student's life

Hello!

I’m not 100% sure if you mean learning how to translate or how to start out after you’ve finished your studies, so I’ll try to answer both questions, I hope you don’t mind!

If it’s the first thing, I’d really recommend studying translation at a university/vocational college, depending on how it’s taught in your country. Agencies require a degree from an institution like that (they often even require an MA) and so do a lot of private clients. You need some kind of qualification specifically in translation. That being said, it doesn’t mean you have to go back to first semester undergrad if you’ve already studied/are studying something else. That something can become very valuable as a specialism later. For example: a tutor at the university I went to studied pharmacy and then did an interpreting and translation MA on top of that and she’s a highly regarded pharmaceutical and medical interpreter and translator now. But yeah, I’d definitely recommend getting some sort of qualification in translation if you want to work as a translator. (You might already have one, in which case I’m just telling you what you already know, but maybe others are interested in that anyway). If you don’t want to do an MA, you can have a look if professional organizations offer any courses. The Chartered Institute of Linguists in the United Kingdom offers a course to become a public service interpreter, for example. I personally wouldn’t go for only a language course, because “just” knowing a language does not make you a qualified translator. Knowing a language is a prerequisite for being able to learn how to translate. Some language courses at university include translation modules, but I have no experience with courses like that, so I can’t say if they’re a good choice for future translators.

And if you’re looking for books on the topic of translation, you might like to check out these two posts:

No. of translators you need to change a lightbulb?

If it’s the second situation, aka you’ve got your degree and your trying to start out, well then I can only be of limited help, unfortunately (for now). I finished university last summer and now I’m a part-time in-house translator. I found that job like any other; searching job websites and sending my CV and stuff to the companies. Unfortunately, in-house translation jobs are rarer that a lot of other jobs, though (at least here in Germany); I went for a bit of a niche market and got lucky. So that would be my advice for finding in-house jobs: give the niche markets/jobs that sound boring at first a chance and don’t just go for big LSPs and translation agencies, but also look at SMEs, small law firms, etc. You might be more likely to find their job adverts on local job websites, rather than the big ones like LinkedIn, so it’s worth checking out these as well!

As for going freelance, I can’t be of much help at the moment, I’m sorry. It’s one of my goals to establish a freelance business on the side, but it’s proofing difficult at the moment for various, personal reasons. I know the theory; like online/social media marketing, joining professional associations etc. but I haven’t tried much of it myself. Professional associations are probably a good way to start anyways, though. Possible clients can find you in their lists, they probably have some ressources for beginners and maybe even mentoring programmes (if your country has various associations, it’s probably worth comparing where you’ll get most for your money). Otherwise, I’ve been told that ProZ is a good platform for getting freelance jobs and Crossmarket seems to be something similar, but I haven’t tried out any of those myself yet.

have contact with this language by hearing it on movies, tv shows and music. this will help you with your pronunciation skills and with your vocabulary

learn vocabulary and grammar at the same time

read kids books and translate what you don’t know. it might be hard at the beginning, but keep trying 

speak to yourself will help you like crazy. I like to pretend that I’m acting or that someone is interviewing me hahah see the magic happens 

READ AND WRITE. this is as important as speaking. It used to be so hard for me to write in English and I felt awful because I could actually speak very well. But my writing skills were just a lower level than my speaking level. Thankfully it’s getting better with practice. 

try to study a little everyday. if you don’t have time to do so, watch a movie or something, but have this contact with the new language at least once a day

09/02/2019

No letter is pronunced the way it should.

me: :// 

my teacher leaving an ‘excellent work!!!’ on my essay: 

 Hi everyone!

I’ve been a long time studyblr lurker. I finally got a phone that takes decent pictures so I’m ready to post my own content! A little about me…

My plan is to get my Master’s in Library & Information Science

I am 21 years old & from the Midwest

I have my Associate’s degree

I am currently working on my BA in English with Honors

I work at a public library and I love to read!