| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | How and where to start as a translator/interpreter Thread poster: Syrian64
|
|---|
Hi gang,
I am actually posting this comment in the interest of a friend who is interested in becoming a translator or interpreter. My friend is Syrian and once taught language in her native country.
She speaks and teaches Arabic in the states privately and also speaks, reads, and writes English.
She is very interested in learning what it would take to become a freelance translator, or a full-time translator for an organization.
Any and all sugg... See more Hi gang,
I am actually posting this comment in the interest of a friend who is interested in becoming a translator or interpreter. My friend is Syrian and once taught language in her native country.
She speaks and teaches Arabic in the states privately and also speaks, reads, and writes English.
She is very interested in learning what it would take to become a freelance translator, or a full-time translator for an organization.
Any and all suggestions and help would be extremely helpful.
Thank You in advance.......... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Andriy Yasharov 
Ukraine
Local time: 10:10
Member (2008)
English to Russian
+ ...
| Proper education | Jun 5, 2011 |
Hi Syrian64,
First and foremost, a translator must have a proper education, either self-taught or from an institution. Once educated, a translator must know how to market his services. In this connection, it is absolutely necessary that he know how to write a resume, find a customer, make a contract, etc. There are lots of useful books about freelance translators, so try to search and you'll surely find some.
From my side, I could help with a resume.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:10
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| I'd second that | Jun 5, 2011 |
Andrey Yasharov wrote:
Hi Syrian64,
First and foremost, a translator must have a proper education, either self-taught or from an institution. Once educated, a translator must know how to market his services. In this connection, it is absolutely necessary that he know how to write a resume, find a customer, make a contract, etc. There are lots of useful books about freelance translators, so try to search and you'll surely find some.
From my side, I could help with a resume.
Also, you need to have areas of expertise. Unless you work in a rare pair (when you can charge enough to employ proofreaders), you need to restrict yourself to translating texts that you know something about. Nobody is an expert in all areas. This can mean spending time studying specialist subjects, in both source and target languages.
| | | | | Thank you for the response | Jun 5, 2011 |
Thank you so much for your response,
My friend has been educated in Syria and has some college course work here in the states.
Could you lay out a template of what the typical translator resume' would look like or point me in the right direction so I can relay all of this information to her.
her Arabic of course is flawless, and her English is good. She can speak English very well, while writing it adds a bit of a challenge.
What would you sugg... See more Thank you so much for your response,
My friend has been educated in Syria and has some college course work here in the states.
Could you lay out a template of what the typical translator resume' would look like or point me in the right direction so I can relay all of this information to her.
her Arabic of course is flawless, and her English is good. She can speak English very well, while writing it adds a bit of a challenge.
What would you suggest, are there electronic tools or software that could help in this regard/
Thank You so much.... ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| Thank you Sheila | Jun 5, 2011 |
Makes a lot of sense and very good advice, are there professional headhunters who place people such as yourselves?
Sort of like a middle person who sets up work at a very minimal fee or at no expense at all to the translator?
Thank you once again....
| | | | Andriy Yasharov
Ukraine
Local time: 10:10
Member (2008)
English to Russian
+ ...
Syrian64 wrote:
Could you lay out a template of what the typical translator resume' would look like or point me in the right direction so I can relay all of this information to her.
Try a search engine like Google to find a template for writing a resume for translators, in fact any template would do. Some of the typical sections of a resume are Job Objective, Summary of Qualifications, Relevant Experience and Education.
After your resume in English is ready, write another one in Arabic because you will have to contact various employers.
[Редактировалось 2011-06-05 20:14 GMT]
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:10
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Most translators are freelancers (independent business people) | Jun 5, 2011 |
Syrian64 wrote:
are there professional headhunters who place people such as yourselves?
Sort of like a middle person who sets up work at a very minimal fee or at no expense at all to the translator?
The terms you use sound more suited to salaried employees. Although there are a few in-house, salaried translators around, most of us are freelancers. This means that we run our own businesses (even though most of our businesses are single-person and don't have legal structure such as limited liability etc). This entails dealing with marketing and accounting as well as translating.
The middle persons you mention would take the form of translation agencies. Many translators work exclusively with agencies (not usually just for one - they register with several), some work for both agencies and direct clients, others work exclusively with end-clients.
Edited to add remark about CV:
Could you lay out a template of what the typical translator resume' would look like or point me in the right direction so I can relay all of this information to her.
I recently put together a Wiki article on the subject. See here: http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/Creating_an_effective_CV_/_resume
[Edited at 2011-06-05 20:18 GMT]
| | | | | Good Resume' Advice | Jun 5, 2011 |
Thank you very much, I'll get started on looking for all of these things immediately.....
| | |
|
|
|
| Freelance Translators | Jun 5, 2011 |
Actually I was talking about freelance translators that work out of their homes. The question I was asking is: how does one get in touch with the agencies that supply the work to freelance translators.
How do you register with the agencies that supplies the work, and what are the names of the more reputable agencies?
Or is freelance work found by other means other than agencies, and if so, how does one seek it and find it?
... See more Actually I was talking about freelance translators that work out of their homes. The question I was asking is: how does one get in touch with the agencies that supply the work to freelance translators.
How do you register with the agencies that supplies the work, and what are the names of the more reputable agencies?
Or is freelance work found by other means other than agencies, and if so, how does one seek it and find it?
Thank You once again, the information is invaluable. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | The same way you get in contact with anyone | Jun 5, 2011 |
You e-mail them, call them or go and meet them in person
If she wants to work with translation agencies, then make a list of agencies offering services in your language pair and e-mail them. But please do not spam, I suggest dividing them to smaller batches (5 agencies or so) and get all things worked out (either rejection or cooperation) before moving forward.
Process involves translating a free/paid sam... See more You e-mail them, call them or go and meet them in person
If she wants to work with translation agencies, then make a list of agencies offering services in your language pair and e-mail them. But please do not spam, I suggest dividing them to smaller batches (5 agencies or so) and get all things worked out (either rejection or cooperation) before moving forward.
Process involves translating a free/paid sample, negotiating rates and payment terms and often signing a NDA of some sort and if the cooperation agreement or NDA is stupid, then negotiating its terms also.
Also, please bear in mind that the areas of expertise are really important as every area has its own language and terms, otherwise she will not make it.
When Microsoft took over Skype a month or so ago, there were lots of press releases translated to Estonian. The press release stated that Microsoft paid with cash (with money, not with stock or with goats or with matches), but one of the Estonian news portals stated that Microsoft paid for Skype in "sularaha" (cash-in-hand, bank notes). All because the "journalist" translating the press release was incompetent in this area and did not understand that "paid in cash" could have different meanings.... needless to say, anyone else with any knowledge about business understood that it was a really stupid translation mistake.
[Edited at 2011-06-05 21:37 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-06-05 23:40 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:10
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| That's where ProZ.com comes in! | Jun 5, 2011 |
Syrian64 wrote:
what are the names of the more reputable agencies?
The Blue Board here shows which agencies have a good reputation..
Edited to add:
And the directory gives a lot of other information about the companies, including the languages and the subject areas they specialise in. As someone has already said, you don't want to "spam" agencies - rather, you should find which would be the best fit for you, then send them a personalised introduction. Then, be prepared to wait! Many will never contact you, but you could get a call from an agency with a job the next day, the next week or ...
The best idea is to market your services to everyone who might have any chance of needing them: places like this give you a window and the possibility of making contacts (remember that experienced translators often have too much work and will be happier outsourcing to someone they feel they know), knock on doors locally, give your business card to everyone you meet (in case a friend of a friend has a need), contact people who have websites in several languages but not the one you translate into, think about doing pro bono translations for charitable organisations, etc.
I would say that a new translator should be spending maybe 30% of their time marketing - perhaps others would care to comment on that percentage - rather than expecting to be contacted. Even when you do find work, don't sit back happily with just one or two clients as they can disappear as quickly as they appear.
[Edited at 2011-06-06 08:00 GMT]
| | | |
Thanks for all the great info everybody...
| | |
|
|
|
Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:10
Flemish to English
+ ...
Why become the umpteenth overnight translator?
If you can afford it, apply for the translator-training at the University of Geneva.
Why? Because:
1. ETI is the mother of all translator and interpreter schools and has an excellent reputation.
2.They offer Arabic as main language, but I think you have to choose to foreign languages, so Arabic+ English or French or Spanish or Italian or German.
3. You can take some extra market-orie... See more Why become the umpteenth overnight translator?
If you can afford it, apply for the translator-training at the University of Geneva.
Why? Because:
1. ETI is the mother of all translator and interpreter schools and has an excellent reputation.
2.They offer Arabic as main language, but I think you have to choose to foreign languages, so Arabic+ English or French or Spanish or Italian or German.
3. You can take some extra market-oriented courses, say economics, finance, shipping, aviation management... which are taught in the same building.
4. I don't know whether now it is still the case (???), but some years ago, graduates from the ETI, translation department did not have to take part in the rather selective interpreter admission test to be admitted to the interpreter training.
5. ETI is fully integrated in the University of Geneva (UNIGE), which is housed in a beautiful building (looks more like a HQ of a multinational corp. than a university)and offers all services a university can offer, also employment services. The food at UNIGE is excellent.
6. The Swiss university system is semster based. Between 2 semesters you get enough free time to work and you are paid at Swiss-salary levels (about 1700 euros net for a menial job) whilst consuming at French prices. The distance from UNIGE to the French border is 45 minutes by TPG.
http://www.tpg.ch/fr/index.php
You even get a free ticket from the airport to the city.
6. Geneva is an international city. There are many stars (NGO's of all kinds) turning around the sun (the UN). Those NGO might have a translation need and where is the logical place where they are going to look for translators.
7.In both Geneva and in the surrounding French border region, colocation is very common, which means that you can rent at affordable prices and get to know people from all walks of life speaking different languages with mostly English as the lingua franca. English is widely spoken in Geneva.
[Edited at 2011-06-06 10:23 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rebelo Júnior
Brazil
Local time: 04:10
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Additional Information | Jun 6, 2011 |
Syrian, good morning
Additionally to what colleagues have already told, I would recommend you to read Sheila´s wiki article (it´s really worth reading), check to proz library with some suggested books and specifically try acquiring the English version of the book “ Fidus Interpres” from our colleague Marcelo Said.
| | | | | "Getting started in translation" webinar | Jun 6, 2011 |
Hello Syrian64,
I just thought you would also like to attend the upcoming free webinar on "Getting started in translation":
http://www.proz.com/translator-training/course/4999
This webinar describes the most common reasons for deciding on translation as a profession and the requirements professional translators should meet if they want to succeed ... See more Hello Syrian64,
I just thought you would also like to attend the upcoming free webinar on "Getting started in translation":
http://www.proz.com/translator-training/course/4999
This webinar describes the most common reasons for deciding on translation as a profession and the requirements professional translators should meet if they want to succeed in the translation industry.
Hope to see you there!
Kind regards,
Lucía ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » How and where to start as a translator/interpreter | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
