ProZ.com Translation Forums

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | To be respectful and humble

expressisverbis — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 14:11:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: To be respectful and humble

I knew that the Irish and I share almost the same ideas and points of view 😁😉

I have found this nice bulletin by the Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association.
I'm sure there are many other associations that convey the same message below:

"10. What advice would you give someone thinking of embarking on a career as a translator/interpreter?
Be humble and keep your ears open. There is always something to learn from other colleagues. Learn to take criticism because, sooner or later, you will have to face it.
Criticism is a good learning tool, if taken the right way."

[url removed]

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | At the moment may be

Angie Garbarino — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 09:06:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: Angie Garbarino
Post title: At the moment may be

[quote]Nicholas Boline wrote:

1) Joining every professional organization that pertains to you and networking aggressively in all of them and 2) Being very easy to find online and having a high-quality presence on LinkedIn and yes, to some extent, ProZ. [/quote]

But what could happen in 10-20 years? The piece of advice is for a young person.

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | Network, Online Presence, and Interpreting

Nicholas Boline — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 16:55:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: Nicholas Boline
Post title: Network, Online Presence, and Interpreting

I don't agree that the industry is dead; however, the people with power in the industry (i.e. the large corporate agencies and their lackeys in organizations such as the ATA) are unilaterlly pushing ahead with anti-worker technologies like AI, which steals our work without our permission and then uses the data to drive down our wages. Since our labor is unorganized, we have little recourse to stop them from doing anything they'd like. But it won't take long before the limitations of these technologies are impossible to ignore and the work comes back to humans. But in the meantime, it seems that some users of translation are willing to accept a certain decrease in quality in order to keep costs down, I would argue because of the falling rate of profit in general and other macroeconomic factors. But it's certainly not the case that it's impossible to make a living.

As somebody who has only been in the industry for a few years years as both a translator and interpreter, I have to say there are two key factors in the success I've had: 1) Joining every professional organization that pertains to you and networking aggressively in all of them and 2) Being very easy to find online and having a high-quality presence on LinkedIn and yes, to some extent, ProZ. Every single paid job I've ever gotten in this industry is directly attributable to one of these two items. I still haven't gotten my own professional website, but I'm told by my colleagues that that is also important.

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | All of them

Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 11:28:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Post title: All of them

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Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | Experience counts for very little

The Shredder — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 10:40:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: The Shredder
Post title: Experience counts for very little

Most experienced translators are still crap translators.

But otherwise, yeah, find something else.

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | Other

Angie Garbarino — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 09:01:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: Angie Garbarino
Post title: Other

Nowadays this is no longer a profitable profession, if you studied and love languages, you should try another profession that allows you to exploit your studies

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | Inexperienced/unexperienced

Baran Keki — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 08:50:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: Baran Keki
Post title: Inexperienced/unexperienced

The beauty of translation is that anybody (talking about people in Turkey, don't know if that's the case in other non-English speaking countries) who's watched a few Netflix series with English subtitles think they can translate from English as well as the next man when all they need is a computer with an internet connection. What's more, they can start their career at any time of their lives (you can't be a surgeon or a lawyer or a musician at 43, no?), is there any other profession that allows you to start from scratch at the tender age of 58, from the comfort of your home?
My main piece of advice to these folk is to go love themselves.

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | Plan Z, for when all else fails

Jennifer Levey — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 22:58:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: Jennifer Levey
Post title: Plan Z, for when all else fails

[quote]Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

In this day and age, choose another profession! [/quote]

[quote]Lingua 5B wrote:

Always have a plan B.

[/quote]

An inexperienced translator would be well-advised to choose another profession, and consider adopting translation as their 'plan B'.
An unexperienced translator would do better to proof-read their output before hitting 'send' on a public forum, choose another profession, make sure they have a plan B, plan C, plan D ... and then pencil in 'translation' as their 'plan Z'.

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | Plan B

Lingua 5B — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 21:34:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Plan B

Always have a plan B.

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator? | Other

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 21:17:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Post title: Other

In this day and age, choose another profession!

Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?

ProZ.com Staff — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 20:10:04 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?
Poster: ProZ.com Staff

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What would be your main piece of advice to an unexperienced translator?".

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