Translator in the humanities. “This is an absolutely thankless profession”: young translators about the pros and cons of their work All about the profession of English translator

On the one hand, in the global world, the profession of translator is extremely in demand. But at the same time, why learn another language if there is a universal English that everyone is trying to speak in one way or another? Thirdly, competition in the profession is very high, and machine translation technologies are actively developing. T&P learned from five young translators what it’s like to constantly be a mediator between different cultures and how another linguistic subpersonality helps in life, as well as the joys of successful formulation and the social significance of their work.

Anastasia Pozgoreva

translator from English

“You don’t just translate, but recreate the author’s text in another language”

When working with English, I tried a lot of different formats and topics and eventually found my niche - I specialize in reverse translation. Of course, I also translate from English; professional tradition has developed such that a person usually translates into his native language, but any skill can be developed in practice. A huge bonus of working with the most widely spoken language in the world is the ability to choose any topic. I would never undertake to translate something medical, but I am happy to work with the museum and exhibition complex “Institute of Russian Realistic Art”, translating exhibition catalogs and captions for exhibits for them, because this is very close to me.

I don’t think that a machine will ever replace a person in written translation. On the other hand, there is now practically no market for interpretation from English. I liked translating most at negotiations and meetings, but the demand for this has now almost disappeared. Most likely, now a large employer simply will not hire employees who do not speak the language. It’s good to know the language as an addition to some other profession. Along the way, I also had to retrain and take on management, marketing and online sales. I coordinate the translation service of a global company: a large organization needs marketing materials in 35 languages. As a translator, I work based on recommendations; I have never had to look for work.

Recently, people around have become noticeably better at speaking English, but this is more likely an achievement not of the state education system, but of the Internet and the ability to travel. English is still relatively easy. I now feel quite confident in any work with English, although I am not a native speaker. The difficulty for a non-native speaker is mainly articles and commas, the correct use of which we can never be one hundred percent sure. It is better to ask the native editor to proofread these nuances.

The people I have met in the English translation industry are usually much older than me, they are about forty, they have dedicated their whole lives to this business and are probably no longer ready to change anything. Very young people work with translations for about a year, and then they want to move into another field. Still, written translation is a fairly monotonous job that requires perseverance. The pace of life has accelerated: people want to learn as much as possible in a short time, rather than focus on one task.

Not everyone is capable of working as a synchronized interpreter in English, even if they have the appropriate education. This requires special personal and cognitive qualities. I sometimes do synchro for fun, but it would be very difficult for me to do this as my main activity.

The specificity of translation from Russian into English for me is that a lot of cultural and other realities have to be given in transliteration or descriptively. When translating, the most important skill is to have a good sense of style and transcreation (transcreation = creative translation). For example, once “minibus driver” had to be translated in context as “kamikaze driver.” Transcreation requires a lot of time and effort: you cannot translate directly, you always need to comprehend the text and redo something. But as a result of my work, the feeling of belonging is especially dear to me. You feel like a colleague of the person who wrote the book. After all, you are not just translating, but recreating the author’s text in another language.

Customers very often do not understand how much time it takes to translate. According to the conventional norm, one page, 1,800 characters, is translated in an hour. But if a translator approaches his work responsibly, he will definitely understand the terminology, proofread and edit. With this approach, it is difficult to comply with the temporary norm. And they often don’t understand that translation is difficult in principle. Just think: I took it and translated it, especially from English. In general, long-term communication in any foreign language is a big burden on the brain, it makes you physically and mentally tired.

Sonya Grigorieva

translator from German

“In another language you are just a different person”

I studied international journalism at MGIMO and literally just finished my master’s degree last year. In the last year of my bachelor's degree, I began translating from German and into German in the theater. 2012 was the Year of Germany in Russia, then I worked at the New European Theater (NET) festival, which was entirely dedicated to Germany. It was so cool that I started thinking about it as a possible future professional activity. Since then I have been working as a translator - mainly in the theater. This could be a tour when German troupes come, for example, to the Chekhov Festival. Or joint productions, say, at the Bolshoi Theater, when a German soloist, set designer or conductor comes. I work less often with dramatic performances, but this is very interesting, I was lucky to translate at Praktika and at the laboratories of the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov and the Goethe Institute. I also translate all sorts of normal things not related to the theater, and work on cultural projects at the Goethe-Institut.

In general, if you want or need to work hard, this is not a problem, there are a lot of opportunities. The main thing is to understand what exactly you want to do and develop your own structure. My situation seems ideal to me. Perhaps this is because I have not been in translation for 10 years yet - I do not feel tired of the monotony. In fact, this work is very diverse both in content and rhythm. There is a day when you work 10 hours straight: you are the only translator, and you are tired. And the next day there may be only a couple of technical issues.

As you know, at MGIMO you learn the language you were assigned to (since the institute is associated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which needs specialists in all languages). I don’t even remember exactly what I indicated when applying, but I got German. I accepted this choice, and everything worked out very well for us. They say that when you learn another language to a certain extent, it is as if you have acquired another soul. I think this is absolutely true. I've seen this many times with friends. In another language, you are just a different person.

I feel very comfortable in Germany and in the German environment. I am glad that no one can ever determine what kind of accent I have, which means that I am not perceived as some kind of alien element. When I work with Germans here in Russia, I also cannot say that I see in them representatives of some completely different culture. Yes, they always turn off the lights when they leave the room, they try not to use plastic bags, they say that it’s too warm here and we don’t save electricity at all, but these are rather minor things.

Translation is different, it all depends on the situation. I translated at the Golden Mask awards ceremony, when you need to go on stage at the Bolshoi Theater or the Stanislavsky Theater and translate in front of a large audience. This is a completely different feeling of yourself and language than when you interpret the same important people, but within the framework of office negotiations.

It is very difficult to translate on the fly without preparation, but this also happens. Once I translated almost impromptu at lectures at the Museum of Military Uniforms. Usually there is an opportunity to prepare, look at the terminology and special vocabulary in advance. And here the lecturer and the audience practically played the game “guess the word from the description,” I translated the details of the military uniform descriptively, and they told me the correct names. A special case is when it is necessary to translate the director's comments during rehearsals. It is important to convey often very complex philosophical concepts very accurately so that the intent and interpretation are clear. Recently at the Bolshoi there was Shostakovich’s opera “Katerina Izmailova”, it was staged by Rimas Tuminas, and it was necessary to translate for the German soloist about “consciousness”. In German it is a more complex concept related to “conscience” (“Bewußtsein”), and such abstract phenomena are more difficult to convey than technical issues.

Most of the actors and directors I work with speak English, but at a level that is sufficient for basic everyday communication. For the actual work process and rehearsals, a translator is needed. On the one hand, this is an additional intermediate link in communication, on the other hand, it is a guarantee of a more complete understanding, and the translator must feel when to withdraw from the conversation, and when, on the contrary, to help and explain.

It seems to me that we should not exaggerate the omnipotence of English at all. In the professional sphere, there always comes a time when a person must speak his native language in order to say exactly what he wants. In addition, I had an interesting experience working with young actors: it would seem that they are people of our generation who should know English fluently, because all the films and TV series around already broadcast this linguistic reality. But they completely spent the time when they could study the language on their career, so at the age of 25–26 they cannot work fluently with English; translation is still necessary. If I had another life, I would probably try to do something of my own in the theater. This is probably why so many critics at some point try themselves as creators in their area of ​​interest, but often it turns out so-so. So while I really enjoy watching this world, the theatrical environment is incredibly enriching and developing.

Denis Viren

translator from Polish

“The Poles and I have much more in common than it might seem”

Everything happened quite by accident with translation and the Polish language. I studied at VGIK to become a film scholar and thought that I would use Polish in my research, and then I worked a couple of times as a translator at the Moscow Film Festival and after that I began to take on a variety of orders.

When I first learned Polish, I had the feeling that it was a rare language (for example, Polish still has this status in publishing houses). But over time, I discovered that this was rather a misconception. Firstly, quite a lot of people learn Polish just for themselves. Secondly, it turned out that there are quite a lot of translators from Polish, and for them, in turn, there is quite a high demand. It would seem, who needs the Polish language? Many Poles of the older and middle generation still know Russian, and if they do business with Russia, then, as a rule, they even speak Russian. Young people most likely know English, and they don’t need a Polish translator. It turned out that this is not so and translation is really needed. I know more about the cultural sector, where major events are regularly held. For example, the theater festival of children's performances "Gavrosh", where last year the main guest was Poland. So it’s difficult to talk about competition in my business. In fact, there are many niches, and everyone can find their own.

The Poles and I have much more in common than it might seem. Poland positions itself as a country that is more committed to the West. This is certainly true, but at the same time the geographical and historical aspects still make themselves felt, there’s no getting around it. Poland is somewhere between East and West, and this is one of the main reasons for its specificity and the fact that it is a very interesting country from many points of view, including cultural. At recent business negotiations, I drew attention to the difference between Polish and Russian mentality - to the fact that, for example, Poles who do business are very concrete people. This is very noticeable in their manner of speech: they know what they want to say. Our businessmen have more confusion and chaos, so conversation is often a kind of stream of consciousness. I think this is due to the fact that the thought process continues while speaking, and Poles tend to think things through in advance.

I often hear concerns that because English is the language of international communication, local languages ​​like Polish will not be in demand. But practice shows the opposite. It often happens that people who even know English well say: “No, I want to speak my native language. Why, if there is a translator from my native language, will I express my thoughts not as fully and not as vividly as I could?”

A translator is always more than just a machine for translating from one language to another. The human factor is very important here. There is a very special connection with the person you are interpreting, especially when you have been working together for a long time. On the other hand, the human factor can complicate the work. Customers have a strange idea of ​​translators as people who, firstly, must be available all the time, and secondly, love their languages ​​so much that they can work simply because they enjoy it. I can still understand the first point: apparently, these are the costs of the profession. The second point seems completely wrong to me, and, in my opinion, this state of affairs has begun to change a little. There is respect and understanding that this is difficult work, sometimes physically difficult.

Roman Bondarenko

translator from Japanese

“In Russian everyday life I don’t encounter my Japanese subpersonality”

I really liked the sound of the word “arigato” and decided to learn Japanese. I studied at ISAA at the Department of History and Culture of Japan, so I was supposed to study the language and translation techniques in full. It was quite a tough workout and very useful.

In 2014, I became a translator at Baikonur. It so happened that for the launch of the Japanese satellite, they were looking for trilingual translators with Russian, English and Japanese. Our department issued a certain list of specialists, where I came after the teachers, but at that moment they all left to work at the Olympics in Sochi. Now I’m still working with French and getting my Spanish up to working order, so I don’t even know what I should be called. Quintilingual, probably. In my opinion, knowing Japanese in itself inspires respect. For some reason, people think that learning Japanese is very difficult.

Part of the Japanese picture of the world was very clearly explained to me at the institute, and part of it I had the opportunity to experience for myself. As for the financial return from working as a translator, I will say that you need to know the places. There are many sites that are full of not so much advertisements, but rather demands like “we need an ideal specialist, already yesterday and for a thousand rubles a day.” It is simply unrealistic to work under such conditions, but apparently, there are still people who need experience or really need money - this is the only way I can explain that such advertisements appear constantly.

A translator is a person who is called upon to ensure interaction between two parties, in fact a living interface. I'm pretty sure it will be able to be replaced with a mechanical one at some point about 90% of the time. A qualified translator is a guarantee that people will understand each other and they will not have to take into account the risk that a busy manager with knowledge of English does not understand a busy manager with knowledge of Japanese. This is the ability to delegate the guarantee of mutual understanding to the human interface.

In terms of interestingness, the only thing comparable to working at Baikonur is my experience as a translator at karate training camps in Russia. Shihan, a 9th dan master (higher than sensei), came. I had never practiced karate, and I wanted to understand an unfamiliar environment in a minimum amount of time, master the terminology and imitate one of them. I remember that during one of the training camps, one of the honored sensei from the Russian side came up to me during a break and asked me not to shout. And we are in a gym where 200-300 people are training at the same time, I translate the commands, and they must be pronounced loudly, including phrases like “So, after training, hand over your black belts to me, I will take them to Japan and send you brown ones in return.” (which means a decrease in level). I can’t mumble such phrases! No, I convey the same emotion when translating. This is how I shouted, having every right, at 300 people, who represent a rather formidable fighting force.

I heard the theory that with each language learned to a certain level, a separate linguistic subpersonality develops in a person, which bears the characteristics of the mentality of the people who speak that language. This may be due to grammatical structures, such as the dominance of verbs in Spanish. I have a fairly strong Japanese subpersonality, so that when I speak Japanese, I am a completely different person. But in my Russian everyday life I don’t particularly encounter the Japanese subpersonality. There are some concepts of the Japanese worldview that really attract me. For example, "ikigai". It can be roughly translated as “the meaning of life,” but more precisely it is something like “goal,” “direction,” “path.” The Japanese think much less in abstract terms; with them everything is much more concrete. Therefore, haiku poetry is like a magnifying glass on a specific moment. The Japanese are very strong at observation, as opposed to theorizing.

Alexandra Bibikova

translator from Italian

“People often ask me: ‘You know Italian so well, why don’t you leave?’”

My choice of profession began with a rather vague desire to become either an interpreter or a writer. It’s just that I’ve always been inspired by the fact that translation is needed to facilitate understanding between people. We often do not understand each other in the same language, and even more so in different languages. I studied at the philological department of Moscow State University and chose Italian simply because I fell in love with Italy, with the language and culture. I remember one of my first experiences in interpreting: I helped an Italian director who came to Russia to make a film about icons. He was interested in the Savior Not Made by Hands, since this genre is much less widespread in Italy. It was both very interesting and difficult - a specific topic.

In the end, I realized that I like both oral and written translation, the most important thing is what to translate, the topic. For example, I am not very inspired by routine work on documents or negotiations between oil workers. I’m ready to take on something like this, but the social significance of my work is important to me. For example, now the help of a translator is often required to prepare documents for adoption or for medical support.

I would say that translating is an absolutely thankless profession in the sense that those who can pay for this work usually do not consider him as a worthwhile person. Often the customer wants to pay less or is not always respectful. So a translator is far from the most profitable and respected profession. But I can still say that in Moscow many graduates work in one way or another in the profession, in particular with the Italian language. And here, as in many places, it is important to be quick, to be able to penetrate into a professional environment, the skill of communication itself and the ability to make acquaintances and maintain connections are important. In the work itself, it is very important to understand the realities of life in the country whose language you are studying.

People often ask me: “You know Italian so well, why don’t you leave?” In sunny, carefree, friendly Italy, it is now very difficult to find work for both Italians and visitors. So, it seems to me that working professionally with the Italian language is easier in Russia, in Moscow, than there. Italian has a lot of pitfalls. You will never stop improving.

My job is a constant compromise between what I want to do and what I get paid to do. It can be quite tedious; you have to sit at night with several orders at once. No matter how well you do your job, there are still dissatisfied clients, and something has to be redone and re-registered. But if you don't translate only for money or praise, you will find a lot of inspiration and pleasure. There is always a challenge in the work of a translator. Translating Italian poetry was such a challenge for me. When my colleagues and I were working on a book of poems by Corrado Calabro, it was assumed that I would make an interlinear translation, and then the poet would rework my material into poetry - this way we would have such a joint translation. As a result, my interlinear translations were published as something that was closer to the author.

In translating poetry, the most difficult thing was to convey the realities of Italian life into Russian. For example, there was a poem called “A targhe alterne”, but such a concept simply does not exist in the Russian language. Targhe alterne is an Italian law, it is aimed at limiting the flow of cars in the city center. According to this law, on even days you can only enter the center by car with even number plates, and vice versa. Of course, Italians will find a way around almost any law, and almost every family has two cars: one with even numbers, the other with odd numbers. But nevertheless, such a limitation exists, and it is well understood by any Italian. The poem ended with the phrase “our life is unfair, like targhe alterne.” As a result, we translated the name as “Roulette” and provided a footnote with explanations.

People who can interpret the speech of representatives of one nation to another appeared in time immemorial. In Ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, the profession of translator was quite in demand and, if not for it, we simply would not have had most of the books of the Old Testament. These volumes were preserved thanks to the educated Greeks. Political negotiations, signing peace and starting wars, receiving ambassadors and working on government documents - all this was the responsibility of translation masters.

In modern society, representatives of this profession are valued no less highly. The world of the 21st century, with its globalization, the Internet, and constant communication between different countries, needs good specialists. Therefore, even those who, having this profession, have not found a position in a corporation or government agency, can find many private orders online.

Translators are required in consulates and ministries, business empires and factories, retail chains and small firms and, of course, publishing houses.

Translation as a profession

For a long time it was believed that a translator is obliged to scrupulously transfer all the details and nuances into the plane of another language. However, in the second half of the twentieth century, a different opinion emerged. The profession of translator today is the science of generalizing and abstracting. This is having excellent communication skills. To convey the meaning to the listener or reader, adapting it to the peculiarities of speech - this is the ultimate goal of the work of a qualified interpreter. This is exactly where all the pros and cons of being a translator lie.

What types of translators are there?

• Translators-linguists. Most universities produce these. This is a universal direction; professionals study the language, its structure, and features. This allows you to interpret oral speech or text, adapting to the specifics of a particular dialect.
• Technical translators. A huge amount of highly specialized literature, instructions, descriptions, announcements in various fields (pharmacology, engineering, IT technologies) require specialists who understand both the topic and the language. Such masters are worth their weight in gold, are snapped up by international companies and receive excellent salaries. Reviews of certain new products, analysis of foreign sites and literature are among their responsibilities. However, often, in addition to linguistic education, other things are required for translations in a particular field, otherwise it will simply be impossible to understand the terms.
• Business and business translators. The style and language of official meetings at a high level forces top managers to look for specialists who can convey the meaning of what was said at business negotiations without going beyond what is permitted. A special article concerns translators in the diplomatic sphere, who are obliged to remain within the framework of international ethics and political etiquette.
• Translation of documentation. Knowledge of the language and accuracy are the main success factors for such specialists.
• The profession also includes the artistic interpretation of text. Here, in addition to knowledge of the language, literary talent, stylistic sensitivity and knowledge of the mentality of different countries are important.
• Interpretation specialist. There can be many options for working here:
• interpreter for a politician, businessman, artist in a foreign country or during negotiations;
• journalist;
• guide;
• accompanying various types of groups.

Such a person needs diplomatic attitudes and high communication skills. The main goal of his work is to ensure that people understand each other and are able to come to an agreement.

What advantages does the profession have?

If you choose this specialty as your life’s work, its advantages become a good incentive to study and achieve your goal.

• Translators are in great demand. Yes, there are a lot of them, but the demand for such specialists is huge.
• This profession is rated as one of the most promising in terms of career. You can become the head of a department, a company, a corporation, a dean of a faculty or a rector, or a successful diplomat in your field if you put in the effort.
• The salary of a translator is high both throughout the world and in our country.
• There are many opportunities for part-time work and freelancing: from tutoring neighbor kids to ordering translations via the Internet.
• The opportunity to travel, not to sit in a stuffy office, but to combine the work for which you are paid and gaining new experiences.

Disadvantages of being a translator

Naturally, the profession has its downsides. They will not stop those who are truly in love with this business. Hesitant people will be able to adequately assess the obstacles that arise in their path and the real opportunities to achieve their goal.

• Translation as a profession is not suitable for everyone. There are people who find it so difficult to learn a foreign language that it is simply torture for them. Without a certain type of memory and thinking, success will be small.
• The competition for faculties is huge. University entrance exams are incredibly difficult. Therefore, parents often have to hire tutors, whose services cost a lot. When entering prestigious universities, you must pass an audition. You can do this successfully if you communicate with native speakers of the language and culture. Not everyone has this opportunity.
• You need to be prepared that, once you start working, you will have to frequently go on business trips, spend a lot of time at work, and constantly learn and improve. The result is success and professionalism!
• The modern market is oversaturated with low-skilled translators who perform low-quality work, but for little money. Thus, it becomes more difficult for a professional to find an employer who will adequately evaluate his work.

Features of the educational process

When applying to study to become a translator, you need to understand the pros and cons of the university and faculty, and understand what awaits you. It’s worth starting with the fact that the competition is usually great, and in elite institutions it reaches about fifty people per place. Therefore, you will have to fight for a place in the sun.

A translator is a linguist, which means that all the delights of philological education – one of the most difficult – await you. Extensive grammatical analyzes, dictations, scrupulous study of language levels, reading a huge number of monographs - all these are components of the study.

This profession requires communication skills. You need to talk a lot, without hesitation, listen and understand your interlocutor, and be able to interpret his speech. Ideally, it is necessary to communicate with native speakers. Therefore, a formal approach to the translator’s work is not suitable. Constant self-improvement, endless practice, extensive reading - these are the components of success that will allow you to move forward.

Translation is a profession that requires versatile skills and talents. You need to have a broad outlook and be a well-read person, love to listen to others and talk to them, feel the boundaries of what is permitted, the style and emotional content of what is said. The doors of the largest corporations, the most reputable government agencies, banks and agencies are truly open to such specialists. If desired, a translation master can work at home, receiving both good money and moral satisfaction from his work.

Why it’s not enough to just finish foreign language, why does a translator need emotional stability, and what will happen to the profession in the digital future?

Translator and Chinese teacher

Since childhood, foreign languages ​​have aroused my curiosity: why are the same words so different in different languages? I listened to Spanish lessons on the radio, and I was fascinated by how a short Russian sentence turns into a long foreign one. Later I learned that there are translators - people who help representatives of different cultures understand each other.

After school, I entered Krasnoyarsk State University (now Siberian Federal University) and chose Chinese. Then she studied at Fudan University in Shanghai and Tsinghua University in Beijing. As a child, I wanted to become a translator or a teacher, and I realized both dreams: I translate and teach my favorite Chinese language to children and adults.

Types of translation

Translation is traditionally divided into oral and written.

Oral. Perform synchronously or sequentially. A simultaneous interpreter sits in a specially equipped booth and speaks simultaneously with the speaker. In consecutive interpreting, the speaker speaks first, and the interpreter listens, records what is said, and translates during pauses.

Sometimes a simultaneous interpreter works without a booth: he sits next to the listener and speaks or whispers the translation to him simultaneously with the speaker’s speech. This is called chuchoutage. Sometimes equipment is used for chuchoutage: the interpreter speaks into a microphone, and the listener receives the signal through an earphone.

Writing. It is often divided by industry: for example, artistic, legal, technical, medical or military.

I translate in writing, orally in sequence and perform chuchoutage. I specialize in the fields of construction, mechanical engineering, Chinese traditional medicine, legal translation and cryptocurrencies. I also like to conduct excursions for Chinese specialists and talk about Siberia.

While working at an exhibition in Beijing

Features of the profession

My profession allows me to develop and see the world through the eyes of different people. For example, in Western culture, straightforwardness is valued, but in the East it is considered a disadvantage. When the Chinese say “this man is straightforward,” they mean that he is rude. They also do not wish you a pleasant appetite or a happy journey, but say “eat slowly”, “walk slowly”. It is believed that measured actions allow you to enjoy life and avoid mistakes.

I’ll tell you about the qualities that distinguish a good universal translator.

The ability to translate not words, but meaning. The most difficult thing to translate is poetry and jokes, because the main thing in them is often implied and not said. When translating, it is important to find an analogue of the statement so that the author’s meaning is clear.

Ability to work hard. Perhaps the most boring part of the job is checking the translated text, but there is no way to do without it.

Endurance. The longest negotiations I translated lasted 6 hours without a break. The longest working day is 28 hours without a break for sleep.

Emotional stability. Sometimes negotiators conflict, and the translator has to translate in an emotionally charged environment. Of course, such extreme working conditions do not arise every day, but you need to be prepared for them.

Knowledge of standards. For example, it is customary to always translate in the first person: if in the original the speaker says “I believe,” then the translation should also say “I believe.” From the third person - “he believes” - they are translated only during the interrogation of the suspect.

Intelligent Flexibility- willingness to use technological innovations and software to improve the speed and quality of translation.

Responsibility. I don’t take on a project if the topic is new to me and the project is urgent. Also - if I understand that there is little time for preparation and it will not be possible to ensure high quality translation.

Working hours and earnings

Translators work on staff or freelance. For some, the team and stability are important - they work better in the office. It is useful for a novice translator to work in a company: to see internal processes, learn translation requirements in practice, and learn from the experience of senior colleagues.

Freedom lovers who are confident in their abilities are going freelance.

Cost of services depends on the type of translation, the qualifications of the specialist and the region. For example, an hour of consecutive interpreting in Moscow costs 2,500 rubles, and in Krasnoyarsk - half that. At the same time, some translators agree to work at a rate below the market rate, while others charge a high price.

A freelancer is limited only by his own qualifications and performance. A full-time translator is limited by the company's budget.

Where to start and where to study

First try

In some countries, schoolchildren work as tour guides during the holidays. When I was in Seoul, a 12-year-old Korean girl gave me an interesting tour. The girl said that she was participating in a volunteer project and wanted to become a translator in the future.

I got my first translation experience in my third year. A Chinese entrepreneur who wanted to open a business in Krasnoyarsk approached our faculty. I volunteered to help him to put my knowledge into practice and understand what it was like to be a translator.

Higher education

Traditionally, Moscow State University is considered a “translation” university. Lomonosov, Russian State University for the Humanities, MGIMO, Moscow Linguistic University and Far Eastern Federal University. Translators for international organizations are trained at the St. Petersburg Higher School of Translation. They accept university graduates who, along with Russian, are fluent in two foreign languages.

You can become a translator even without a philological or linguistic education, since special knowledge is sometimes more important than language proficiency. For example, Dmitry Troitsky, translator and founder of Troitsky Translation Services, graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Technology of Tula University. Timote Suladze is a simultaneous Italian translator from Belarus, a law school graduate.

A translator must study throughout his life, and at the same time not just memorize words, but delve into the topic. For example, I know how a Bitcoin mining machine works, how an overhead crane works, how to register a company in China, and how a Chinese medicine acupuncturist works.

Required Skills

To work as a translator, graduating from foreign language is not enough. The translator must quickly switch and rearrange sentences so that the “ears” of the original do not stick out from the translation. As a result, the text should come out alive, as if it were spoken by a native speaker and not a foreigner. To do this, it is useful to spend at least one month in the country of the language you are learning: to see how people live and communicate, to feel the peculiarities of the culture.

On the northern peak of the Huangshan mountain range, 1614 meters above sea level

It is important for a master interpreter to be able to establish contact with people, have a rich vocabulary, strong memory and quick reaction. Thoughtfulness and perseverance are important in written translation.

Learning from practitioners

In August 2018, I participated in an international conference of translators in Yekaterinburg. The heads of translation agencies complained that universities often teach theorists, not practitioners. As a result, graduates are unable to translate well, so it is important to find out in advance who teaches classes in your department or courses.

At the international conference of translators in Yekaterinburg

If a specialist does not translate for more than three months, he loses his form. Translators can study and improve their skills online. For example, I supervise online courses of consecutive interpretation in the Translator's Notes project. In online classes I share my experience with those who want to try out the profession.

Artificial intelligence and live translation

Digital technologies make translation easier, for example, translation automation programs - CAT (Computer-assisted translation tool). CAT helps you process text faster and ensure that the same terms are translated the same way everywhere. Machine translation is also gaining momentum and will soon take over 90% of the text.

Interpretation technologies still leave much to be desired, but remote translation is developing. For example, the World Cup events were transferred from Moscow. Modern technologies make it possible to ensure minimal time delay. Remote translation opens up opportunities to work in other regions. The translator will not have to go to the site or fly to another city, as is happening now.

In the future, the translator profession will change, but will not disappear.

Human translation will remain in areas where it is important to convey not only meaning, but also emotions: medicine, psychology, pedagogy, coaching. Audiovisual translation (films, cartoons) requires human participation - it is a creative process.

Translation of fiction is also difficult to automate, since the author puts subtext and hints of various events into it. The translator must recognize all this and repackage it in figurative language. Machines will not be able to do this any time soon.

How to prepare to become a translator

🀄️ Choose not just the language, but the culture of the country. Chat with its representatives to understand whether this communication is pleasant for you, whether you are interested in learning the history and traditions of the country of the language. And also, are you ready to speak and think in this language for several hours every day?

💰 You should not choose a language only for economic reasons. Nowadays the most popular language in simultaneous translation is English. Chinese is gaining momentum in consecutive oral and written translations, which has an impact on the country's economic development. Spanish is one of the languages ​​in demand. And, of course, specialists in rare languages ​​are rare.

⭐️ To get to know the profession better, read memoirs, watch and listen to interviews with famous translators:

• Pavel Ruslanovich Palazhchenko (translator of Gorbachev)
• Andrey Pavlovich Chuzhakin (translated by Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev)
• Mikhail Volodarsky (became famous thanks to his film translations in the 90s)
• Andrey Falaleev (living legend of simultaneous translation)
• Valentin Mikhailovich Berezhkov (translator of Stalin)
• Viktor Mikhailovich Sukhodrev (translator of Khrushchev)
• Sergei Parinov (translator of Vladimir Putin)

👩‍🏫 Learn a foreign language as best you can in school so that you can concentrate on translation techniques at university.

💬 Do exercises from the translators' arsenal. One of my favorites is called shadow replay. Turn on the video or audio recording and repeat after the announcer everything he says, with a lag of a couple of seconds. It is useful to record yourself on a voice recorder to listen and evaluate the result. Try to pronounce all words clearly, avoid long pauses and keep up with the speaker. Start with notes in your native language, and when it becomes easy, switch to a foreign language.

🏆 Participate in translation competitions for schoolchildren and students - this way you will learn your weaknesses and strengths.

💼 If you started studying and then changed your mind about working in your specialty, you have a choice. Translators become guides, managers of international companies and teachers. For four years I was involved in procurement in China: I found manufacturers of the necessary materials and equipment for our company.

21.03.19 26 736 18

And how much can you earn with a good knowledge of languages?

I have been working as a translator for six years.

Olga Simonova

translator

Perhaps yesterday you used the application that I translated last summer, or you scolded my unsuccessful translation in the instructions for your printer.

I work in a translation agency: I translate from English myself, edit translations of other linguists, evaluate and select freelance translators for projects. I’ll tell you where to start if you recently graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​or remembered that you know French quite well and decided to make money on it.

How translators and agencies work

To receive translation orders, you need to get into the databases of translation agency contractors. Such agencies are intermediaries between performers and companies that need translation.

It is inconvenient for large companies to work directly with translators: they will have to select good performers themselves, monitor deadlines, and check quality. Translation agencies take on all this work and carry out turnkey translation orders. If you want to translate texts about medical equipment, write not to manufacturers, but to agencies that specialize in medical translations.

Often the order includes not only translation, but also related work: layout, converting files to another format, working with images. The client simply says: “Here I have a PDF manual for the refrigerator. In two weeks I want to receive it in Spanish, Italian and German.” The manager finds translators, editors, layout designers, and makes sure that everyone meets the deadline and doesn’t mess up. This whole process is called localization, and the agencies themselves are called language service providers.

I advise new translators to take the Google course for beginners in localization. This will help you become familiar with the industry and what you'll be dealing with. The course is free, in English with Russian subtitles.

What does a translator need to know?

The company where I work provides internships for translation students. Here's what a translator needs to start a career.

Know any two languages. One of them must be native - you speak and write it in everyday life, you understand it without a dictionary. This is the language you will be translating into.

The requirements for knowledge of the native language are high: be able to formulate thoughts so that the text does not look translated. It should sound like it was written right away in your native language. Spelling, grammar and punctuation should be fine by default.

The second language is the one from which you will translate. For him, the requirements are not so strict. For simple texts, an average level of vocabulary and knowledge of grammar is sufficient. My first projects were translations of printer manuals. Then my level of English was no higher than Intermediate, that was enough.

If your second language is English, you will have a wide choice of topics and clients. International companies often create their applications, websites and documents in English, and then translate them into the required languages. Ask me any day if we need an efficient translator from English into Russian, I will always answer: “Of course, let’s get him here as soon as possible!” A lot is also translated from other languages, but you will have to spend more time to find suitable orders.

A colleague from another agency told a story about how they were looking for a translator on metallurgical topics. 40 people responded to their advertisements on freelance sites. The test task is to translate the phrase “rolls are rolled in a single-stand rolling mill.” Only two translators refused to translate the phrase because of its nonsense and wrote that rollers are not rolled, but, on the contrary, they are rolled by them. Workpieces, such as sheet metal, are rolled in a mill.

Don’t try to take on a text in which you won’t even be able to spot the error. You will look as stupid as those 38 people who rolled out the roll in the rolling mill. Focus on what you are familiar with. The topics can be anything. Translations are ordered by pharmaceutical companies, fashion magazines and oil companies.

Find information quickly. In addition to the text itself for translation, you will probably be faced with a bunch of instructions, glossaries and style guides. It’s good if you know how to quickly navigate such a flow of information.

Sometimes it is not immediately clear from the text what is being said. Then you have to go to the Internet: read forums, watch video reviews, study the manufacturer’s website, look for application screenshots.

Last year I translated text from a printer application. I began to come across unfamiliar terms, and from the context I couldn’t understand what was what. Based on promotional pages and videos, it turned out that some of the data gets into the application from another cloud service. I registered in this service, found translations of terms there and understood the logic of work in detail. It took me 20 minutes. If we sent the question to the client, we would wait half a day due to the difference in time zones.

If you don’t learn to quickly work with information, you will constantly delay orders or pester the manager with questions. Neither will give you an advantage over your competitors.

Where do agencies look for translators and what do they look for?

Translation companies work in a variety of languages. It is convenient for them to look for contractors on international sites: in one place they can choose translators into several languages ​​at once. Our company is looking for contractors mainly on special platforms “Prozet” and “Translators-cafe”, sometimes we use LinkedIn.

To fill out profiles on these sites, basic knowledge of English will be useful. It is customary to write information about yourself in English: your profile may be of interest to managers around the world.

Please indicate from which language you are translating. This should not be a list of languages, but a specific indication in which direction you are translating. A simple listing like “English, French, Russian” will require clarification from the manager which language pairs you are working with. Write immediately and clearly: “I translate from English and French into Russian.”

List the topics you work with. Formulate them as specifically as possible. It is not enough to simply write “medicine” and “law” - specify the specialization: “medicine - cardiology” or “law - labor law”. Please indicate the end clients whose texts you translated. If you write not just “washing machines”, but “Bosch washing machines”, this is a sign that you are already familiar with the terminology and customer requirements, which means it will take less time to explain.

Take a test. I recommend taking the tests that the agency offers. First, agree to free ones - this is a chance to show your professionalism. I usually give tests to contractors from real texts for translation. If you perform well in the test, there is a high chance that you will be selected. Fail - no big deal. It’s better to immediately understand that this is not suitable for you, than to let the client down later on a real order and earn a fine.

Respond to agency requests. On Prozet and Translators Cafe, agencies post advertisements seeking contractors. If the employer has not written to you yet, respond to the appropriate request yourself.

Beginning translators face a lot of competition on freelance sites. I recommend contacting the agency directly. See who suits your specialization, check vacancies on websites and send your resume.

How much does translation cost?

The cost of work from freelance translators is determined according to market laws: you set a price, and the agency decides whether it is willing to pay you that much. If there are many linguists working in your language pair and topic, there will be a lot of competition on price. And vice versa - translators ask for more money for rare language pairs and topics, because they have few competitors.

Translators from English to Mongolian cost 2-3 times more than from English to Russian. This is not because Mongolian is a particularly difficult language, but because there are few such translators and they can afford to raise prices.

Please indicate prices in dollars or euros. The manager usually estimates the project budget in foreign currency. If you indicate rates in rubles, yens or tugriks, he may be too lazy to convert all this, take on the risks associated with the exchange rate, and simply choose a contractor with a more traditional payment currency.

The cost of a translator's work is calculated according to words, some types of work - by hours. For contractors who work on my team's projects, the average cost of translation from English into Russian is $0.025 (2 R) per word, editing - $0.015 (1 R) per word, hourly rate - $9 (590 R).

0,025 $

per word - average rate of translators from English into Russian

Set different prices. Divide by type of work: for example, editing costs about half as much as translation. Another option is to divide by complexity: the help manual is easier to translate than the user interface, so the price is 10-15% lower. Increase the cost of work for some particularly problematic types of orders, where you have to study many additional sources. Some translators offer volume discounts: for example, 10% for an order containing more than 10 thousand words.

Specify the minimum and hourly rate. The hourly rate is useful for non-standard types of work that cannot be assessed by words: creating a glossary, assessing quality, arbitrating disputes of other linguists.

The minimum bid is the minimum amount you want to receive for one order. Usually it is equal to half an hour. This form of payment protects against working at a loss. For example, when translating 10 words, your rate per word is $0.02 (1 R). If you count according to words, then you will receive 0.2 $ (13 R) for this order. But spend at least half an hour on it: study the requirements, download files, open additional materials. If there are a lot of such orders, it may turn out that you transferred all day and earned only 3-4 $ (197 -262.667 R).

Don't be afraid to ask for extra payment. Let's imagine: you took an order. It turned out that, through no fault of yours, you will have to spend significantly more time on it than planned. Explain the situation to the manager and ask for additional payment. This often happens with editing: the translator turned out to be bad and the editor practically translates the text from scratch. In such cases, report the problem and provide evidence: it is easier for the manager to pay you extra and fine the translator than to look for new performers to do the translation from scratch.

Remember about fines. The line about fines in a contract with a freelancer is not a formality. Translators are indeed fined. Usually this is 30-50% of the order value, in rare cases the payment may be completely canceled. It all depends on the losses the company will suffer due to your fault. They are fined both for quality and for delays.

A translator's weekly earnings at full capacity are $250

Average transfer speed

250 words per hour

Transfer rate

$0.025 per word

Working hours

8 hours a day, 5 days a week

This is an ideal situation when you have 3-5 regular customers with regular orders.

Translators, like other freelancers, often have an uneven workload. One week you won't have time to cook dinner, and the next you'll watch all your favorite TV shows and won't translate a word.

We once had a request for half a million words. We fully loaded a dozen linguists for several months in advance, although before that the projects took them a couple of hours a day. Be prepared for such irregular employment.

Special software and word counting

Translators use special translation programs - CAT tools. It's like a graphic editor for a designer - the main program in which you will do your work. They are paid and free. Which one you need will depend on the requirements of your clients.

My team works with SDL Trados Studio and prohibits translators from converting files to other CAT tools. In other cases, you don’t have to buy or install anything at all: you will simply be given a login and password and you will work in the cloud directly in your browser.

All CAT tools are built according to approximately the same logic. If you understand one thing, there will be no problems with others either. Beginners are sent to the same course from Google, where they will explain how it works and learn how to translate in a CAT tool.

CAT tools play an important role in calculating the cost of an order. A database of translations from previous similar projects is connected to the file that needs to be translated. The sentences you translate now may be similar to those you translated before. This is called a translation database match.

Here's what you need to make money with translations

1. Knowing two languages ​​and understanding the topic is enough to start a career as a translator.
2. Before taking orders, understand how everything works in the industry and take preparatory courses.
3. Create informative profiles on special platforms where agencies look for translators and post their offers.
4. Decide on your bets. Don't forget hourly and minimum.
5. Understand special programs and learn to count weighted words.

We worked on the material

Author - Olga Simonova, editor - Victoria Plotanenko, production editor - Marina Safonova, photo editor - Maxim Koposov, information designer - Zhenya Sofronov, responsible - Anna Lesnykh, proofreader - Daria Semenova, illustrator - Ksyusha Itwascool, layout designer - Evgenia Izotova

Studying foreign languages, even just one, opens the way to becoming a translator. And this makes it possible to earn a good income: the profession is in demand at all times, and the demand for services does not lose relevance, despite the spread of technologies and machine translation tools.

Do you want to be a translator? This is not difficult if you are ready to show dedication, hard work in mastering knowledge and skills, and act clearly and actively according to a pre-planned plan.

Stage 1. Goals and specialization

People come to one profession or another for different reasons. Self-realization, doing what you love and earning a good income, meeting new, interesting people, traveling the world - these are the main goals of those who want to become a translator. They may be different. The main thing is that they exist, otherwise you will not understand which direction to choose and what results to focus on.

The goals need to be specified, for which professional specialization will be chosen.

What would you like to do: an interpreter or a translator?

Cases when a person works either as an interpreter or as a translator in approximately the same proportion are quite rare. When choosing a profession as a translator, over time a person will decide which type of translation he likes best or is simply better suited to. Some people like to calmly translate at home, others find it a boring and monotonous task, and they try to work more orally. Let's look at the main directions in oral and written translation.

I want to become an interpreter

As a rule, interpreters are communicative, stress-resistant people who are not afraid of public speaking and have good working memory.

When it is necessary to translate orally, they do it sequentially or synchronously. If you want to work as an interpreter, it doesn't mean you just have to choose one of the options. “Synchron” is the highest degree of skill, not all people are initially suitable for such work, not everyone can master it at all, and not everyone wants to.

Who are consecutive interpreters?

A consecutive interpreter works like this: the speaker pronounces a small part of the speech (a sentence, a complete thought, a logical block), the interpreter translates, then the speaker pronounces the next part.

As a rule, consecutive translators are paid hourly. The rate depends on the language, city, type of event and your qualifications.

This is what sequential translation looks like

Who are "synchronized swimmers"?

A simultaneous interpreter translates almost simultaneously with the spoken speech (with a delay of 6-7 seconds). Not only will you have to understand speech perfectly and almost learn to think in a foreign language, you will also need to master working with special equipment. To the above qualities of any interpreter, add excellent reaction, attentiveness and utmost concentration - you will need all this during simultaneous interpretation.

Simultaneous interpreters work in pairs, changing every 30 minutes. But even so, their hourly wages are 1.5-2 times higher than for consecutive translation.

This is what simultaneous translation looks like

Success story of Faina Musaeva

The desire to become a translator appeared in the 11th grade, and I applied to St. Petersburg State University, to the Department of English Philology and Translation. After studying for 5 years, I decided to continue my education and entered the new master’s program of our department: “Innovative translation technologies - English.” Now this program is called “Simultaneous Translation”.

In 2008, when I was a 4th year student, I was first invited to work as a serial interpreter at an exhibition of Indian industry, and I got the job of a company that produced transformers. Product presentations, business negotiations - it was very interesting to translate for the first time not in a classroom, but at real meetings with potential partners. On the last day of the exhibition, my company signed an agreement of intent with a large Russian enterprise, which the director was extremely happy about. I went to my first simultaneous translation a little later, it was dedicated to international relations.

Now I work on almost any topic, and I’m glad that I chose a profession that allows me to constantly study, learn something new and meet a lot of interesting people. Over the past nine years, I have worked with eminent scientists, Nobel laureates, leading political figures, heads of multinational companies, representatives of renowned universities and international organizations.

As for tips and tricks, I would like to draw the attention of aspiring translators to the importance of receiving specialized education and choosing the companies with which they plan to cooperate. I have been working with the TranExpress translation agency since 2011, and I can note the professional work of project managers who are interested not only in successful work with clients, but also in creating comfortable working conditions for translators.

Faina Musaeva, simultaneous and consecutive interpreter

I want to become a translator

It is much easier to become a translator. Now anyone with a computer can translate, and the level of skill is checked by completing a test task, and not by appearance or the presence of diplomas. That is, you can work from home, you can even anonymously (if this is important to you). If you are an introvert by nature and would like to work in a calm, comfortable environment, try yourself as a translator.

Having analyzed how work is organized in our bureau, we would divide translators into 3 categories:

Translators of personal, template documents

Many people need translation of their personal documents for admission to a university, employment, obtaining a visa, traveling abroad and other purposes. Documents are repeated, and translators often use ready-made translation templates.

It is important to note that having a diploma in language proficiency at a professional level is a prerequisite for working as such a translator.

Template documents are translated at a low fixed rate.

Translators of general texts

Translators who have just received their education or are not yet confident in their abilities begin their journey with texts of general topics. This could be correspondence, simple presentations, journalism.

Keep in mind that payment for general texts is carried out at minimum rates.

Translators of specialized texts

Working with specialized texts (medical, legal, technical, etc.) presupposes competence in the relevant field. Therefore, the direction is well suited for those who have already established themselves in some profession (not a philologist), want to work at home, or are looking for part-time work in their specialty. Pure linguists begin to work with specialized texts only after accumulating a significant amount of knowledge on the topic.

Highly specialized texts are the most expensive

Yes, we deliberately did not classify literary translations into any of the categories, because this is an exclusively creative direction. It is hardly possible to give any recommendations on how to become a poetry translator. And the translation of literary works is rarely a translation as such.

Success story of Alexander Churakov

The choice of profession was not unexpected, since the desire to realize oneself in this particular area appeared by itself and did not disappear after graduating from school, and subsequently from a university with a degree in linguist-translator. The university offered an internship program in the USA, after which I became even more confident in my decision to become a translator.

He began to engage in translation practice in his free time from his main job in 2010, when, in order to get a general idea of ​​the profession, its requirements and methods, he got a job in a translation agency at a notary office. Among the clients, it was rare, but still there were customers who wanted to personally control the entire process of order fulfillment and coordinate the necessary changes. The first large order was entrusted to the bureau for execution from just such a customer. Since by that time I had already repeatedly translated, edited and corrected small texts on legal topics, the quality of the translation of the contract assigned by the customer did not raise any complaints. Since everything developed in such a way that I had to work mainly in writing with contracts and other legal texts, I thought that the profession itself was pushing me to choose this direction. After a year, I decided to leave my job at the translation agency to start private practice. Having worked with both private clients and various translation agencies, I decided that cooperation with an agency seems more convenient, since it provides for fixed deadlines for fulfilling orders and allows me to actively develop myself in my chosen specialization.

To date, I have been translating contracts, constituent documents, court decisions and other legal texts for about seven years, I have no doubt about the correctness of my choice of profession and I am thinking about getting a second higher education in the field of law.

Alexander Churakov, translator (specializes in economics and jurisprudence)

Stage 2. Education

Going through this stage is not a problem. There are a huge number of possibilities. Here are the main ones:

Specialized translation education

The most obvious path along which most translators enter the profession is to obtain a translation education in the specialties of “translation”, “translation studies”, “linguistics”, “translator”, “referent-translator”, “specialist in intercultural communication” or other names vary from school to school. Translation education can be the main and only one or complement another special education (legal, economic, medical, technical, etc.) that you already have. This approach is most highly valued. It allows you to apply for a good position and significantly increases the chances of success of your own business. It can be recommended to those who initially set a goal to become a translator, including those who have a zero basic level.

Translators are trained at many large universities in the departments of foreign languages ​​or philological departments. There are also specialized linguistic universities, for example NGLU (Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University) or MSLU (Moscow State Linguistic University).

Translator training/retraining courses

If you do not want to spend several years obtaining a translator’s diploma, but are confident in your high level of language proficiency, you can take special training/retraining courses for translators. Many educational institutions offer such courses. There are also distance programs. The advantages are speed, convenience and a decent level of quality, although it seriously depends on the educational institution and training program. It is recommended to take courses to improve the level of existing knowledge, to effectively transition from one specialization in the field of translation to another, as well as to obtain additional (translation) education. Choose educational institutions and programs with a good reputation and allowing you to receive an official diploma (certificate) of completion of training.

For example, many universities have an additional educational program “Translator in the field of professional communication.”

Here, for example, is the story of how a veterinarian became a translator

I never had a dream of becoming a translator, although I have liked foreign languages ​​since childhood. But I also loved animals very much and was sure that I would become a veterinarian. And indeed, I received the appropriate education and even worked in my specialty for some time. At the same time, I studied German. First, because it became possible to take courses for free, and then the language began to open up and attract more and more people. Then it turned out that I moved to another city and started looking for a new job and something else to fill my leisure time. I found a job not in a veterinary clinic, but in a translation agency, and for the sake of my soul, I entered the Faculty of Philology to “finish up my German studies.” Having received a second degree, I entered the master's program in the field of Translation and Translation Studies, because I always liked translating, and by that time the first orders had already appeared. I tried different topics and even literary translation, but settled on what was interesting and familiar to me: medicine, biology, veterinary medicine. I try to develop professionally, read specialized literature, constantly learn new things - because this is what allows me not only to do my job well, but also to truly enjoy it. Elena Veselovskaya, translator (specializing in medicine, biology, veterinary medicine)

Self-study

Not the most common way to become a translator, but there are precedents. Learn to translate yourself. Self-study can sometimes provide excellent knowledge and skills, but you will not be able to document them. This to some extent limits the possibilities of successful employment, because it will take a long time to earn a reputation, and without recommendations and positive reviews, new clients will be skeptical of your candidacy.

Note: Even if you are a native speaker of a foreign language, have excellent command of it, live abroad and already earn extra money by translating, this does not give you the status of a professional translator. Profile education and practice make a translator a professional. There is no need to mix concepts. You can do part-time work as before. But access to the Major League will be denied to you. If you want to become a translator, you will have to study in depth not only the language, but also methods, techniques, translation tools, culture and history of a foreign language and speech. This is a serious array of knowledge and skills.

Another feature of translators is constant training. Therefore, do not think that having received a diploma, your knowledge base will be enough until you are old. The translator continuously replenishes his vocabulary, monitors the situation in the world, studies new topics and delves into technological processes. Translation software is also constantly being improved and updated. In general, you must always be on topic!

Stage 3. Employment

So you have an education. The time has come to decide where and how to apply it, because theory without practice is worth nothing. The beauty of working as a translator is that the practice begins from the very first day of education, so to get a job you just have to gather your courage and transfer your translations from the status of “homework” to the status of “paid work”. So, where are translators needed?

Full-time translator

If you like working in an office, you can get a job as a full-time translator in a company or translation agency. As a rule, interpreters are not kept on staff, but translators are often needed. Having gained some experience, you can retrain as an editor.

Maybe open a translation agency?

Translation activities are not licensed, so if you know how to look for clients, understand advertising, can handle accounting and paying taxes, you can try opening your own translation agency. Only, unfortunately, in this case you will have to kill the translator within yourself and raise a leader.