It is recognized that along with other factors, success of a translator depends upon quality of received education or training. I will share my recommendations and advice.
Vlad Belousov, member of the Union of translators of Russia, author of text-books and training courses for oil and gas translators and interpreters.
Who of graduates from university translation and interpretation faculty would not like to build a successful career as a translator? But how can you achieve it? Let us try to figure it out.
Of course, this material is intended for ordinary people, who want to achieve everything with own work and efforts. Those who have relatives in the ministry able to “rattle jewelry” from the first rows at a concert can easily do without my recommendations.
So, the first stage is to receive education at the institute. Unfortunately, when we study at school, not many of us know what we want in life, and can correctly choose an institute for further studies. Therefore let us imagine an average situation – you entered an institute to study and become a translator of English and Arabic languages. When institute entrance examinations are successfully passed, most students just study not thinking about the future. It is not quite right, but true.
However, if you decided to study in order to work in the specialty and develop your career, it is reasonable to answer the following questions:
- Do I really want to study at this institute or I am here because I need to receive any higher education? Maybe I should drop studies or transfer to another institute?
- Have I made a correct choice for the pair of studied languages, or should I change the faculty, before it’s too late? Which of these two languages do I like more and will it become my main working language? Or both are equal for me?
- Do I want to work in the specialty as a translator, or I will use the received education and knowledge of languages for some other purpose?
- What would I like to become: a translator or an interpreter (consecutive or simultaneous)? In this relation I would like to give a recommendation – become a “do-all-professional” capable to translate and interpret, into a foreign language and back. Even if a part of it is not needed later, you will already have these important skills.
If it is clear that you have made a correct choice and really want to build a translator’s career, then think what translation areas you will deal with after graduation from the institute. For example, you can become a translator of fiction and poetry, medical, legal or military translator, oil and gas translator, etc. Remember, if you translate everything you are offered, then all your translations will be equally bad. You need to select one or several specialties for detailed studying. Specialty selection may depend upon your personal interests and preferences, market demand for translators in specific area, level of payment that varies in different industries.
Find out in your institute, possibly advanced courses in different topics are already arranged as optional training. However taking into account specifics of such training, I would recommend to start it from the third or the forth year of studies at the institute, when you already have sufficiently fluent level of foreign language. Most likely there are no such training courses at the institute, because specialized training of translators is related to post graduation education, at the level of Master’s degree program. At the same time you can independently study materials on the topic you are interested in.
Remember – it is the next step of your development as a professional translator. If you do not pass it, then in conditions of high current competition in the market among translators you have a risk not to find a descent job. Of course, you can work as a guide-interpreter, however it is better not to expect orders in highly specialized areas.
It is well known that a graduate from university is a specialist without work experience, who has education and profession, but does not have specialty, and who for that reason needs additional post graduation specialized training. Unfortunately, the state system of education so far cannot offer it for translators. Nevertheless, there are some private schools providing professional training courses for translators, which also can be combined with work.
The most important is not to make a mistake when choosing a school. I would like to warn you about one thing. In our hurry-scurry time we all want to pass training the quicker the better, and spend for that the least possible time, efforts and money. The market responds to such strive with ads like “I will teach you oil and gas English within 15 hours”. Be careful. He will not. For comparison, out full training course in all modules includes 270 training hours.
The most successful are those translators who have two higher educations – linguistic and industry-specific. However not all translators can afford it due to financial investments, spent time and efforts. In addition, a translator, for example in the oil and gas industry, does not need the same knowledge as an engineer. From this point of view, good industry-specific training course for translators is a good alternative. In many cases such training courses are conducted not by teachers but by your colleagues – competent translators with long working experience in the industry.
What must an industry-specific training course for translators include? First - introduction into the specialty. It is environment in which you can consciously study terminology in your native language and a foreign language. It is better if introduction into the specialty is provided in your native language, as a guarantee that everything will be clear. The method to conduct this part of training can be a video presentation with large illustrative material or description of the trainer with review questions.
Do not hesitate to ask questions. It is important to understand structure and operations of the industry where you are going to work. Then the course should include a module of written exercises helping to learn and apply terminology, and a module of audio exercises to transfer the learnt terminology into your active vocabulary. In the process of training do your best to gain maximum information on the industry, in which you will work, do not subscribe to short programs or separate topics trying to reduce training time and cost.
For example, if you plan to work in drilling department of an oil and gas company, it does not mean that you do need to know other areas of the industry. In my practice there were cases when in the process of interpretation at an oil refinery the topic of discussion suddenly changed to field geology with its specifics and terminology. Therefore your knowledge must be full and systematic rather than fragmentary.
Check what confirming documents you are offered after the training course completion – it is important to get a certificate from the training center known in the industry, because you will have to present it to your future employer at the interview. If it is a certificate from a licensed training center well-known in the industry supported with signature of a respected translator, who conducted the course, then the employer will have fewer questions, and your competitive advantages increase.
Find out, what support the training center offers after completion of the training course – not only respected certificate or diploma, but also glossaries, books and manuals to review the studied material, and also practical assistance, for example, inclusion into national register of translators in the selected industry and so on.
If after completion of industry-specific training course you are offered a job in the selected area – accept it even regardless of the salary level. Having received a profession at the institute and a specialty at industry-specific courses, it is very important to gain practical experience, see all operations for yourself, and even participate in some processes. Be active, address employees and ask questions, use any opportunity to visit operational facilities. If you are in the oil and gas industry, then the ideal option is work on rotation in the field. And yes, at the first stages do not forget to receive references on your work where possible.
In about a year you can expect some promotion at work, increase of salary or start looking for a better job in other companies of the industry. All the above-mentioned recommendations can be summed up in three words: education, specialty, practice. I hope that such recommendations can help you with selection of professional way in life.
