|
It probably goes without saying that you do need to have a good grounding in your mother tongue and at least one other language to become a translator. To ensure the highest quality translation, you should ideally only accept translation jobs where you are a native speaker of the target language and have professional expertise in the subject matter. Although you do not necessarily need any specialist knowledge, you will have a greater chance of obtaining work as a freelance translator, or commanding a higher rate of pay for translation work, if you have expertise in a particular field, say medical or legal training. Unlike interpreter work, almost all translation work can be home based. In many cases companies transmit the work to be translated electronically so the translation can be carried out anywhere in the world.
|
Luckily, there are hundreds of translation service bureaux and agencies across the world, who will gladly add an extra freelance translator to their books. Expect to be given a test piece of work to assess your ability. Register with as many companies as you can to increase your chances of being offered work. Tips to becoming a successful freelance translator
Translation Organisations You can contact the Translators' Association at 84 Drayton Gardens, London SW10 9SB. Telephone 0207 373 6642 or take a look at the websites of Institute of Translation and Interpreting, United Kingdom and The Institute of Linguists, the UK's largest membership organisation for professional translators, interpreters, language educationalists and those using languages in industry and commerce. For more international organizations, visit http://www.literarytranslation.com/resources/organisations/  Verbatim Solutions provider of translation services to companies of all sizes, including Nokia, HP, Pfizer and Volvo have produced an excellent guide designed to help you get started in a career in translation. Nor only do you get the excellent guide, "Bilingual? Make Money!" you also get a translator/interpreter starter pack which includes contact information for the leading translation agencies across the world, links to dozens of translation reference resources in over 20 languages, form templates and entry into the weekly drawing for a one year free subscription to Multilingual magazine. If that's not enough, they even guarantee to provide you with your first paying translation job. Full details available here If you've little experience to fill your CV, consider offering to translate websites. You may not get paid much but it is then highly visible for your CV. Just browse the Internet for likely sites. Good sources are sites where they have attempted to use translation software, with dire, almost comical, results. You don't even need to stick to topics with which you are familiar. One quick easy way is to buy books on the topic which are already available in two languages eg the English original and the Spanish translation and work between them for obscure phrases. You will of course need to be fairly fluent even doing this. |
|
Unless you're fortunate enough to be signed up with an agency that keeps you fully employed with work, it's highly likely you'll need to find ways of building a client base yourself. As most translation work now involves translating documents already in electronic format, geographical location becomes less of a consideration and the Internet is an ideal place to both find work and promote yourself. See http://www.homeworkinguk.com/homework.htm for a list of online freelance project databases where you can register your services and bid on projects. An increasing number of freelance translators are now finding that creating their own website is bringing in business they would never have found otherwise. An excellent free 10 part e-mail course, The Service Sellers Masters Course, explains how to do this. Also available as an immediately downloadable free eBook. See http://www.homeworkinguk.com/service.htm for information. For a good example of translators who've done just this,
take a look at the following sites:
Translatortips.com/ - Created by a very successful translator, this site provides free reports (including a Free marketing ebooklet for Freelance Translators), message board, and the chance to subscribe to a free monthly newsletter of tips for translators. You can also purchase a copy of Tranmail, a list of 1700+ translation agencies around the world, or the highly recommended eBook "How to Earn $80,000/£50,000+ per year as a Freelance Translator". (Chapter 1 can be downloaded free) The following agencies invite you to register
Axis Translations - If you are interested in employment and freelancing opportunities with Axis Translations, please email your CV (and rates for freelancing) to jobs@axistranslations.com To assist them with reviewing your CV, please show your language combinations in the subject line of the email. They guarantee that every CV received will be viewed and, if acceptable, added to their translators database. S.J.H. Translations, 62 Westfield Road, Birchington, Kent CT7 9RN E.I.T.I. ,7 Station Rd ,Cippenham, Berks. SL1 6JJ - Interpreters & Translators wishing to register with EITI should send plain text CVs only to: personnel@eiti.com or to register with Bilingual Recruitment for permanent and temporary placements: recruit@eiti.com Dixon Servicios Lingüísticos, S.L. Calle Mestre Racional 1-7º-14ª RVR Translation Limited are a translation and interpreting agency specialising in European languages and cultures and are currently interested in expanding their database of both translators and interpreters. If you are interested in registering with the RVR Translation Limited database, please send an e-mail with current C.V. to Information required:
http://www.bellalingua.co.uk/ If you are a translator and would like to work for them, please send your CV or résumé and details of your rates by e-mail or by post. Suite 6, Regent House Business Centre, Skinner Lane, Leeds LS7 1AX (UK) Telephone:+44 (0)113 3993283 Fax:+44 (0)113 3993275 email:languages@bellalingua.co.uk Euronet outsources about 95% of its work, so they are always interested in having new people find them. They welcome applications from freelances but, please, NO novices unless you have specialist qualifications or years of experience in the sort of fields that are of interest to the business world. For Euronet, that means particularly law (from basic commercial contracts all the way up to Court of Appeal decisions; national, international, patents and trade marks) and engineering of all sorts, into and out of English, plus EU institutional documents, directives, regulations and so on into English only. email euronet@transeuronet.co.uk or check out the website http://www.transeuronet.co.uk for more information. Roevin Translation Services - Roevin is a leading language translations and interpreting company, providing a international translation services in over 60 languages including English to Russian Translation in a range of technical fields, including manufacturing, pharmaceutical, legal, financial and medical. They have exclusive access to a global network of linguists with specialist qualifications and skills in their native language. It is a Roevin requirement for all their translators to be educated to degree level, holding a recognised post-graduate Translation Qualification and / or membership of an official Translation Body such as the Institute of Translation & Interpreting. A certain level of experience in the field of translation is preferred. If you wish to be considered email your CV to http://www.web-translations.co.uk
If you satisfy these requirements please e-mail them with your language skills in the subject line, attach a CV and include pricing information. Home Based Foreign Language Typesetters Native translators are preferred, but will consider translators with absolute knowledge of a foreign language and good English skills. Must have a particular area of expertise for the terminology of that field. Apply online: http://www.cetra.com/trans_appl.html Indian Translators provide service for almost all Indian and International languages and welcome applications from translators. Apply online appliedlanguage.com are a large translation agency and are always looking for new translators as all of their work is outsourced. KENAX Translating now offers more than 180 languages and continually seeks more translators. Apply online. The following UK publishers sometimes require translators. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd Translators (French, Spanish) Contact: Catherine
Johnson Thomas Nelson Translators (French, German, Spanish) Click here for a list of US companies believed to be looking for translators worldwide Or try the following websites (in no particular order): http://cgi.www.translatortips.com/ subscribe to a free monthly newsletter of tips for translators plus free reports, message board, and more. Get your copy of Tranmail, a list of 2000+ translation agencies around the world, or " How to Earn $80,000/£50,000+ per year as a Freelance Translator". If you'd like a look at an earlier newsletter without registering, click here http://www.atanet.org - Home page of the American Translators Association. Membership information, Accreditation, Chapters, Divisions,Cooperating Groups, Conference, publications and useful links. http://www.translation-services.com - Searchable database of translators by language, country, and field of specialization, containing over a thousand translators. http://www.proz.com Free directory and job posting service for translators, translation users, and translation agencies, free for both potential translation buyers and translation providers. http://www.ilangua.com invite you to register online and also pay you commission on any work undertaken by other translators you introduce. http://www.translation.net a free list of translators, as well as resources and products for people needing translations. http://www.translatorguide.com Searchable database of translators by target or source language. Lots of interesting links. http://ireland.iol.ie/~mazzoldi/lang/assoc.htm http://homepage.tinet.ie/~translation/agen.htm - List of translation agencies in the Republic of Ireland http://aquarius.net/ Searchable database of translators, based in the Netherlands. Add your own details. http://www.lai.com/lai/companion.html Lots of useful links, Database of NCTA translators and translation companies, dictionary reviews, etc., etc. http://www.accurapid.com/journal/links.htm Translators’ On-Line Resources - dozens of links to useful sites, including several mailing lists to join http://www.tjobs.com/jobopps.htm - general job listings site, with translation section. For the most comprehensive directory of translators links, take a look at Neotext If you're having no success getting assignments from others, browse the web for sites that could benefit from translation into your chosen language. See Anda La Musica for an example of a site that works well in English and Spanish |
|
Translation agency, Lingo24 provide articles on translation, including the language translation industry from people in the know and a light-hearted look at languages and the translation industry. You'll also find the latest news from the translation industry and a career guide for linguists interested in finding out more about the translation industry. The following books are all suited to the beginner. Click on the titles to go to www.amazon.co.uk to order. Becoming
a Translator - Doug Robinson. Synopsis Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications by Jeremy Munday Paperback - 224 pages. Routledge; (June, 2001) Jeremy Munday is lecturer in Spanish Studies at the University of Surrey and is a freelance translator, lexicographer, and materials writer. His publications include Spanish vocabulary books and translations of Latin American fiction. Introducing Translation Studies is an introductory textbook providing an accessible overview of the key contributions to translation theory. A very wide variety of text types is analyzed, including a tourist brochure, a children's cookery book, a Harry Potter novel, the Bible, literary reviews, a technical text, and a football report. A
Practical Guide for Translators - Geoffrey
Samuelsson-Brown This is the third revised edition of this text written for those considering a career in translation. It is directed at those studying languages and those who already have a language capability but who are considering a career change. It considers the practical aspects of the translation profession and provides a complement to language teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level. It is well worth buying and reading, even if you have been around for a couple of decades and think you know it all already! Something there for everyone, from novice to expert, translator to buyer of translations. Translation
and Translating - Roger T. Bell, Christopher N.
Candlin Introduction
to Spanish Translation - Jack Child The
Art of Translating Prose - Burton Raffel |
|
|
|
|