Is necessary have higher education to be a freelance translator? Thread poster: Clovis Augusto
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Hello people, I'm starting to try get work as translator here and in another sites with the same focus. But I was wondering if like in real life, you need be higher education for outsourcer call you. I think that like as developers on internet, higher education is a differential, but not a obligation. Now please, tell me about yours experiences and some tricks of marketing (if you can).
| | | | EvaVer (X) 
Local time: 02:31
Czech to French
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No, you don't need higher education as such - but in some countries, most agencies require it. What you need is a wide "culture" - you just need to be curious and find things out, which is not so difficult today with the Internet. I have been working as a translator for nearly 25 years, with some success, and I have just my A-levels.
If you previously did other work, such experience is a bonus - some "academical" translators lack any company experience and are lost in the corporate lingo. ... See more No, you don't need higher education as such - but in some countries, most agencies require it. What you need is a wide "culture" - you just need to be curious and find things out, which is not so difficult today with the Internet. I have been working as a translator for nearly 25 years, with some success, and I have just my A-levels.
If you previously did other work, such experience is a bonus - some "academical" translators lack any company experience and are lost in the corporate lingo. And you need a good command of the target language - I hope you don't plan to translate into English just now, your English is not up to it yet - work on it some more. Are you sure of your Portugese spelling and grammar? It seems a stupid question, but I often proofread Czech or French translations completed by native speakers and I see some horrors. Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | more or less depending on the domain you intend to specialise in | Jun 3, 2013 |
Hi Clovis,
The translation industry has a wide range of specialties (letters, certificates, patents, law and contracts, etc.) Some of these specialties do not require that you have a degree. You can identify all such domains and place your focus on them for a start. If you have some work experience in a particular domain, that may constitute a good specialty to start with.
As you make progress and gain confidence in yourself, you may be able to move to other domains depending ... See more Hi Clovis,
The translation industry has a wide range of specialties (letters, certificates, patents, law and contracts, etc.) Some of these specialties do not require that you have a degree. You can identify all such domains and place your focus on them for a start. If you have some work experience in a particular domain, that may constitute a good specialty to start with.
As you make progress and gain confidence in yourself, you may be able to move to other domains depending on the speed at which you would have acquired more "culture".
Now, a good number of agencies ask for either a degree in translation studies or a degree in a "technical field" with some experience. I would advise, if your means permit, to take a short training.
I enrolled in an online programme with Words Language Services. I have a degree in Mechanical engineering and have some experience in the industry. I have been working as a freelance translator since 2012 (in addition to my job in the industry). It was not easy getting clients in the beginning, but things are getting much better.
[Edited at 2013-06-03 14:25 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 01:31
Member (2007)
English
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| Depends on your age and experience | Jun 3, 2013 |
Many of us came to this profession after a first career in other industry. We bring with us a whole raft of professional and 'life' experience, which often is put to good use as our specialisation(s). We can manage quite well at the moment by emphasizing that experience. But more and more agencies are insisting on degree-level studies now.
Jobs for the EU administration are quite specific about this requirement: no degree, no quote possible. I don't quite understand this myself. Wh... See more Many of us came to this profession after a first career in other industry. We bring with us a whole raft of professional and 'life' experience, which often is put to good use as our specialisation(s). We can manage quite well at the moment by emphasizing that experience. But more and more agencies are insisting on degree-level studies now.
Jobs for the EU administration are quite specific about this requirement: no degree, no quote possible. I don't quite understand this myself. When I relate it to my own life, I can't see any sense in it. I left school in 1975 (I think) with qualifications in French and German, and went on to do a bilingual secretarial course, rather than a degree in, for example, photography. Many, many years later, with both certification and experience in EFL business training and translation, and 15 years' residence in France, am I really less able to translate marketing texts from French than if I had done that degree in photography and stayed in the UK, becoming a translator a few months ago? Seems daft to me! But that's life .
At the moment, many outsourcers specify a degree or a minimum of 10 years' experience, in which case it's worth my time quoting, but it would be pointless for a young degree-less person to do so. I can see the trend towards the requirement for a degree becoming the norm, so I would personally advise any youngster who aspires to be a career translator to obtain that first degree, whatever the subject area, followed ideally by a master in translation studies. A first degree in linguistics or one of your languages (source or target) would obviously be relevant; otherwise choose a subject that interests you and which would then become your specialisation, but remember you will need to study the terminology in both source and target languages. ▲ Collapse
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| Not a specific higher education, but some kind of higher education | Jun 3, 2013 |
I would say you do need some kind of higher education, although a lot of the important skills do come from practice and hands-on experience.
Many older colleagues have done very well without a formal training in language or linguistics - because relevant training did not exist when they were young. I came to translation late in life, and was enormously grateful for the chance to take a formal training.
If you are starting out now, there are many advantages in training,... See more I would say you do need some kind of higher education, although a lot of the important skills do come from practice and hands-on experience.
Many older colleagues have done very well without a formal training in language or linguistics - because relevant training did not exist when they were young. I came to translation late in life, and was enormously grateful for the chance to take a formal training.
If you are starting out now, there are many advantages in training, and I would say it is becoming more and more necessary in practice - depending on which languages you work with.
It is not enough to speak a language - even your own - like a native. You need to STUDY it, so that you are conscious of why you use it the way you do, and use it differently in different situations. Then you can resist 'Source language interference' - which is when you use the target language words, but with the source language clearly showing through. The result may be anything from unclear or not idiomatic to completely wrong or dangerous.
You need to know about context, register and much more. You can do it by self-study, but good teachers are a great help if they organise the material and know some of the pitfalls.
You also need to learn a specialist subject area.
Again, depending on different language pairs and the subject area, Machine Translation and Translation Memories are taking over the routine work. Many of us do not like machine translation or MT, because it is not reliable, but it is not going away, and in certain circumstances it produces results that are fit for a here-and-now purpose.
In some fields it is improving.
It will be necessary to check and post-edit machine translation, which is a highly specialised and demanding task. Many translators refuse to do it.
Translation memories are a valuable tool based on human translation, and should not be confused with MT, although they can be linked.
I don't think MT will ever replace human translators entirely - language develops too fast and is not always amenable to machine-programmable logic.
Marketing is a case in point.
The translation industry will require more and more specialists of different kinds in future, and no one can take higher education in them all. Nevertheless, you will find it an advantage to have some kind of training that adds up to a higher education.
As a translator you will be working with texts written by highly educated specialists in technology, law, medicine, economics... and while you may not know enough about their subjects to practise, you do need to know enough in both your languages to use the correct terms and expressions and not sound like an amateur.
Look into what is available, and perhaps build up a training from modules and short courses at the start.
Check out the professional associations and their training days.
Best of luck!
[Edited at 2013-06-03 18:37 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 06:01
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER | In general, education is always desirable | Jun 3, 2013 |
So if you are in a position to get higher education, go for it.
As far as translation is considered, while it is not mandatory to have higher education, most professional translators are highly qualified people. Even if their higher education may not be useful in getting them jobs, it certainly helps them in doing their translation better, especially in the subject in which they have acquired their higher education.
Also keep in mind that for a translator education shou... See more So if you are in a position to get higher education, go for it.
As far as translation is considered, while it is not mandatory to have higher education, most professional translators are highly qualified people. Even if their higher education may not be useful in getting them jobs, it certainly helps them in doing their translation better, especially in the subject in which they have acquired their higher education.
Also keep in mind that for a translator education should be a life long endeavour, even if it is only informal or self-education. A translator constantly strives to update his knowledgebase and grasp over language because he knows it will help him with his translation.
Speaking of myself, I acquired my Master's degree in Hindi (my target language) when I was approaching 40 and followed it up with another Master's degree in Computer Application. I can confirm that both these qualifications immensely helped me in my translation profession. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 02:31
Member (2009)
English to German
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| It certainly is helpful | Jun 3, 2013 |
I'm with Christine that speaking a language like a native doesn't suffice to qualify as a translator.
As Sheila has pointed out, (summarized) a degree in translation alone cannot replace years, even decades of hand on experience in any field. For example, I obtained my translation diploma in economics in 1986 (I believe). At that time I had already been working as a technical translator in Civil Enginerring for a good 6 years, having qualified for that position based on my personal ... See more I'm with Christine that speaking a language like a native doesn't suffice to qualify as a translator.
As Sheila has pointed out, (summarized) a degree in translation alone cannot replace years, even decades of hand on experience in any field. For example, I obtained my translation diploma in economics in 1986 (I believe). At that time I had already been working as a technical translator in Civil Enginerring for a good 6 years, having qualified for that position based on my personal interest in US English and having lived in a bilingual environment for several years. The polishing as a real translator came through dictionaries (the paper ones only back then), asking questions and getting "the feel" for the technical terminology. By the mid 1990s my interests shifted towards literature, that is creative writing in all its facettes.
The holder of a "newly printed" diploma in translations knows all the rules but has hardly any experience in the "real" business world, aside from tests, turn papers and the like. OTOH, someone with an extensive knowledge in finances and decades of experience as the, let's say, sales coordinator of an international company, including all business/sales related correspondence, might be quite suitable as a translator, even without the "proper" education.
However, within the EC the proper education and the diploma in translations are mandatory when dealing with government organizations. And any member of a Translators Association knows that admittance is only granted with the proper documents.
@ Christine: Here's a link to an interesting discussion regarding MT translations.
http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/250210-how_should_mt_cat_translation_editing_be_billed.html#2146963
[Edited at 2013-06-03 15:19 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Just like anywhere else | Jun 3, 2013 |
Just like anywhere else, the lack of a degree hurts you these days, but it's possible to do without one. My personal belief is that language competence is acquired by reading a lot in primary school or no deal. The rest of the education path is just icing on the cake, mostly coming down to specialisation (there's a reason A-levels are referred to as 'general education' in Poland).
Do you know the difference between a technician and engineer? If you decide to skip higher education, t... See more Just like anywhere else, the lack of a degree hurts you these days, but it's possible to do without one. My personal belief is that language competence is acquired by reading a lot in primary school or no deal. The rest of the education path is just icing on the cake, mostly coming down to specialisation (there's a reason A-levels are referred to as 'general education' in Poland).
Do you know the difference between a technician and engineer? If you decide to skip higher education, that difference can become your part. I know a superb IT specialist, who used to be a highly paid consultant that cashed in more than managers in the same bank where he worked. Stress on 'worked'. Nowadays the lack of a degree is hurting him. Not to the point of seriously undermining his 30 years of experience but still. I also know a last-minute law school dropout (that's 9 semesters of law, more than an American JD needs in all, but there is no intermediate BA award in Polish lawschools, so you only have A-levels if you drop out) who managed quite a nicely sized unit in a bank, again, until a time. Afterwards, it became incredibly hard to find any decent work, forget anything managerial. Then, there's plenty of people with degrees from some fields who work in other fields without much hindrance.
... Heck, I don't have a language degree myself, strictly speaking, although I have accomplished a post-Master's study in translation that would have awarded an advanced Master's degree (Master's-after-Master's) in an Anglo-Saxon or Bologna-compatible system. I certainly didn't have even that when I started.
In short, get a degree. Doesn't have to be translation, but just get some degree. That will prevent people from discriminating against you in job offers and job orders, be it by barring you altogether or by having an excuse to pay you less, just like in the technician vs engineer example. Besides, degrees are overall cool to have, provide some nice post-nominals and a back-up career, not to mention lending credence to your claims of specialisation in a subject.
But, while pursuing translation schooling, you shouldn't neglect actually learning the language. It is somewhat fashionable among formally trained linguists to discount or even disparage the importance of actually learning the language, but that's just wrong. Translators aren't paid to have have degrees in translation and tell stories about how it's superior to actually understanding or actively using a language, they're paid for understanding and actively using languages. Not developing your primary source language to at least C2 level as per the CEF classification is a poor idea, and something you can't afford, and if you can, then only because the profession is still in need of a wake-up call. ▲ Collapse
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| Yes, it is absolutely indispensable | Jun 3, 2013 |
Yes, you do need to have at least a bachelor degree (and preferably a master degree) from a reputable university.
Mind you, that does not mean that the university degree must be in translation or languages, necessarily (though a degree in translation is definitely a plus) - but you have to be able show that you have completed a course of higher education in order for you to be taken in serious consideration by any desirable prospect.
That, of course,... See more Yes, you do need to have at least a bachelor degree (and preferably a master degree) from a reputable university.
Mind you, that does not mean that the university degree must be in translation or languages, necessarily (though a degree in translation is definitely a plus) - but you have to be able show that you have completed a course of higher education in order for you to be taken in serious consideration by any desirable prospect.
That, of course, in addition to be able to show excellent writing skills in your native language (as a translator you are a writer, and that means being able to write better than at least 95% of your fellow native speakers of your own language).
You also need to show that you have an intimate, native-level, passive knowledge of all the languages you translate from.
Could there be exceptions, people that manage to be good translators despite a lack of higher education? Yes, I believe that's possible, for a very few, very gifted and dedicated self-taught individuals.
But even they would have a hard time not being rejected out of hand by any serious prospect: the lack of a higher education degree would be a glaring red flag on their CV or profile. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Clovis Augusto
Brazil
Local time: 21:31
English to Portuguese
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TOPIC STARTER | I wanna thank you for all | Jun 5, 2013 |
Until now, I received mixed opinions and suggestions. I also received alerts of some mistakes about grammar (I was almost sleeping on my keyboard that day). So, I wanna thank you all for help me.
[Edited at 2013-06-06 00:57 GMT]
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