please help! coming home from Russia, need job advice

[schwartzm]

Having worked as a full-time Russian-English translator for the last 25
years, perhaps I can contribute a few helpful pointers.

There are only a handful of people in the United States earning a modest
living translating only literature--and they're not working from Russian.
Consider that only a few hundred translations are published from all
languages every year here (and very few of those titles make significant
money) and the overall picture will become painfully clear.  It's true that
a PhD counts for something in getting literary work published, but it's
still going to be a piece of a very small pie.

What we call literary nonfiction is a little better paid, a little more
available, but publishing is publishing, whether you're a writer or a
translator.  It's very hard to get your foot in the door, though when you do
there is some work to be had.

Finally, the more practical route, nonliterary translation.  A reputable
client is only going to have you translating into your native language, no
matter what the text, so unless your Russian is weak (which does not sound
like it's the case), that is probably not where you want to focus your
efforts. Second, the most important credential for nonliterary translation
is ATA's certification.  Go to their website, www.atanet.org, to find out
how one gets that.  ATA also has a member services directory that is a
source of work for a lot of people with the certification.  Third, knowledge
of a subject area is very important in finding this kind of work, so you're
more likely to find jobs in fields you've already worked in.  But if you
want to translate for NASA, get a master's in science.

Back to literary translation, check out ALTA's website
www.literarytranslators.org (which is under renovation but still has a lot
of useful information and will soon have much more), especially the ALTA
Guides to Literary Translation, which provide nuts and bolts advice on
getting published and making a career as a literary translator.  You can
also meet a lot of people in the field, including editors and publishers, at
ALTA's annual conference, which is in Las Vegas this year over the Halloween
weekend.

If you'd like to know more, please feel free to contact me directly.

Sincerely,
Marian Schwartz, Past President
American Literary Translators Association