| User | Thread poster: Inspectress Swedish - /Icelandic - English Translation |
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Inspectress
Ireland
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Hi again folks. It's been a while since I last posted and I could do with some advice and info from those with experience.
I want to learn either Swedish or Icelandic, with a view to working in translation in a few years time once I've acquired full proficiency.
I'm torn between these two though (had considered others but these are the finalists!).
Obviously there are more Swedish speakers than Icelandic, and therefore more opportunity for employment. In fact I received advice here in regards to that.
But I'm now wondering if there a market for Icelandic-English translation at all?
I'd be really grateful for any advice. Icelandic is far and away my favourite of the two languages after much listening to the two so if there is lots of translation work avail in Icelandic-English, I'd rather do that than Swedish-English.
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Noni Gilbert
Spain
Local time: 12:09
 Member (2007)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| | What pair(s) are you working in now? | Jan 6 |
Your profile doesn't seem to give this information.
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JaneD 
Sweden
Local time: 12:09
 Member (2009)
Swedish to English
+ ...
| | Business or pleasure? | Jan 7 |
It depends what your aim is - if you want to be able to support yourself as a translator, choose the language that has the most potential for demand (i.e. Swedish). If it's just because you fancy doing the odd translation alongside your main source of income, then you can choose the one you prefer.
You can see here:
http://www.proz.com/jobs/?sp_mode=about&pg=pair_stats
that there are very few jobs advertised through ProZ for Icelandic-English, and while of course this is by no means all of the opportunities available for work in this pair, it is a representative view of the potential opportunities.
Many translators are not businesslike, which can be perfectly OK when it's little more than a hobby, but if you are really going to make this a career choice, then you need to be practical about it from the start.
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Inspectress
Ireland
TOPIC STARTER | | Part-time work in mind | Jan 7 |
The aim would be for an income of €10k a year from it- so, part-time really. I don't want to work full-time in a Swedish-English combo or Icelandic-English combo.
I don't work as a translator, and haven't ever, but I have near-native fluency in Irish and intermediate French.
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Phil Hand
China
Local time: 18:09
Member (2011)
Chinese to English
| | Is liking the language enough? | Jan 8 |
Generally I would advise anyone to go with what they love. A good translator can create their own market.
But I would worry about Icelandic. In order to get good at the language, you are going to have to do a lot of reading. No, Iceland has a population, of what 500,000? Think of the local media in a Belfast. That's the quality of what you'll be getting when you open up The Iceland Standard on your computer every morning. Oh, minus the sectarian conflict.
I don't think I could do it. Not over the years of learning and years of work as a translator.
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:09
Member (2011)
Hebrew to English
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First of all I would advise against Swedish, for no other reason than a lack of passion for the language. If you're going to work with a language, and before that, if you are going to spend years getting this language up to scratch - up to source language level, you need to love it.
I don't gleam from your posts that there is much enthusiasm for Swedish to carry you through the learning stages...I could be wrong though.
So, for this reason alone, I'd say Icelandic as I can see that this language excites you.
However, as others have pointed out, a minor language such as Icelandic brings with it a new set of challenges....
Smaller languages often have less competition, but less overall work opportunities, in many cases it usually balances out....so I'm always a bit suspicious of the train of thought that a lesser taught language will entail more work.....again, exceptions exist.
In addition, you have a very specific sum in mind for your earnings...there's nothing wrong with that, but translation isn't the most secure of professions and not one where guarantees with income can be made.... Workloads can ebb and flow, rates can be ridiculous...not to mention the expense of marketing yourself and start-up costs of establishing yourself as an Icelandic-English/Irish translator, which will probably eat up quite a lot of your income in the beginning.
I am trying not to be too negative (coz I hate it when people are like that with me) and I agree with Phil that I usually tell people to go with what they love, follow their dreams....
...I would just warn against letting your expectations (especially with income and language combination) exceed the more grim realities of the translation industry. (It's not all peaches and cream unfortunately).
Regardless, good luck.
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Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 04:09
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
+ ...
| | Swedish or Icelandic | Jan 8 |
There are more than 30 times as many speakers of Swedish as there are of Icelandic. Swedish is far easier to learn than Icelandic.
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Marie Safarovic
Russian Federation
Local time: 14:09
English to German
+ ...
| | EU language, Norwegian? | Jan 22 |
Well, Iceland wants to join the EU this year or next year (although I am not up to date with this) so if you want to work for the EU, it might be interesting.
On the other hand, one major problem with Scandinavian languages is that a lot of speeches are given in English- and I don't know if that is the same for texts but Skandinavians are known for having a high proficiency of English, which should further curtail the market. Of course we could have a discussion now whether or not Scandinavians' English is really that good but that's not the main point now.
Have you thought about Norwegian? I used to learn it but then never had any chance to practise it and stopped my classes. It's the "bridge" language, means if you know Norwegian then reading Danish and understanding Swedish is easy. Buy one get two free, in the long run at least.
Let us know what you decide in the end.
Marie
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Inspectress
Ireland
TOPIC STARTER |
Well I'm not at all interested in helping the euro project and hope to never be so desperate as to have to resort to them for work! I'm a private sector kinda gal anyway. Could never sell myself off like that.
Anyway, thank you all for the suggestions. I've started learning Swedish and find it very easy to get in on so far, and am enjoying the challenge of a new language! Will be a long time before I am fully proficient in it but I don't mind waiting.
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Nikmah
Iceland
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