Translation business

[Meticulous Man]

Anyone here who has studied linguistics and/or worked as a translator? I've been studying (or rather trying to study) Political Science for more than three years now without considerable success, and my interest in the field is quickly fading. I've also come to realize that I'm probably too much of a recluse type person to actually have a career that has anything to do with politics or administration, and I'm very poor at getting things done anyway (which has also contributed to my difficulties). I'm fascinated by languages, though, and I think I've studied something like 8 different foreign languages in connection with my studies or in my spare time at one point or another. I think you may call me slightly autistic if you like. So I'm thinking of defecting to the Faculty of Arts where I would specialize in some foreign language.

So do you think that a career as a translator could be a wise choice in today's world? Any experiences? What language(s) should I specialize in in case I decide to switch careers?

[SlowwHand]

I think it would be an excellent choice.
Spanish would be worth considering.

[Meticulous Man]

I was thinking that I could opt for East Asian studies and try to ride on what they here call "the China phenomenon", a lot of companies investing heavily in the PRC due to cheaper production costs, which one could presume to bring with itself an increased need of experts on Chinese, though I don't know what the employment situation in the field is like in practice right now. I actually already completed the Faculty of Arts' elementary Chinese course last year (hence my avatar ) and found the language very interesting, though learning the characters was laborious at times.

Spanish is a very widely-spoken and important language but the problem for me would be that first-year students of the more common European languages (like German, French, Russian, Spanish etc) are here supposed to already know the language pretty well and I've never studied Spanish before.

[Japher]

I admire anyone who is able to learn other languages to a point of fluency... I barely know one languaguuegue

[DAVOUT]

For technical translation you need a technical qualification in addition to the language; for translation of litterature you need to master the language translated at a litterary level.

[SlowwHand]

That's convincing, Davout.

Literature. One "T".

[snoopy369]

My understanding from people who have been translators, though this is from several years ago:

1. There is ALWAYS a demand for translators, so getting a job is not hard (not necessarily an extremely high paying one, but a decent one at least)
2. Translating is a really hard job, in that it's tough to figure out exactly what people mean ... even if you're essentially a native speaker of both languages.
3. Translating is also very, very boring for most people.

But the job security is there Not sure if your country has the demand in the State Department equivalent like the US does, but ... heck you could come over here and get a job in the state department i'm sure

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by SlowwHand

Literature. One "T".

Sorry, but I thought that you inherited this beautiful word under the condition not to amputate the double t. As usual, you prefered to save some ink and paper.

[SlowwHand]

I couldn't let the chance pass. You know what a "Mouth From The South" I am.

[snoopy369]

DAVOUT, it's called 'efficiency' ... how do you think we Americans (and the Brits before us) became the commercial powerhouses we are?

[alva]

True that, have to admit that the US is currently the winningest team out there.

[Zkribbler]

Re: Translation business

Originally posted by Aivo½so
So do you think that a career as a translator could be a wise choice in today's world? Any experiences? What language(s) should I specialize in in case I decide to switch careers?

Wise choice? I dunno. English is becoming the lingua franca of business today, so I'd be cautious about approaching it from a business end. I was in Shanghai a few years back and came across many English speakers. One women spoke with no accent at all! I assumed she'd grown up in the U.S....somewhere in the western half...but she'd never been out of China.

I do know we use a lot of translators in court here in Los Angeles. But we have lots of immigrants*, and lots of them aren't high powered business people. so they try to get by here on their own languages. They need help when dealing with the general population.

_________________________
* Fn: IIRC, there are 44 national groups which have the largest collection of people here in L.A. outside of their own home country.

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by snoopy369
DAVOUT, it's called 'efficiency' ... how do you think we Americans (and the Brits before us) became the commercial powerhouses we are?

Fortunately the american literature was not corrupted by the 'efficiency' (and unfortunately the commercial powerhouse runs now a $800 BILLIONS deficit ); the worth of this literature was illustrated by the translation of Edgar Poe novels by Baudelaire, one of the greatest french poet of the 19° century, if not the greatest. Incidentally, this illustrates also the level required for literary translations.
Today, american literature is translated and appreciated by the french readers, and some american authors have a larger public here than in the US. This is another form of efficiency.

[Zkribbler]

american literature is translated and appreciated by the french readers,

Walter Mosley?
Terry Prachett?
Bernard Cornwell?

[Meticulous Man]

So how do you think the adoption of English as the global language is going to affect the business in the future? Will translation in future only be in demand when it comes to cultural products like literature, films, etc?