ Collapse
| | | | 564354352 (X) 
Dánsko
Local time: 21:20
dánština -> angličtina
+ ...
| Sorry, Tom, badly phrased question | Sep 29, 2014 |
If what you really want (and the last phrase of your question would indicate so) is to hear from people who started out in other careers than translation, why ask if that is what we all did?
That aside, no, I didn't, and yes, it is possible to become a good translator, specialising in any variety of subjects without having had a previous career in any of them. It's a different approach, but on good translation courses, you are actually taught how to do exactly that... The output may... See more If what you really want (and the last phrase of your question would indicate so) is to hear from people who started out in other careers than translation, why ask if that is what we all did?
That aside, no, I didn't, and yes, it is possible to become a good translator, specialising in any variety of subjects without having had a previous career in any of them. It's a different approach, but on good translation courses, you are actually taught how to do exactly that... The output may be different to that from a specialist who has turned his/her hand to translation, but it is not necessarily worse. The ideal is, of course, to be able to combine specialist translation skills with specialist subejct skills, whichever way you can. ▲ Collapse
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Tom in London
Velká Británie
Local time: 20:20
Člen (2008)
italština -> angličtina
AUTOR TÉMATU
Gitte Hovedskov, MCIL wrote:
If what you really want (and the last phrase of your question would indicate so) is to hear from people who started out in other careers than translation, why ask if that is what we all did?
That aside, no, I didn't, and yes, it is possible to become a good translator, specialising in any variety of subjects without having had a previous career in any of them. It's a different approach, but on good translation courses, you are actually taught how to do exactly that... The output may be different to that from a specialist who has turned his/her hand to translation, but it is not necessarily worse. The ideal is, of course, to be able to combine specialist translation skills with specialist subejct skills, whichever way you can.
Yes, I see that my question must have been badly phrased, because I'm seeking replies from colleagues who came to translating after having previously worked in a different field. I thought it was clear, but apparently not.
So far the other replies have been really interesting, and I look forward to hearing more life-experiences from those who started out in non-translation fields, and who subsequently became translators. I hope that makes the question clearer and I apologise for any ambiguity.
[Edited at 2014-09-29 07:43 GMT]
| | | | | Biologist first | Sep 29, 2014 |
When I was in High School I wanted to become an interpreter but, at that time, you had to move to a quite distant town for that kind of studies, my parents did not agree that much on the move and I finally decided to study Biology (that I also loved) at the University. At the same time I went on studying French, English and Russian in language schools and took all possible language certifications.
After my B.S. I went to France for my PhD, I spent 3 years researching in a wonderful lab, bu... See more When I was in High School I wanted to become an interpreter but, at that time, you had to move to a quite distant town for that kind of studies, my parents did not agree that much on the move and I finally decided to study Biology (that I also loved) at the University. At the same time I went on studying French, English and Russian in language schools and took all possible language certifications.
After my B.S. I went to France for my PhD, I spent 3 years researching in a wonderful lab, but every time I had the opportunity to speak in congresses and the day of my PhD thesis, I did not receive any congratulations for my work but only for my... French!
Back to Italy, I thought about working as a translator but in my field there was not so much work from French so I finally started working for a pharmaceutical company. I hated that job for the 8 years I spent there and, when I was offered some money to leave the job, I accepted immediately, took a master in FR>IT medical translation with that money and started as a freelancer. A friend who worked as a translator asked me to help him with some medical documents from English, was very satisfied with my work and I finally switched from French to English as my main source language...
And here I am, 9 years later... very happy to have worked for that pharmaceutical company, where I learnt most of what I now use in my translations! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | The closest I can get to what interests me | Sep 29, 2014 |
I was determined to read medicine at school, but for a variety of reasons never made it to med school. I simply did not make the grades for a start. Due to illness, it was later discovered. I turned out to be far less stupid than many people, including myself, thought at the time time. An obstructive headmistress was no help. She meant well and she was right, but if she had let me just try O Level chemistry, I would have admitted it a couple of decades earlier.
I started training as... See more I was determined to read medicine at school, but for a variety of reasons never made it to med school. I simply did not make the grades for a start. Due to illness, it was later discovered. I turned out to be far less stupid than many people, including myself, thought at the time time. An obstructive headmistress was no help. She meant well and she was right, but if she had let me just try O Level chemistry, I would have admitted it a couple of decades earlier.
I started training as a speech therapist and dropped it before the end of the first term. I tried languages because I liked French, wanted to try German and needed time to find out where I was going, so I lasted two years on a BA course before I simply collapsed.
I took a couple of jobs - one as an all-round assistant at a boarding school - which confirmed that teaching was NOT my thing, whatever my mother said. I was OK proofreading patents at a printer's, except that I was so BORED. I could not even read a book when I came home - I could see nothing but typos and commas. I survived 18 months and then handed in my notice, to the family's general panic. All the same, it was a useful introduction to technical texts...
I was sent to a psychologist, but she sent me back to my GP, whom I had been avoiding for all sorts of reasons. Once he got the chance, he did refer me to a specialist and they sorted out my health problems.
The printer would have taken me back as a proofreader, but I refused, shied out of waitressing jobs, and to buy some time I applied to train in what was then called Information Science - I prefer to call it technical librarianship, and for a while it was called Business Information Management. At the end of the course I could work in an academic library, or lurk around in the stacks at the British Lending Library or somewhere like that. Or possibly one of the big medical research companies... that was my reason for choosing the course. Plus the solid 'German for technologists' as part of the course. If all else failed, I could use that, I told my relatives.
Before the days of Google, reference libraries were where you went when the encyclopaedia was not enough. Real books are still holding their own, and when I passed with a BSc I was set for a steady career. Although monoligual, it was an excellent training for translation, with introductions to literature and research methods, readers and user groups and the types of people who use some of the material we translate. I also translated and abstracted a little from German.
I did my stint at a Research Association that provided a good training - scanning technical journals, writing abstracts and rewriting some to adapt them for the newfangled online database. The manual card index was getting more unwieldy by the month, and even without screens, computers seemed to offer a solution.
I lasted a couple of years there, but wanted to move on. Partly because I was not interested in the subject area - hydraulics, dams and offshore - and partly because I had met this Danish economist who could not find a job in England, but landed one in Copenhagen.
That ended my career in librarianship - unemployed librarians seemed to be hanging on all the street corners, and it was even worse for technical librarians quite apart from the fact that I did not speak Danish. Back to basics at language school, and then there was the baby...
Now young parents in Denmark are guaranteed a nursery place at the end of maternity leave, but back then maternity leave was short and getting a nursery place was like winning the big prize in a lottery. When I was offered one I instantly turned it down - I was horrified to see a row of infants wailing in their prams, supposedly getting some fresh air. Or catching their deaths of cold, no wonder ear infections were so common! I was not going to allow my son to be left out in the sleet on a murky February afternoon...
So I looked after day-care children, which was the only alternative, and went to night school when my husband came home to take over our baby.
Later I actually applied for a part time job translating with a medical company, and after the interview I was bitterly disappointed not to get it, but we moved away from Copenhagen, so it would hot have worked out. More day-care children, but as my son started school and my pile of exam certificates grew, I started looking for other jobs.
That was during the last depression, and the only work available in our backwater was as a home help with the local authority. It smelt just a bit of medicine... but not enough. The unions were insisting that carers should be trained, and the local authority was not going to spend a training on me, so I was unemployed once again.
I worked in a couple of job-creation schemes and took up my French and German again at night school. I could not start on the English course, because the nearest Business School would not recognise my qualifications! But I had a couple of mediochre A Level certificates, and those were good enough to start French and German.
However, I was getting desperate about finding a permanent job, or even just a chance while someone was on maternity leave - I was too old for trainee jobs and had not enough experience of anything for 'real' jobs.
And then came the miracle. I was interviewed and then offered an in-house job with a translation agency, and found I had landed on my feet at last.
They sponsored my English diploma by distance teaching at another university, and that really set me up...
Back in the day I would not hear of doing languages at school, and even if I had, all the other experience has proved extremely useful. The language training was really worth a lot more AFTER I had collected a mixed bag of experience in other areas. It must be far more difficult to translate in a vacuum, so it is not a misfortune or a mistake to do something else first.
On the contrary. With a niche language like Danish it is easier to get by as a generalist, and as Gitte says, the Danish universities at least provide a solid introduction to law, economics and technical fields alongside the language training. Nevertheless, I turn down a lot of specialist texts, or my regular clients know it is not worth sending them to me, because I know I would be in over my head. There is a real need for translators who can take them on.
A solid grounding in text analysis and target groups is very useful, but there is no substitute for the University of Life - however the experience is gathered. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Denney
Francie
Local time: 21:20
francouzština -> angličtina
| not previous jobs but hobbies | Sep 30, 2014 |
I worked in various jobs previous to becoming a translator: Saturday job at a bakery, then volunteering in a residence for the elderly where I was given a job for the summer, then I au-paired in Paris, fell in love with Paris and decided I had to stay for the rest of my life. So I started teaching English, then got into creating content for computer-assisted language learning, then had a few years off while caring for my children.
None of those previous jobs have ever really been o... See more I worked in various jobs previous to becoming a translator: Saturday job at a bakery, then volunteering in a residence for the elderly where I was given a job for the summer, then I au-paired in Paris, fell in love with Paris and decided I had to stay for the rest of my life. So I started teaching English, then got into creating content for computer-assisted language learning, then had a few years off while caring for my children.
None of those previous jobs have ever really been of use to me as a translator, except perhaps teaching English because it gave me a better understanding of how English works, what sounds natural and what doesn't.
My specialisms come more from my hobbies: I got into fashion and textiles because my mother taught me dressmaking, I got into tourism because I love to travel, I got into sustainable development because I have supported Greenpeace for as long as I knew of its existence, gastronomy grew naturally out tourism, and despite never bothering with make-up myself, I got into cosmetics as an offshoot of fashion and also as an offshoot of sustainable development, since I mostly translate for organic cosmetics firms. ▲ Collapse
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