Translators specializing in chemistry translation Thread poster: DARKastheRAIN
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Is there a lot of work in the chemistry translation field (specifically Russian to English)?
What kind of qualifications do people in this field usually have/need? Would a bachelor's degree in Chemistry be sufficient/helpful?
I'm in my second year of college and the only translation degree available at my university is Spanish-English. I'm thinking about going for a chemistry major and an English minor. Would that be useful or would I be wasting my time?
<... See more Is there a lot of work in the chemistry translation field (specifically Russian to English)?
What kind of qualifications do people in this field usually have/need? Would a bachelor's degree in Chemistry be sufficient/helpful?
I'm in my second year of college and the only translation degree available at my university is Spanish-English. I'm thinking about going for a chemistry major and an English minor. Would that be useful or would I be wasting my time?
P.S. I hope I've used the right forum
[Edited at 2011-08-25 00:39 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Karen Tkaczyk 
United States
Local time: 10:43
French to English
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| Plenty chemistry work in somr pairs | Aug 25, 2011 |
Hi,
It would be good to know your real name.
I'm a PhD chemist working Fr>En and sometimes Sp>En and there is enough work for my practice. I don't know many people who are as highly specialized though.
I expect a bachelor's would be enough for people to consider you a specialist in the field, but it's probably not enough to make translating quality and manufacturing documents easy. It should make lab documents and journal articles feasible though, if you get lots of practical... See more Hi,
It would be good to know your real name.
I'm a PhD chemist working Fr>En and sometimes Sp>En and there is enough work for my practice. I don't know many people who are as highly specialized though.
I expect a bachelor's would be enough for people to consider you a specialist in the field, but it's probably not enough to make translating quality and manufacturing documents easy. It should make lab documents and journal articles feasible though, if you get lots of practical time and read lots of research articles during the degree. I would encourage you to study as wide a range of chemistry as possible - not to focus in one area. Organic was my main area, and translating would have been easier if I had done less of that and more of a broader fields within the chemistry domain. But then I didn't plan to be a translator, so I wasn't thinking that way.
I can't speak to the market for your pair.
Karen
[Edited at 2011-08-25 18:14 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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LEXpert
United States
Local time: 11:43
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
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| English minor? | Aug 25, 2011 |
Does your Uni offer no other languages besides Spanish, or just no other translation majors? Not to knock English degrees, or the need for a translator to have excellent English skills) but if you want to be translator I'd say that college-level foreign language courses in your chosen source language (perhaps for a minor) would be more useful than English, even if not specifically translation-oriented. Or (assuming English is your native language) do you believe that you already know the foreign... See more Does your Uni offer no other languages besides Spanish, or just no other translation majors? Not to knock English degrees, or the need for a translator to have excellent English skills) but if you want to be translator I'd say that college-level foreign language courses in your chosen source language (perhaps for a minor) would be more useful than English, even if not specifically translation-oriented. Or (assuming English is your native language) do you believe that you already know the foreign language well enough that college coursework would not be helpful? ▲ Collapse
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| Re: English Minor? | Aug 25, 2011 |
Rudolf Vedo CT wrote:
Does your Uni offer no other languages besides Spanish, or just no other translation majors? Not to knock English degrees, or the need for a translator to have excellent English skills) but if you want to be translator I'd say that college-level foreign language courses in your chosen source language (perhaps for a minor) would be more useful than English, even if not specifically translation-oriented. Or (assuming English is your native language) do you believe that you already know the foreign language well enough that college coursework would not be helpful?
No, unfortunately they don't offer Russian. I'm studying the basics on my own right now, but I'll probably end up taking some classes at another University or something down the road.
The English Minor was actually suggested to me by the Spanish to English translation professor after I said I wasn't interested in Spanish.
I'm planning to mostly fill it with translation oriented classes most of which show up in the Spanish-English degree requirements. It's only a minor so it's not like I have to take tons of classes I'll never need like if I was majoring in it.
[Edited at 2011-08-25 18:55 GMT]
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Jenn Mercer
United States
Local time: 12:43
Member (2009)
French to English
| English major invaluable | Aug 25, 2011 |
I would not worry about the value of English courses for a second. Even my French professor was encouraging me in my English studies. If you can't put a sentence together in English, you simply cannot translate into English.
I was in a similar pinch in that my University offered both French and English programs, but no unified translation program. I ended up majoring in both French and English which probably worked a lot better than combining Chemistry and English would (my major c... See more I would not worry about the value of English courses for a second. Even my French professor was encouraging me in my English studies. If you can't put a sentence together in English, you simply cannot translate into English.
I was in a similar pinch in that my University offered both French and English programs, but no unified translation program. I ended up majoring in both French and English which probably worked a lot better than combining Chemistry and English would (my major courses for one slid into my electives for the other and vice-versa).
One possibility which you might want to consider is working with the English department to craft a few independent study courses which are more focused on translation. I did this after I took the intro translation course in the French department and, although I was studying with my French professor, it counted as my English Senior Project. Of course, this would most likely be literary translation. You might also want to check out any technical writing courses that you can find. You will be grateful for the confidence that you will get from knowing how to create technical documents from scratch. ▲ Collapse
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