Translation and interpreting advice
Thread poster: Gabriel Ferrero
Gabriel Ferrero
Gabriel Ferrero
France
Local time: 23:01
French to English
+ ...
Jun 26, 2020

Hello everyone

I would like to work as a translator. My curriculum vitae et studiae is unconventional. I was born in Latin America, I speak English since I was five years old (now I am 36 years old), I attended a bilingual school that imparted lessons in both Spanish and English, and when I turned 18 years old I moved to Italy where I lived and worked for nearly fifteen years and I learnt Italian by osmosis. Before my migration to Italy I went on a short school exchange trip to the
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Hello everyone

I would like to work as a translator. My curriculum vitae et studiae is unconventional. I was born in Latin America, I speak English since I was five years old (now I am 36 years old), I attended a bilingual school that imparted lessons in both Spanish and English, and when I turned 18 years old I moved to Italy where I lived and worked for nearly fifteen years and I learnt Italian by osmosis. Before my migration to Italy I went on a short school exchange trip to the USA in order to switch my thinking brain from translating in my native language (Spanish) into English, to entirely thinking in my L2 (English). By the time I had moved to Europe, I already had a fairly high level of English despite not being even 20 years old.
I have been living in France for almost five years now and, again, by osmosis, I have learnt French. I like to read translation and interpreting books, and have carried out translation work free of charge as a means to practise and to strengthen my skills in the field. Hence my signing up to www.proZ.com that will allow me to get feedback and precious advice on how to proceed towards becoming a fully accomplished translator.
I would like to register for the CIOL's Diploma in Translation so that I can boost my employability in the translation and interpreting industry.
But is it possible to work as a translator not having a relevant university degree title ?

Thank you in advance to everyone.
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Alex Ossa
Alex Ossa  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 19:01
Member (2017)
Spanish to English
+ ...
As with most things... depends! Jun 29, 2020

Hi Gabriel,

It is, of course, possible to become a translator with having an undergraduate degree in translation. However, the road is not short. You don't mention whether you have studies in another field: it seems from your CV that you don't, so I'll assume that.

1) Languages: speaking a language fluently doesn't mean you should be translating into it. I see from your profile that you offer translation into English, French, Spanish and Italian. Most LSPs only a
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Hi Gabriel,

It is, of course, possible to become a translator with having an undergraduate degree in translation. However, the road is not short. You don't mention whether you have studies in another field: it seems from your CV that you don't, so I'll assume that.

1) Languages: speaking a language fluently doesn't mean you should be translating into it. I see from your profile that you offer translation into English, French, Spanish and Italian. Most LSPs only accept translations into a translator's native language, which in your case would be Spanish (PE, possibly LA). Just from taking a look at your CV in English there are several items which a native English-speaking potential employer would use to question why you are offering translation into English. You also mention a C1 level certificate in English - that is certainly not good enough to be translating into English.

My recommendation is to concentrate on translation into Spanish only. It communicates your understanding of the industry and serious approach to translation. You already offer services from three languages into Spanish, which is 2 more than most translators, and may be interesting to LSPs or international direct clients.

2) Education - general it will be difficult to gain sustainable employment from either a direct client or LSP if you don't have any kind of formal degree. Translators mostly either studied translation at an undergraduate level, or gained a degree in another field, worked in it, then started to study and practice translation. If you want to be a general translator, you should have a translation degree, whether undergraduate or postgraduate. If you want to be a specialist translator, a degree in that field. If none of those options appeal to you, you will have a tough few years ahead...

3) Education - DipTrans: The DipTrans is an exam certification, not a course. This means that it is a marker of your experience, not a way to gain experience. If you have no other translation studies, I do not recommend you take the DipTrans until you have significantly more professional experience and/or other courses under your belt (tutored courses providing linguistics training, even if they do not provide a degree). The DipTrans has a low pass rate (for SpanishEnglish around 20-30%) because it is so demanding - and you have to prepare yourself. If you have nothing to which to compare the quality of your work, how can you know what areas you need to improve?

I recommend that for now you concentrate on some other degree, depending on your career goals. See the point below.

4) Generalisation/Specialisation: if you want to be a generalist translator, there are some alternatives to studying an undergraduate degree, although not all clients will consider those alternatives a replacement, depending on how strict they are. There are shorter courses ending in a diploma from recognised institutions that may give you useful knowledge, tools and a useful certificate within a year or so. Search online for one that fits your goals. As a generalist translator, the bar for qualification may be lower (I'm not talking about quality of translation but field of study), but you will face more competition in the field. If you're ok with that, go for it.

Another option is to become a specialist. Specialists usually have an undergraduate degree in another field, which doesn't seem to be your case. However, if you're not interested in taking an undergraduate course you will still need to study the field of your chose specialisation - informally at first, to familiarise yourself with the subject, then formally to gain a recognized degree that will support your claim to be an expert in the field. Without work experience in that field it might still be a tricky sell, however, as you will be competing with others who have undergraduate and masters degrees (or above) either in translation and/or the specialisation field, plus work experience in that field.

Not all specialisation fields require this level of academic study - I believe gaming, for example, requires a lot of technical knowledge but not necessarily a degree (someone who knows this field better please provide better information!). As you say you like to learn coding, that might be an interesting field for you to look into.

A word of caution: in your Proz profile, you list a lot of specialist fields in which you have no training and apparently no work experience either. Rather than widen your net, that will play against you because it shows you don't understand the level of expertise required to provide translations in law, economics and engineering, just to name a few. Have you actually worked in all the fields you list under 'Also work in:'? Because you might get asked to talk about that, and the fields are so disparate that it raises more red flags. I suggest that for now, you concentrate on the areas in which you have direct experience, as you don't have any qualifications yet, and only list fields you have actually worked in with translation. If I were an LSP, I would also be concerned that you present yourself as a translator and/or interpreter. They are two very different fields requiring very different skillsets. Have you studied what it means to be an interpreter?

I would end this overly-long reply (apologies) with a general suggestion: it's great that you love translation and are enthusiastic about devoting yourself to it. It might be more productive for you to channel that enthusiasm into providing specific services that you can support, and also study what information a client might be interested to know about you. Fill in the knowledge gaps (CAT tools, linguistics and general industry knowledge, then more) with CPD as well as some kind of formal degree, and gain significantly more experience before attempting the DipTrans.

For example, instead of saying you are a translator and/or interpreter to and from your 4 languages in all the fields on your profile, perhaps redefine yourself as a translator offering services from three languages into Spanish (PE) in the areas of logistics & warehouse management. That will give you a starting point to focus you skillset development. If that's not where you want to end up, that's fine: start your professional journey there (be prepared to sweat low rates at the beginning, given your profile) while you gain an education in the areas where you do want to end up.

Best of luck,
Alex
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Jorge Payan
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Gabriel Ferrero
Gabriel Ferrero
France
Local time: 23:01
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Translation and interpreting Jun 29, 2020

Thank you for your opinion and for your advice.

Best regards.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 23:01
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Gabriel Jun 29, 2020

Gabriel Ferrero wrote:
I would like to register for the CIOL's Diploma in Translation so that I can boost my employability in the translation and interpreting industry. But is it possible to work as a translator not having a relevant university degree title?


It is perfectly possible to get work as a translator without a university degree. It all comes down to how well you can convince people that you are a good translator.

The CIOL's "Diploma in Translation" is a bit of a misnomer: most diplomas are awarded after a period of study (and thus, having the diploma implies having been taught), but the Diploma in Translation is simply an exam. You need to have the necessary skill already before you take the exam (otherwise you're just wasting your money). The Diploma in Translation claims to be a "level 7" qualification, which in the UK means that it is equivalent to a master's degree, so you can imagine how difficult the exam is. In addition, having the Diploma in Translation won't improve your chances of getting work, except among clients who happen to know that this "diploma" is a master's degree level diploma instead of an undergraduate diploma. If you want to spend money on a translation diploma, get one that involves actual study and actual teaching by teachers, so that you learn something new, at least.

I recommend that you polish your résumé so that it contains no errors. Also, your current résumé appears to be one that is targeted at getting a full-time job, instead of one that is aimed at getting clients for individual assignments. Your résumé's current message is "I'm not really a translator, but I would like to become one".

I agree with most of what Alex says in his post.

Alex Ossa wrote:
You also mention a C1 level certificate in English - that is certainly not good enough to be translating into English.


I disagree. All things being equal, level C1 is more than sufficient for translating from and into a language. That said, the fact that you achieved this level in an exam does not mean that your current language ability is at this level. Take, for example, your current résumé: it uses words that only barely mean what you think they mean.

In your Proz profile, you list a lot of specialist fields in which you have no training and apparently no work experience either. ... Have you actually worked in all the fields you list under 'Also work in:'?


I don't think this is good advice. Unfortunately, ProZ.com's directory system does not distinguish between fields that you do work in and fields that you want to work in. The "specialisms" listed on your ProZ.com profile pages are simply a reflection of your settings w.r.t. which directory searches you want to appear in. Having something listed as e.g. "also work in" on your profile page does not imply that you "also work in" that field. ProZ.com has no plans of fixing this confusing setting.

[Edited at 2020-06-29 07:22 GMT]


 
Gabriel Ferrero
Gabriel Ferrero
France
Local time: 23:01
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Translation and interpreting Jun 29, 2020

I thank you for your feedback.
Best regards.


 


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