career in translation

[lvisson at AOL.COM]

I completely agree with Mickey. It is possible to become a good "self-taught" translator, but it can take a very long time, and the student may develop bad translating habits which can be extremely difficult to break. When good  principles of translation are inculcated and learned early on, things are much easier - and the translator will not have to "reinvent the wheel," as Mickey points out.



However, taking on translations for practice is a good idea, as long as the student has the competence - a beginner with no technical or legal background should obviously not agree to do such texts. And even experienced translators are quite aware of the field in which they are – and are not! – competent. 




 



-----Original Message-----
From: Michele A. Berdy <maberdy at GMAIL.COM>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Sent: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 1:20 pm
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] career in translation







My anecdotal evidence (and recommendations): Like Robert, I'm pretty much 
self-taught for more or less the same reasons. I started by editing 
translations into English done by Russians (at APN), which was a good 
apprenticeship. And then I began to translate, over the years inventing my 
own guidelines and rules. Much later, when there were more theoretical and 
practical books and studies, I discovered that I had been reinventing the 
wheel. 
 

 

I don't think I'd recommend my path these days. There are good programs 
(excellent schools in Russia!) and great study ma
terials and theoretical 
works. In two years you can learn in a structured way what I taught myself 
in an unstructured way over a much longer period of time. And the market, if 
you will, is different now, with many more competent, trained, and 
experienced translators. I don't think formal training will necessarily make 
you a better translator, but I think that it will make you a competent 
translator faster. 
 

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