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I Want to Work in … translating or interpreting

PROFILE: Translator

INVOLVES: Translating documents from a foreign language into your mother-tongue. These may be scientific/technical (e.g. patents, instruction manuals), legal, financial, commercial & occasionally literary.
EMPLOYERS: International organisations; multinational companies; translation agencies; Government bodies. Many translators are self-employed
RELATED JOBS: interpreter; teacher of English as a foreign language; modern languages teacher; bilingual secretary.
SATISFACTIONS: Using languages; flexibility; independence
NEGATIVES: Work alone - may feel isolated. Working under pressure to meet deadlines. For freelance translators: uncertainty; no regular work pattern; no guaranteed salary.
SKILLS: written communication, using languages, analysing, using computers.
ADVANCEMENT: Career progression may be by developing knowledge of further languages or areas of expertise. Setting up own translation agency.
DEGREE: A degree in languages (single or joint honours) will be required unless you are bilingual or fluent in a second language. A language combined with another relevant subject, such as science, engineering, law or business would be particularly useful. Languages other than mainstream European ones also an advantage.
POSTGRADUATE STUDY: MA or postgraduate diploma courses in translation very useful.
TIPS: Experience living/working overseas, or in a relevant business sector useful.

Interpreting is a tiny and stressful career area, which can be difficult to break into on a full-time basis. Employers include international organisations but, as with translators, many interpreters are freelance.

Prospects Occupational Profiles:

Translator www.prospects.ac.uk/links/translator
Interpreter www.prospects.ac.uk/links/interpreter

Translation Industry Career Guide www.lingo24.com/careerguide.html
The Chartered Institute of Linguists www.iol.org.uk offers a Diploma in Translation and a Diploma in Public Service Interpreting. Course handbooks can be downloaded from their website.
The Institute of Translation & Interpreting www.iti.org.uk – professional association for translators and interpreters in the UK
Association Internationale des Interpretes de Conference (AIIC) www.aiic.net/Vega - r outes into Conference Interpreting
Centre for Information on Language Teaching & Research www.cilt.org.uk
Includes factsheets on “ Presenting yourself to work providers and translation companies” www.cilt.org.uk/langservices/pdf/presentingyourself.pdf
and “How to make money working freelance for translation companies” www.cilt.org.uk/langservices/pdf/makingmoney.pdf
Languages Work www.languageswork.org.uk case studies on language careers
Translators at the European Parliament: a personal view www.europarl.europa.eu/trans/2001-trad_en.pdf
The European Commission has two separate language services, the Directorate-General for Translation http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation and the Directorate-General for Interpretation http://europa.eu/interpretation/index_en.htm.
These recruit staff (including stagiares ) independently of each other and according to different criteria. Linguists at the Commission work exclusively for one or the other. The two Directorates-General have worked together on an on-line booklet about their work called “ Translating and Interpreting – Languages in Action ” (published 2001) which you can find at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/bookshelf/traduc_int_en.pdf
Translation Directory www.translationdirectory.com – portal for freelance translators and translation agencies. Site includes a number of interesting articles about the work of translators as well as job ads.
RWS Translations www.rws.com - translation, documentation and localisation services to the legal and financial, medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, engineering and telecoms industries. Regularly recruits graduates as trainee translators and translation checkers: German seems to be the language most in demand.
Pearl Linguistics www.pearllinguistics.com/recruitment.php recruit freelance translators
Lingua-jobs www.lingua-jobs.com online job portal specializing in multilingual and bilingual job vacancies. Cover junior level to executive level positions across the full range of industry sectors, in over 50 languages.
Teamwork Vertaalworkshops www.teamwork-vertaalworkshops.nl agency that can help in getting translation jobs in Europe
A list of universities throughout the EU (and in other countries) currently working with the DG for Interpretation

www.languageswork.org.uk case studies on language careers including information sheets on
- careers in translatingwww.languageswork.org.uk/pdf/careers_in_translation_leaflet.pdf
- and interpreting www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/translating.htm

To find postgraduate or vocational courses in translation or interpreting, you should use one or more of the following:

“Find Courses and Research” at www.prospects.ac.uk/links/pgstudy
Hobsons Postgrad www.postgrad.hobsons.com Latest update on funding news, immediate vacancies, new courses and research places
Hot Courses www.hotcourses.com database of courses in the UK , including postgraduate courses and research.
FindAMasters www.FindAMasters.com Advice on Masters degrees plus a database of these courses in the UK and overseas

Translation Industry Career Guide www.lingo24.com/careerguide.html

Also see our Language Careers page

Last fully updated May 2009

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