newcomer looking for advice Thread poster: Hripsime Balyan
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I am a newcomer to proz.com. Seems like a great place for translators. I am a little confused about how to begin and where to start. My mother tongue is Armenian and I can make professional translations into Russian and English languages. I would be very grateful for any tips/advices that experienced member may provide to me or to novices like me.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:22
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Hripsimee wrote:
I am a newcomer to proz.com. Seems like a great place for translators. I am a little confused about how to begin and where to start. My mother tongue is Armenian and I can make professional translations into Russian and English languages. I would be very grateful for any tips/advices that experienced member may provide to me or to novices like me.
Dear Hripsmee
It can take some time before you begin to see the benefits of being a Proz member.
The first thing is to ensure that your profile is as complete as possible. You should spend time on this to make it really good. Thereafter you should periodically refresh it.
One of the most important things is to put examples of your translation work on your profile page. There is a special section for this.
| | | | Hripsime Balyan 
Armenia
Local time: 03:22
English to Armenian
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TOPIC STARTER | Do I need membership for getting a job? | Aug 21, 2011 |
Thank you for you kind reply and help , I will soon update my profile. Also I would like to know if it's necessary to purchase membership in order to get a job.
Thanks beforehand
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:22
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Another welcome! | Aug 21, 2011 |
Hello and welcome to ProZ.com and the world of professional translating. It would be really useful if you could tell us a bit more about yourself.
Do you have other professional experience or are you just starting your working life? If it's the former, perhaps you have specialisations that you can offer (legal, medical...); if it's the latter, you will need a good translation qualification. Of course, it's useful to have undergone some form of training if you are coming to translat... See more Hello and welcome to ProZ.com and the world of professional translating. It would be really useful if you could tell us a bit more about yourself.
Do you have other professional experience or are you just starting your working life? If it's the former, perhaps you have specialisations that you can offer (legal, medical...); if it's the latter, you will need a good translation qualification. Of course, it's useful to have undergone some form of training if you are coming to translating later in life, but if you are young, then you absolutely have to have qualifications as you really have nothing else to offer clients as proof of your ability.
Of course, whilst you need to go to college to study translating, there are many other courses available here on ProZ.com, and some are even free! You could start with the "meeting clients at ProZ.com" free webinar, as that will help you make the best of your profile. You will also find a good deal of information in the various forums.
Why do you think you would make a good translator? I'm afraid simply being able to speak two or more languages doesn't necessarily mean you can translate professionally. You need to bear in mind that the client will expect very good quality texts. For this reason, translators are always most capable of translating into their native languages, not out of them. With Armenian, I daresay that you would be able to offer to translate out of your native language, as there are probably relatively few foreigners with fluent Armenian, but you would need to use a proofreader. As for translating between two foreign languages, well I think that would put off potential clients. Do you really think you could do a better job than native speakers?
Do you have any specific questions? "Tips and advice" is much easier when there's a specific question that needs addressing.
Sheila ▲ Collapse
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:22
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
To answer your supplementary question, no, it isn't "necessary". On the other hand, as a member you will have various benefits that will increase your chances of being chosen for a job.
1. unlimited access to the Blue Board, where you can get an idea if you actually want to work for the client or would rather avoid them;
2. posted jobs are open to members for several hours before non-members - often the choice has been made before you are able to quote.
3. the majority o... See more To answer your supplementary question, no, it isn't "necessary". On the other hand, as a member you will have various benefits that will increase your chances of being chosen for a job.
1. unlimited access to the Blue Board, where you can get an idea if you actually want to work for the client or would rather avoid them;
2. posted jobs are open to members for several hours before non-members - often the choice has been made before you are able to quote.
3. the majority of jobs are never posted but are awarded by direct contact through the directory. Members are ranked before non-members. Look at "my directory ranking" and see how you can improve by becoming a member.
I'm sure there are many other good reasons but I've been a full member for quite a while now. I do know, however, that ProZ.com didn't become useful as a job source until my profile became very visible in the directory and generally on the site. You certainly can't rely on posted jobs to keep you in business.
Sheila ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 01:22
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| To get a job... | Aug 21, 2011 |
Hripsimee wrote:
I would like to know if it's necessary to purchase membership in order to get a job.
No, it is not necessary to purchase membership to get a job, but paying members get preferential treatment (e.g. their profile pages are higher up in the search results, and some clients specify that paying members can bid on jobs for a number of hours before non-paying members can start bidding).
In a search for English-Armenian or English-Armenian in the top 8 languages, if you are a paying member you would be on the first page of search results, but as a non-paying member you could be on the second page if you manage to get at least 1 KudoZ point. If you want, I could ask "What is 'I love you' in Armenian" on KudoZ, and if your answer is the most helpful one, you would get the required KudoZ points to make that second page.
For English-Russian or Russian-English, the competition is stiffer -- even if you pay for membership, you have very little hope in making it to the top of the search results list, unless the client is specifically looking for a translator located in Armenia. Unfortunately it is not possible in ProZ.com to search for English-Russian translators whose native language is anything but English or Russian (a little silly, if you ask me).
[Edited at 2011-08-21 16:41 GMT]
| | | | B D Finch
France
Local time: 01:22
French to English
+ ...
| Start off the right way round | Aug 21, 2011 |
Hripsimee wrote:
I am a newcomer to proz.com. Seems like a great place for translators. I am a little confused about how to begin and where to start. My mother tongue is Armenian and I can make professional translations into Russian and English languages. I would be very grateful for any tips/advices that experienced member may provide to me or to novices like me.
You have a good combination of languages there, but you seem to have got your ideas about translating back to front. Even though Armenian may well be a shortage language in combination with either Russian or English, you should, at least to start with, translate into your mother tongue (i.e. Armenian), not from it into your secondary languages. You have not given any information about what training or qualifications you have. The little you have written in your posting is not bad but there are at least four mistakes that show you do not have a native-speaker command of the English language.
If there is a real shortage of translators from Armenian to English or Russian, then by all means fill that gap once you have a bit of translation experience and preferably also a qualification. Remember that you want to look your best to potential clients and that if you only claim to translate into Armenian, minor mistakes in English will not count against you. If a client then asks you to translate into English or Russian and you warn them that you do not have mother-tongue competence, the client may well decide that, given the shortage, they trust you to do the job.
[Edited at 2011-08-21 16:50 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:22
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| I agree with Sheila | Aug 21, 2011 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
You certainly can't rely on posted jobs to keep you in business.
Sheila
In my time as a Proz member I have never, ever, got any of the jobs that are posted here regularly.
But through Proz, many people have personally sought me out and given me work.
I think the most important thing is to specialise in just one or two subjects, and not just be a translator of any document on any subject.
But apart from being a way of getting jobs, Proz is extremely useful as a way of keeping in touch with what's happening in the world of translation.
I also **strongly agree** that you should only translate into your mother tongue and not out of it.
[Edited at 2011-08-21 16:52 GMT]
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B D Finch
France
Local time: 01:22
French to English
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| Start off the right way round | Aug 21, 2011 |
Hripsimee wrote:
I am a newcomer to proz.com. Seems like a great place for translators. I am a little confused about how to begin and where to start. My mother tongue is Armenian and I can make professional translations into Russian and English languages. I would be very grateful for any tips/advices that experienced member may provide to me or to novices like me.
You have a good combination of languages there, but you seem to have got your ideas about translating back to front. Even though Armenian may well be a shortage language in combination with either Russian or English, you should, at least to start with, translate into your mother tongue (i.e. Armenian), not from it into your secondary languages. You have not given any information about what training or qualifications you have. The little you have written in your posting is not bad but there are at least four mistakes that show you do not have a native-speaker command of the English language.
If there is a real shortage of translators from Armenian to English or Russian, then by all means fill that gap once you have a bit of translation experience, preferably also a qualification. Remember that you want to look your best to potential clients and that if you only claim to translate into Armenian, minor mistakes in English will not count against you. If a client then asks you to translate into English or Russian and you warn them that you do not have mother-tongue competence, the client may well decide that, given the shortage, they trust you to do the job.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 01:22
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Go for what is economically viable | Aug 21, 2011 |
B D Finch wrote:
Even though Armenian may well be a shortage language in combination with either Russian or English, you should, at least to start with, translate into your mother tongue (i.e. Armenian), not from it into your secondary languages.
I feel different about this -- I think you should focus on the language combination that is most likely to bring in money for you.
Your English is not bad at all (judging by your articles on e.g. Qarahundj) although I do think you make errors that look like carelessness, and that you should get a native speaker of English to edit your texts and give you advice on the types of errors that may look sloppy.
For example, in your résumé you often have a space before a comma, and no space before a round bracket, and doubled spaces between words -- the language itself is fine, but the presentation creates a poor impression.
You have not given any information about what training or qualifications you have.
Her profile page says "Bachelor's degree - Yerevan State Linguistic University" and her résumé (downloadable from her profile page) gives even more information. Still, her profile page should be expanded quite a lot to give more specific information (e.g. degree in what).
| | | | Hripsime Balyan
Armenia
Local time: 03:22
English to Armenian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | thanks for replies | Aug 21, 2011 |
Thanks for your replies. I've changed my language pairs leaving only those with Armenian as one of the member-languages. Will be seeing if any offers will be available.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:22
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Play an active role in your business | Aug 22, 2011 |
I can already see improvements, Hripsimee, and I found your latest blog posting very interesting, thank you, although I agree with others that, although your English is really very good for blogging etc, you need a proofreader to check it before asking anyone to pay for an English text.
There's still a lot more to do, including working on your 3-page CV, which is too long and is not sufficiently geared to what the client needs to learn. It might be fine for Jo Bloggs looking for a j... See more I can already see improvements, Hripsimee, and I found your latest blog posting very interesting, thank you, although I agree with others that, although your English is really very good for blogging etc, you need a proofreader to check it before asking anyone to pay for an English text.
There's still a lot more to do, including working on your 3-page CV, which is too long and is not sufficiently geared to what the client needs to learn. It might be fine for Jo Bloggs looking for a job as a car mechanic to put languages at the end, but for you?!
What really worries me, though, is this:
Hripsimee wrote:
Will be seeing if any offers will be available.
Ask any small businessperson (builder, web designer, hairdresser, architect...) around you "Did you start by waiting for offers of work to arrive?". I very much doubt it! I imagine they marketed themselves. They actively sought work and actively made a name for themselves. Only then did the work begin to arrive.
Passively waiting to see what jobs arrive on the ProZ.com site will quite likely see you waiting for nothing (there has been just 1 AR to EN job posted in the last month and 6 in EN to AR, none at all between Armenian and Russian). Even if jobs are posted, what chance is there that you will be chosen over others unless you give the client good reason to be confident?
You really have to get out there (physically and virtually) and act like the entrepreneur you need to be. If you want it, go for it!
Sheila ▲ Collapse
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