Translation is not as high as interpretation. It can be said that everyone can do it, but not everyone is suitable. Most people think that English translation must be an English major, but it is not. As long as you have a solid English foundation and Chinese expression skills, you can make an acceptable manuscript after a period of practice. In fact, non-English majors may have an advantage in translation, because translation will always encounter documents from all walks of life. If you know the relevant professional knowledge, it will be much smoother to understand. I used to have two colleagues, one studying engineering and the other studying law, and both got good grades. One of them later joined the management.
Some people who are civil servants may be small clerks all their lives, and so are translators. They may have been translators all their lives, but they only rose from junior to senior. But it is also relatively stable as civil servants. Recently, many people are discussing whether machine translation will replace human translation. I think translation is also a kind of creation, so it will not be completely replaced by machines, but will benefit from some convenience brought by machine translation. Therefore, as long as the professional ability passes, it is unlikely that you will lose your job as a translator. If you want to make translation a long-term career, you need enthusiasm, persistence and hard work. Many translators will start to consider changing careers after a year or two, and few can really stick to it. Are you suitable for translation? It is enough to see if you have the following qualities.
First of all, you should have a strong interest in translation. Many people think that translation is a boring job, and it is. Walking into a translation company, I saw rows of computers and translators sitting in front; All I can hear is the crackling sound on the keyboard. Most of the eight-hour working hours are "man-machine dialogue". If you can't find pleasure between the lines, if you can't cheer for understanding a complicated and lengthy sentence structure, if you can't be complacent about the good words you think of, you may not last a week. As a translator, you should be tolerant of loneliness. However, people who are interested in translation will think that translation is an art, and they are willing to spend time thinking. After translating an article, they will have a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
Secondly, we should have a meticulous and serious attitude. Translation, like mathematics, is a thousand miles away, and there is no room for any mistakes. I experienced a serious translation error, which was a financial project involving many figures and amounts. $ generally refers to US dollars, but when used with HK, it refers to Hong Kong dollars, and when used with AU, it refers to Australian dollars ... Originally, the amount of that project refers to Hong Kong dollars, but HK was omitted in some places in the original text, and the translator directly translated it into US dollars without thinking, which eventually caused great losses and implicated the whole group. There are at least three steps in translating an article: translation, polishing and proofreading. Translation is to convert all source languages into target languages; When polishing, solve the difficult sentences encountered in translation and modify the target language; Check typos and missed translations when proofreading. No matter whether the company has special editing and proofreading, these three steps should be done when translating. If everything is sloppy, you will feel that almost enough is not suitable for translation.
Third, we should have a strong sense of time. Generally speaking, there is a strict time limit for translating manuscripts. When does the customer require the manuscript to be delivered? It can only be advanced, not postponed. Many people, especially recent college graduates, do not have a strong sense of time. At first, they felt that time was loose. They watch the news for a while and gossip for a while. When the manuscript was about to be submitted, they began to rush to make it, and finally there were many mistakes. This is even more important for free translation. There are still rules and regulations in the company, and free translation depends entirely on self-discipline. In order to save money, some companies look for part-time translators online, and the time and price are agreed. When the manuscript arrived, the translator couldn't send it, the email didn't answer, and the phone didn't answer, which made people complain. Sometimes, timely delivery is even more important than quality. It is better to make an acceptable manuscript within the specified time, even if it is not perfect, than not to finish it.
Finally, we should have the spirit of active learning. As mentioned earlier, translation will encounter various types of documents. At present, only a few large translation companies will subdivide translators and take charge of documents in specific fields. Most of them are "grabbing". Today, they translated an agreement, and tomorrow they may have to translate a cookbook. Therefore, we should study consciously after work, and read a little books in all aspects, not seeking mastery, but seeking understanding. At school, the teacher said that translators should be "saints", which is true. Besides, language itself is profound and endless. Only by constantly practicing internal skills can we go up a storey still higher.
PS: Translation companies are generally divided into English-Chinese translation departments and Chinese-English translation departments. My first company after graduation was assigned to English translation, and I have been doing English translation since then, so the experience I shared is all about English translation. Sometimes I feel a little lame, and the level of Chinese-English translation needs to be improved. Please share it with experienced friends.