Any in-house university translator? Thread poster: Hellen Varela-Fdez.
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I didn’t know exactly where to post my question, but I guess it could be here. This is just a simple question: Does anyone know if there is any university with a translation department? I mean… not a school or a teaching department, but a department where someone translates texts for the university: an in-house translator. I have worked as a translator, for 5 years, at a public university in Costa Rica, and I have never found a colleague doing the same. Thanks!
Hellen Varela
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Parrot 
Spain
Local time: 16:35
Spanish to English
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| Not per se as tenured, AFAIK | Nov 10, 2005 |
but a lot of universities conduct programs that accommodate translators into a research team. Then, sometime ago this forum published an invitation for an Indian resident translator to come to East Anglia University for a year. I imagine multilingual universities simply take on multilingual staff, but it's an interesting question. Let's see if someone answers.
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| University of Massachusets | Nov 11, 2005 |
The University of Massachusets Amherst has a Translation Center where they do hire translators and project managers, however I don't know if they hire in-house. You can contact them and find out. Here's a link to their Translation Center Employment page: http://www.umass.edu/transcen/employment.html
Good Luck!
sindee21
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Heidi C
Local time: 10:35
English to Spanish
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I know that the Tec de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México has a department of translation, where they have people who do exactly that: translate.
I found their web page:
http://www.ccm.itesm.mx/dhcs/lenguas/tradutec.html
has their mission, what they do, contact information.
From reading the web page it seems to be a service they are offe... See more I know that the Tec de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México has a department of translation, where they have people who do exactly that: translate.
I found their web page:
http://www.ccm.itesm.mx/dhcs/lenguas/tradutec.html
has their mission, what they do, contact information.
From reading the web page it seems to be a service they are offering, but from what I knew of them, I think they really are an in-house departement who is probably also looking for a way to bring in profits for the university...
hope this helps!!
Heidi
[Edited at 2005-11-11 14:16] ▲ Collapse
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Alana C
Local time: 11:35
French to English
| Maybe not practical in most settings? | Nov 11, 2005 |
You are so lucky! I work for a bilingual university in Canada and we do not have any in-house translators. In fact, I have never heard of any university hiring in-house translation staff in Canada although many universities provide their information in both official languages, English and French.
I think that the reason in-house translators are rare in universities is that they have no money to hire translators (isn’t that always the way?). It’s much cheaper to require staf... See more You are so lucky! I work for a bilingual university in Canada and we do not have any in-house translators. In fact, I have never heard of any university hiring in-house translation staff in Canada although many universities provide their information in both official languages, English and French.
I think that the reason in-house translators are rare in universities is that they have no money to hire translators (isn’t that always the way?). It’s much cheaper to require staff to be bilingual and they will produce texts in both languages without additional staffing costs.
It is interesting that there are so many people translating texts where I work. These people are often from different backgrounds--from France, Quebec, and from other French-speaking countries--so variation is common. There is also a translation program at the university so there are some graduates who end up working here...like me ▲ Collapse
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| Thanks... this is very interesting! | Nov 11, 2005 |
Thank you for your answers. Five minutes ago I tried to send an email to the Director of UMass Translation Center, but for some reason the address is not working… anyway… I’ll try later. I will write to Tradutec as well.
However, as I see, Tradutec and UMass Translation Center sell services from the university to any other enterprise or government organization. At Universidad Nacional, we had a similar system some years ago (I am not sure if it is still working, I should ... See more Thank you for your answers. Five minutes ago I tried to send an email to the Director of UMass Translation Center, but for some reason the address is not working… anyway… I’ll try later. I will write to Tradutec as well.
However, as I see, Tradutec and UMass Translation Center sell services from the university to any other enterprise or government organization. At Universidad Nacional, we had a similar system some years ago (I am not sure if it is still working, I should find out). The School of Literature and Language Sciences had what they called Centro Universitario de Traducción, CUTRA (University Translation Center). The same professors from the Translation Program offered their services. The deal was like half of the translation fees for the translator/professor and half for the Translation Program. Of course, this was a very good idea for the Translation Program. The University wins and so does the translator/professor.
The service I offered is more like the one mentioned by Alana. Indeed, I was lucky. I must clarify that, our university does not have a “translator position” actually, but the categories are "flexible" (if we can say so). Since I have a licentiate degree, I was hired in the category called "Licentiate Professor", and they pay me as that... but the functions assigned are translation functions because my degree is in translation. I know it sounds a little complicated... I just wanted to give you an idea.
Alana: as I understand you work as a freelance for this Canadian university?
Hellen ▲ Collapse
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Alana C
Local time: 11:35
French to English
| Just a lowly administrative assistant! | Nov 11, 2005 |
Hi Hellen
Sorry I wasn’t clearer. I don’t work for the university as a freelancer—I am an Administrative Assistant for the Sociology department. Part of my job involves translating short texts, like advertisements, announcements etc. Most people who work here do some translation as part of their job because it is a bilingual campus so all information must be written in both languages.
I am a recent graduate of the translation program so I am just getting star... See more Hi Hellen
Sorry I wasn’t clearer. I don’t work for the university as a freelancer—I am an Administrative Assistant for the Sociology department. Part of my job involves translating short texts, like advertisements, announcements etc. Most people who work here do some translation as part of their job because it is a bilingual campus so all information must be written in both languages.
I am a recent graduate of the translation program so I am just getting started in the scary world of translation
However, one thing leads to another and through my connections here I have been able to get some freelance work! ▲ Collapse
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