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Getting started - German to English - I live in Germany
Thread poster: madelinek
madelinek
madelinek
Local time: 13:48
English
+ ...
Jun 5, 2002

Dear seasoned Translators,

I have to date, no professional experience in translating. I have a background in IT and last worked for Oracle. I would like to start translating from German into English, and want to do simple website translations etc. Can anyone give me some tips on how to start? How can I get a shareware copy of TRADOS, and what is TRADOS exactly? This seems to be a pre-requisite.

Thanks a million!

Madeline
 
Ralf Lemster
Ralf Lemster  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:48
English to German
+ ...
A few hints... Jun 5, 2002

...sorry, but your question is rather general, which is why I can\'t go much into detail without spending the rest of the evening typing away...



- Check out the past threads in this forum, and in \"Getting established\"; I recall a number of similar discussions. There is also an... See more
...sorry, but your question is rather general, which is why I can\'t go much into detail without spending the rest of the evening typing away...



- Check out the past threads in this forum, and in \"Getting established\"; I recall a number of similar discussions. There is also an interesting new thread in the German forum: www.proz.com/?sp=bb/viewtopic&eid_c=20821&topic=3185&forum=27&2



- Specialised knowledge of a specific area is advantageous, and might well give you a competitive edge. But do not underestimate the challenges of translating - even \"simple websites\" involve more than just reading the source and typing the translation, more or less \"off the cuff\"... (I know you didn\'t mean it that way.) I\'m not a trained linguist either, but from own experience (I\'ve been translating for about eight years now) I can strongly recommend getting some training before really getting into it. AKAD in Stuttgart (www.akad.de) have some useful courses.



- Trados is a computer-aided translation (\"CAT\") tool that works on the basis of terminology and translation databases (not to be confused with machine translation!). Check the \"Comparison shopping\" forum for more info regarding various CAT tools.



- There\'s no such thing as a shareware version of Trados - the software works in demo mode, but that\'s really just to try it out. A freelance license now comes at USD 495 (see the ad at the top of the page?), but until you really get into it, you might as well start out with some of the cheaper tools (some are available for free). Once you translate on a regular basis, Trados is well worth every cent.



Finally, getting you off the idea of taking up translating is the last thing on my mind. However, have a look through the Jobs section on this site, and at some threads in the \"Money matters\" and \"Business issues\" fora - IT translations would appear to be fiercely competitive. Before you really have a go, I strongly suggest to conduct a market analysis, and to draw up a realistic business plan.



HTH - best regards, Ralf

[ This Message was edited by: on 2002-06-05 20:26 ] ▲ Collapse
 
RWSTranslation
RWSTranslation
Germany
Local time: 13:48
German to English
+ ...
Starting Jun 6, 2002

Hallo,



wenn bisher keine oder nur sehr wenig Übersetzungserfahrung vorhanden ist, rate ich dazu sich bei einem (oder mehreren) Übersetzungsbüros vorzustellen, bei denen auch freiberufliche Übersetzer in-House arbeiten und die über erfahrene Englisch Übersetzer verfügen. So besteht am ehesten die Möglichkeit von anderen Übersetzern das Handwerk zu lernen und irgendwann einmal ein wirklich erfahrener Übersetzer zu werden.



Wir haben laufend Bewerb... See more
Hallo,



wenn bisher keine oder nur sehr wenig Übersetzungserfahrung vorhanden ist, rate ich dazu sich bei einem (oder mehreren) Übersetzungsbüros vorzustellen, bei denen auch freiberufliche Übersetzer in-House arbeiten und die über erfahrene Englisch Übersetzer verfügen. So besteht am ehesten die Möglichkeit von anderen Übersetzern das Handwerk zu lernen und irgendwann einmal ein wirklich erfahrener Übersetzer zu werden.



Wir haben laufend Bewerbungen von freiberuflichen Übersetzern, die zwar schon lange Jahre arbeiten, aber immer noch \"ASnfängerfehler\" machen, weil sie immer alleine gearbeitet haben und so nie die Gelegenheit hatten aus Fehlern wirklich zu lernen.



Viele Grüße



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Getting started - German to English - I live in Germany







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