Cross-training in legal/financial translation or interpreting? Thread poster: Melissa Knudtson
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I'm enrolled in a Masters in Translation Studies program and trying to figure out which courses would help me in my career the most.
I intend to focus primarily on medical translation.
In addition to required and medical translation coursework, I have the option of taking 2 courses (10 ECTS of a 60 ECTS program, European credit system) in either interpreting (consecutive and liaison) or legal/financial translation.
I figure interpreting could be useful for ... See more I'm enrolled in a Masters in Translation Studies program and trying to figure out which courses would help me in my career the most.
I intend to focus primarily on medical translation.
In addition to required and medical translation coursework, I have the option of taking 2 courses (10 ECTS of a 60 ECTS program, European credit system) in either interpreting (consecutive and liaison) or legal/financial translation.
I figure interpreting could be useful for cross-training (improving speed, memory) and finding work.
I figure legal/financial translation could be useful for improving my specialized translation skills and also for finding work.
They both seem valuable and interesting. I would appreciate any advice or points raised to help me decide that anyone is willing to offer.
Thank you!
(I suppose this post may seem better suited to the student forum, but I am looking for input from established professionals who might be able to comment on the practical value of each choice and raise points I hadn't considered, and not fellow students.)
[Edited at 2013-10-04 17:00 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Do what interests you | Oct 7, 2013 |
Hi Melissa and welcome to Proz. Your post raises a lot of points. We are a varied bunch here on this site... ask ten people and you will get ten different responses. But that's good. I will give you mine
Bear in mind that we are all different. Sounds obvious, but while some can specialise in various subject areas with ease, others prefer to specialise in one area in particular - I belong to the second group. Specialis... See more Hi Melissa and welcome to Proz. Your post raises a lot of points. We are a varied bunch here on this site... ask ten people and you will get ten different responses. But that's good. I will give you mine
Bear in mind that we are all different. Sounds obvious, but while some can specialise in various subject areas with ease, others prefer to specialise in one area in particular - I belong to the second group. Specialising in ANY subject area takes time, patience, passion and hard work.
It may be when you start out you have a certain idea in mind, which changes as you grow and develop as a professional. I began specialising in legal translation many years ago, before the frustrating legalese got the better of me! Since you are just starting out, I would suggest thinking less about what is right for your career, and concentrating on what interests you.
I specialise in medical translation, and believe it's one of the most difficult areas to work in, as it requires a specialist knowledge of so many different subject areas. On the other hand, it's lucrative; good medical translators are highly sought-after for the very reason that it is such a demanding area.
Good luck with your choice! ▲ Collapse
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Dear Fiona,
Thank you for your kind reply. I´d noticed this issue of translators being a varied bunch...some say only translate or interpret; others say doing both is feasible; some say only specialize in one area; other specialize in a bunch...and I´m slowly learning what to make of it!
I have a background in nursing, so medical translation is an obvious choice for me. That background also helps me see how very much depth of knowledge and dedication it takes to tra... See more Dear Fiona,
Thank you for your kind reply. I´d noticed this issue of translators being a varied bunch...some say only translate or interpret; others say doing both is feasible; some say only specialize in one area; other specialize in a bunch...and I´m slowly learning what to make of it!
I have a background in nursing, so medical translation is an obvious choice for me. That background also helps me see how very much depth of knowledge and dedication it takes to translate medical texts safely and well. I have a lot of respect for you already!
I think I´ll go with the legal/financial translation courses, not with the intention of specializing in law and finance, but because I already know I´m enthusiastic about technical translation, so mainly to refine my thinking about and approach to translating technical texts.
I realized I just want a taste of interpreting to see what it´s like, because I don´t know if it really interests me or not. So I´m going to see what I can do to get that taste outside of class, and go from there.
Again, thanks for taking the time to respond and share your own story! Much appreciated! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Phil Hand 
China
Local time: 09:51
Chinese to English
| Interpreter training helped me a lot | Oct 7, 2013 |
I can't speak to the specialist areas, but I did interpreter training, and I know it has helped my translation a lot. As you suggest, it helps to increase speed, and helps to train you to find the message through the thickets of words.
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| I would stick to your specialization | Oct 8, 2013 |
and take interpreting.
If you want to do medical translation, there's not much point in studying legal/financial. Medical and legal/financial are vast fields in themselves that don't often cross over.
Equally, if you one day decided you wanted to focus on legal/financial, you could find a wealth of resources to study this on your own.
However, interpreting you will never be able to study on your own so while it's on offer, I would make the most of it.
... See more and take interpreting.
If you want to do medical translation, there's not much point in studying legal/financial. Medical and legal/financial are vast fields in themselves that don't often cross over.
Equally, if you one day decided you wanted to focus on legal/financial, you could find a wealth of resources to study this on your own.
However, interpreting you will never be able to study on your own so while it's on offer, I would make the most of it.
Equally, I could see how interpreting would be useful to a medical translator because if you liked both, you could do both medical interpreting and medical translation.
It just seems like a more coherent combination than legal/financial with medical.
Also, if you take legal/financial and then never practice it, or never make use of what you've learned, a few years on it will be as though you'd never studied it because vast swathes of terminology will have moved on in the meantime. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Thank you, Phil and Marie-Helene | Oct 8, 2013 |
Phil and Marie-Helene: I agree that interpreting would be quite useful and more coherent with a focus in medical translation for the very thoughtful and intelligent reasons you mention! Thank you so much for your input.
I did some research and found that I would need healthcare-specific interpreter training (not on offer at my school) to do health care interpreting in my country--generally about 40 hours, which really isn´t much training on top of an MA. Lots of tech schools and... See more Phil and Marie-Helene: I agree that interpreting would be quite useful and more coherent with a focus in medical translation for the very thoughtful and intelligent reasons you mention! Thank you so much for your input.
I did some research and found that I would need healthcare-specific interpreter training (not on offer at my school) to do health care interpreting in my country--generally about 40 hours, which really isn´t much training on top of an MA. Lots of tech schools and C.E. programs seem to offer the needed training for cheap on a flexible schedule, even in a 5-day period in some cases. Conference/simultaneous interpreting is another area of potential interest to me, but is also not on offer at my school--and seems to be a horse of a different color, as evidenced by the 2-year course in conference interpreting I noted on your resume, Phil!
Thus, I´m not sure essentially having to do duplicate or overlapping training makes sense when I could be gaining exposure to something else, particularly at the beginning of my career. I´m trained in nursing, but also worked for a number of years at a law office which is a family business (and have easy access to a lawyer for help during my studies!). As such I could potentially go either way. I actually think I would benefit from in-class training in legal/financial topics rather than trying to approach these broad areas entirely on my own (should I choose that), and potentially getting overwhelmed by legalese without any guide.
In the end, I see the legal-financial courses as a way to expand my general knowledge base (I should think this would be useful in translating official documents of any subject matter, and besides I would think there is some overlap as in documents from medical business or billing(?)), help me think as a technical translator, and get a panoramic view of the different areas of technical translation.
If any of my assumptions or reasoning seem incorrect, I would be grateful if you pointed them out. In any case, I´m grateful for what you´ve shared! ▲ Collapse
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