Getting work when you have little experience

Hazel Underwood wrote:

Hi Claire,

Have you looked at the Proz mentoring programme as a possible way of gaining more experience?

I'd be happy to look at your CV if you want to send me a copy?

Kind regards,

Hazel

Rolf Kern wrote:

Keep away from translation, when you have other paid jobs. Do translation in your spare time and offer the agencies a free test translation.
Rolf

[Bearbeitet am 2013-01-19 20:43 GMT]

Gitte Hovedskov Hansen wrote:

... is that you don't become an experienced translator until you have gained some experience. Sounds daft, but it's that simple. Your Master's in translation is an excellent starting point, but the amount of translation you have done in the course of your studies will only correspond to a few weeks' or months' work at the most in the real world of translation. Agencies know this and it is quite understandable that they prefer people with experience.

What you are already doing is probably the best you CAN do, i.e. submit your introductory letter detailing the kind of courses you have followed during your Master's studies, any translation or other relevant experience you have, and much more importantly, a couple of excellent translation samples. I wouldn't offer to do a test translation initially, as that is like saying, 'I know you will think I don't match your standards, but please give me a chance to prove myself'. Be as professional as you can, don't think with your student's cap on, you are in business now. If an agency then gets back to you because they are sufficiently impressed by the material you have sent them, but they still want you to do a test translation, then by all means go ahead and do that.

Be prepared to be patient, it takes a bit of time to get established as a translator.

clairemcn wrote:
Would it be OK to send translation tests I've done (and passed) for NGOs as samples?

Natalia Mackevich wrote:


You need to ask the NGOs, not us. Tests are usually confidential (sort of), and one cannot discuss them online where everyone can read the discussion, so I assume one cannot share these tests without the client's permission.

Gitte Hovedskov Hansen wrote:

Do you already have some subject areas that you want to specialise in? If not, I would have a little think about that, or go for subjects that are close to your heart/private interests. Then look for openly available texts on the Internet, preferably texts that are not too old, and translate a couple of those, clearly stating the source for each text.

This will indicate that you are up-to-date with your chosen speciality fields and that you have put a bit of work into preparing good material for your application. It will also be quite clear that these are not merely college translations that have been corrected by a teacher and which would therefore not give a completely clear picture of what YOU are capable of.

The translation samples only need to be about 500 words each, which is quite sufficient for an agency to assess your skills. Try not to choose texts with too many very simple sentence structures, and try to find texts that involve a variety of linguistic challenges, so that you show you can do both 'standard, down-to-earth' translation and more complicated things, e.g. metaphors, puns, colloquialisms, fancy new terminology, slang, technical terminology or whatever is relevant for your chosen fields.

As for literary texts - if this is the field you want to work in, then by all means, forward literary texts. However, my (completely unsubstantiated) impression is that most agencies do not handle huge amounts of literary texts. If this is the area you want to get into, maybe you need to research and approach publishers instead?

Gitte Hovedskov Hansen wrote:

Hi Clare

I'm afraid I'm not the right person to ask about transcription and translation of transcribed texts. I did some of that a few years back when I worked as an in-house translator for a translation agency, but other than that, my experience in the field is zero. Someone else will (hopefully) be able to advice you on this. I would suggest, though, that you only send such samples to agencies who specifically state that they do this type of work as a lot of agencies don't. In general, make sure to check the different agencies' websites so that you know you meet their criteria and match their profiles.

Again, as for literary translation, my experience is limited to contacting a couple of publishers and generally being told that they already had a team of experienced and trusted translators and that they were not interested in adding to the group at the moment. One kind response, however, said, "keep applying to different publishers; at some stage, someone will need new translators and they will consider you". Mind you, my field of interest was not exactly 'literary' in the classic sense, as I was aiming for translation of children's books, books about architecture, and cookery books. Probably different to what you would call 'literary'.

Have you considered NOT starting out as an independent translator straight away? You will find it so much easier to get freelance work later on if you DO have translation experience. A lot of people who are now independent translators have a background in other professions or maybe as in-house translators for translation agencies or in other contexts. My own background is a mixture, i.e. 8 years in non-translation work abroad before I started studying translation, then 4 years as a technical translator for a production company, then 7 years as an in-house translator for a translation agency before I went self-employed. The experience I gained from my years abroad and both full-time translation jobs is invaluable to me now that I run my own business, because I got masses of practice in speaking my main foreign language (which is still the basis for my confidence as a translator into my foreign language) and lots of experience in many different types of translation, and because I learnt general business skills along the way. Just a thought. We all follow different paths...