LL-L "Careers" 2004.02.15 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 15.FEB.2004 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Careers" 2004.02.15 (01) [E]

Ben wrote:

> Gabriele, I live in Scottsdale, Arizona. I am the only member of my family
> that is bilingual. My specialties as of now are not the Germanic languages
> but Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian.

Well, frankly, it is a wide-spread misconception that anyone who is
bilingual can automatically also translate... but actually, few people make
good translators, just as few people make good writers. Assuming you are
confident that you are really one of those people (this is the most
important part), you should find a few smaller agencies that will let you do
sample translations for them. Do more than one so you get a good variety of
topics and requirements. Sometimes these samples are even paid. Most
agencies will only let you translate into your native language. I often
circumvent this by giving the name of my American husband on assignments
into English; I actually do the work, or correct his work (since he doesn't
have my experience as a translator), and nobody knows the difference.

These sample translations will probably lead to some assignments which can
count towards your experience and look good on your résumé; just remember
that anything you translate for an agency is anonymous, so you only get to
name the agency as a client and not the company who actually ordered the job
(which, to me, is a bother because I could name Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft,
Disney, Fujitsu, Kodak, Mitsubishi and others in this league...). The only
time you get to see your name on the finished product is when you translate
books, but literature, unfortunately, doesn't pay as well as the other
stuff.

One thing you will definitely be asked about is your area of expertise -
legal, medical, financial, software, etc. This would be worth taking some
extra courses to improve your marketability.

At any rate, you should start getting whatever small assignment you can
ASAP, even if you do them for free. You can then claim the experience, and
maybe you'll be able to get some relevant references and recommendations as
well.

Gabriele Kahn

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