Translation careers expected to increase

Translation and interpretation is currently one of the top 15 fastest growing careers in the nation, and it can be a valuable skill for students in science, technology, engineering or math fields, according to the United States Department of Labor.

Department of Labor officials expect 25,000 jobs in written translation and verbal interpretation to open by 2020. According to Ingrid Schmidt, the director of study abroad and associate vice provost for international affairs, N.C. State administrators and faculty are urging students to pursue majors or minors in a foreign language as a result. 

“Employers are increasingly growing in engagement with companies internationally,” Schmidt said. “Students in so many fields are going to be interacting with people from other cultures, so they are encouraged to continue with their language study that began in high school.”  

The increasing value of translators and interpreters in the workforce is due to the demographics of the U.S. becoming increasingly diverse in both large and small businesses. Schmidt said that some of the highest paying interpretation and translation jobs are in technical fields—a valuable prospect for students majoring in STEM programs at N.C. State. 

“Students majoring in engineering who also consider studying a language can distinguish themselves above and beyond their peers who just have a technical degree,” Schmidt said. 

Schmidt also said that business leaders favor applicants who have international experience or foreign language skills. These employees are promoted more quickly and have generally higher salaries.

 Irwin Stern, a professor of Spanish and Portuguese at N.C. State, said that translation and interpretation skills have become valuable for many job positions.

“There are an infinite number of opportunities in foreign language translation and interpretation careers, not only in government positions, but also in private industry, document analysis, the health industry and in court systems,” Stern said. 

In a career that is traditionally freelance and unstable, the demanding nature of interpretation and translation also attributes to its increasing demand. 

“Interpretation and translation can be very demanding mental processes,” Stern said. “If someone is dedicated enough to learning a language and culture, translation and interpretation are rewarding careers, and the remuneration is worth it.”

N.C. State also offers a variety of programs aimed to promote language proficiency. 

“N.C. State students are fortunate that the University administration and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences are very supportive of foreign language study, which allows students to develop basic skills and move on to advanced or international study,” Stern said.

  According to Stern, who is certified in Portuguese-English translation by the American Translators Association, ideal translators are those who have official certification, which is an important credential for getting better jobs and better pay. 

N.C. State offers courses such as Spanish for medical students and Spanish for social workers. The courses prepare professionals for communicating with clients in the client’s native language.




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How a freelance translator can catch an agency’s attention

Although there are many, many advantages of working as a freelance translator, it is not always a bed of roses. Common constraints imposed on freelancer translators include the necessity of communicating with agencies and securing regular work from them.

So, what are agencies looking for in a freelance translator? This article gives you tips on what agencies expect from freelance translators and on how to survive as a freelance translator when relying on agency work.

1. Education

A candidate for translation work will impress an agency with a good general standard of education. A degree is generally thought of as evidence of a good standard of education, but you should never get complacent because agencies will literally have thousands of candidates to choose from. You need to think, ‘what distinguishes me from all the other candidates?’ and convey this clearly, logically and precisely in any communications with agencies. Spend time developing your CV professionally as when dealing with an agency, you will almost certainly need a CV to summarize your skills and get your message across in the right way.

2. Practice makes perfect: updating language skills

One important thing is being able to demonstrate your skills as current, and updated. Language skills in particular can quickly get outdated. Moreover if you have not practiced your French properly in three years, you may not be as fluent as you thought you were. Language skills require regular practice, preferably in a native setting and if you can demonstrate that you understand this, you will impress.

3. The value of the native speaker

For agencies, fluency to a native speaker standard is frequently sought after, so if you are fluent in a language, why not aspire to achieve the same level of fluency of a native speaker through regular practice with native speakers.

4. Speculative application versus targeted applications

Targeted applications to an agency are so much better than speculative ones. Instead of picking 20 agencies at random, why not search resources like jobs databases to identify those agencies that are recruiting?

5. Contact details

Include a mobile number and an email address as standard. Ensure your mobile is set so that it can receive voicemail and that international roaming functions are working.

6. Flexibility

Flexibility is something that always impresses an agency. If you can accommodate smaller jobs, this will generally build trust and pave the way to bigger and more well paid tasks. An agency will be reluctant to engage you for those bigger tasks if they have absolutely no experience of working with you.

7. Reliability

Be reliable. Always. You know why. If you can’t meet a deadline, explain this promptly and suggest an alternative course of action.

8. Contact names

When speaking to an agency for the first time, it is a good idea to get the name of the person you first dealt with, as then you won’t have to explain everything from the beginning if you have to follow up any past communications.

9. Planning

Planning is a skill that agencies offering translation work will be looking for. Translation work involves tight deadlines and juggling different projects at once. If you can show you are a good planner, and are organized, then you will impress an agency.

10. Coping with different time zones

If you are dealing with an agency for the first time, make sure you are aware of the pitfalls of working to deadlines within different time zones. This can be an organizational challenge, so make sure you are prepared for this and don’t make time zone mistakes. Why not get a watch which shows different time zones?

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Neil Payne, started off working life as a Turkish to English translator. 

http://linguagreca.com/blog/2013/10/freelance-translators-catch-agency-attention/