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My profession is a universal translator | Choice of profession. how to choose the right profession

My profession is a universal translator | Choice of profession. how to choose the right profession

1. What is the name of your profession (position)? A highly qualified universal translator is the most demanded translation profession today. By generalist interpreter, I mean a translator who successfully performs all types of interpretation and translation, including simultaneous interpretation and translation into a non-native language. At the same time, it is completely unrealistic to demand that each translator undertake only translations in one or two areas that are thoroughly familiar to him, and be sure to have a special education in the highly specialized area in which he translates. In general, there are a lot of types of translation activities and specializations. At the same time, those who work in this profession or call themselves translators differ greatly among themselves both in the level of professional qualifications and in the pay rates and working conditions to which they agree. 2. What is your job and what are your responsibilities? The nature of work and the range of duties of a universal translator who is actively working in the market is quite wide and, again, can be very different - depending on the specific customer of translation services or a translation order. A universal translator (one in all persons) is designed to provide a full range of translation services for those customers with whom he works. At the same time, each professional translator has, as a rule, both regular and occasional, that is, one-time customers. The most prestigious and highly paid type of interpreting is simultaneous interpreting, which requires the obligatory availability of special equipment (simultaneous translation booths, headphones for interpreters, receivers for translation consumers). Without such special equipment, simultaneous (that is, practically simultaneous with the speaker) translation is impossible. Due to the increased intensity, simultaneous interpretation requires at least two interpreters, who rotate every 20-30 minutes. Ideally, this should generally be 3 translators. But then the payment will have to be divided by three, which turns out to be unprofitable for translators. But simultaneous translation is not required every day, so many interpreters interpret simultaneously only a few days a month, or even less often. The rest of the translation load falls on sequential, phrase-by-phrase and all kinds of mixed forms of translation (interpretation of negotiations, whispering in the ear, translation of visits to organizations and construction sites, etc.) At the same time, the success of oral non-synchronous translation to a large extent depends on the ability of the translator to choose the right place for himself (so that he can hear the speakers well and be heard well), as well as the ability to generally optimize the conditions for performing translation (correct seating of participants, reasonable speech speed of the speaker, transfer of pre-written texts to the translator, etc.). But the largest share of the translation market still falls on written translations. Therefore, a universal translator is engaged in writing most of the time.foreign translations. That is, it is exclusively work with texts. Moreover, translations of all kinds of technical, construction and medical texts are most often required. A separate large area is bank and legal transfers. Any written translation is a rather dreary and painstaking thing. There are almost no easy translations. A translator has to not only struggle with translating signatures to all kinds of diagrams and drawings, look for decoding of abbreviations, etc., but also endure often unreasonable nit-picking by customers. But the main scourge in the performance of written translations is highly complicated texts with extremely short deadlines set by the translation customer. Today, at least 70% of the written translation market is accounted for by urgent and extra-urgent translations. With a reasonable Western norm of 4-5 pages of translation during a working day for an office translator, in every second case we expect a freelance translator to translate 10-15-20 pages in a day (plus a night), as a rule, far from ideal text. In general, each individual translator of a universal profile also has his own preferences and those niches where he works more willingly and feels more confident. 3. What education is required to get your position? The translator is an applied profession. For successful work in the translation market, the main thing is practical experience and the availability of professional translation skills. Today, as far as I can tell, two out of three translators do not have a translation diploma, but at best have a diploma of a foreign language teacher, a specialist in intercultural communication, a linguist or a philologist. But this does not mean at all that they cannot be good translators. Well, purely for a questionnaire or resume, or to get a job as a translator in some prestigious organization, a translator's diploma from the Moscow State Linguistic University or some equivalent language university can be very useful. 4. Describe your working day. Personally, my working day is quite unpredictable, because at any moment they can call me and offer some kind of urgent translation, moreover, those customers with whom I work on a regular basis and whom I cannot refuse. Sometimes, albeit not so often, you have to go urgently and for interpretation. When there are written translations, I usually sit at the computer from 9 o'clock. When you don’t have time, and the translation must be handed in no later than a certain hour, then you have to translate until late in the evening, and in the morning already at 7 o’clock. sit down at the computer again. 5. How comfortable are your working conditions? The working conditions of an interpreter, as a rule, are not very comfortable; This is the cost of this profession. The translator is almost entirely dependent on the customer of the translations, especially when interpreting. He is forced to translate in a restaurant, and in a smoking room, and in a helicopter at minus 20 degrees overboard. Moreover, often the translator does not know in advance whether it will beand he has a lunch break today and generally some pauses in work. After all, he is just “with someone”, and must “please” this someone all day. This is especially critical when you translate alone, without a partner. When translating at home, you certainly feel more comfortable. But, on the other hand, sitting for 10-12 hours at a PC with a headache and constant nervous tension is also far from ideal working conditions. In any case, taking into account the extreme physical and mental stress, for a successful professional activity, the translator must constantly maintain good physical shape. 6. What do you like most about your job? You learn something new all the time. There is an opportunity and, most importantly, an incentive for constant professional growth. Every day you pass through yourself a lot of interesting information from various fields. Meeting different people, sometimes interesting trips. 7. What do you dislike most about your job? Overdependence on customers and their whims. The translator always turns out to be the last one, and he has to constantly pay with his own health for someone’s inability or unwillingness to correctly write a text, set reasonable deadlines for translation, properly organize an event (so that it is “translational”), etc. At the same time, the translator is usually perceived as a "service personnel", and not as a highly qualified intellectual worker, although he is just such. 8. If it's not a secret, what is your salary level (does it suit you or not)? Taking into account the enormous efforts a translator has to make first to master foreign languages ​​and professional translation skills, and then to maintain these skills and translation form (not to mention the costs of equipping the translator’s workplace), and also taking into account the translator’s hard labor, translation fees are negligible. Probably more profitable to engage in private transport. After all, any type of translation, including simultaneous, requires considerable labor and effort for preparation. And after each such “publication”, the translator still has to somehow recover and come to his senses. Therefore, it is impossible to measure the level of payment of an interpreter only by hourly rates. There is also an invisible part of the iceberg in the translator's work. 9. Describe your team, what kind of people work with you? All translators are very different. Interpreters are usually more extroverted, although there are exceptions. Translators are more introverts. Universal interpreters should be flexible enough and easy-going. 10. What human qualities do you think are most important in your business? The translator does not really need human qualities, they only get in the way. The translator must be an executive robot. It is better when he does not understand the humiliation of his position and humbly endures all the troubles and injustices associated with his professional activities. The translator needs, first of all, a good physical shapeand efficiency, for interpreting the speed of reaction. For all types of translation, the ability to quickly switch and, of course, the ability to communicate with people, whether they are customers or your colleagues. After all, translators often work in pairs and exchange orders with each other. 11. The work gives me additional opportunities I repeat: the positive aspects of the work of an interpreter include its versatility, meetings with interesting people and frequent trips around the country and abroad. But each translator develops in his own way. 12. Do you have the opportunity to evaluate your work on a five-point scale, what grade would you give? If we are talking about assessing the success and professionalism of our own translation activities, then I would give myself 5 and a half in the category "Translation All-Around". If we talk about career growth and external achievements, then 4 with a minus. Not everyone knows how to get along, and circumstances are not always in our favor. If we mean the assessment of the translation profession, then it depends on what to compare. In addition, the status of the translation profession and the very nature of translation work is constantly changing (market economy, computers, etc.). If we compare the profession of a translator with the profession of a mediocre bank employee, programmer or web designer, then we will have to be content with a rating of "3". But the main thing is who has a soul for what. 13. Why did you choose this job? It happened. I owe 90% of this choice to my high school German teacher. First, she aroused my interest in the German language (she sent me to the Olympiads), and then, as they say, she led me by the hand to the Moscow Inyaz. But I entered there by a miracle, despite the gold medal. At school, I liked algebra the most, but I never regretted my choice. Although, due to character traits, if I had chosen, say, chemistry, I would probably have become the same conscientious and competent chemist. You can learn more about the profession of a translator on my portal Translation-Blog.ru 0