| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: In your opinion, which of these combinations is better to be more successful in your business? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "In your opinion, which of these combinations is better to be more successful in your business?".
View the poll results »
| | | | | Wrong criteria | Sep 26, 2016 |
All other things being equal, a translator with more languages and subject fields will obviously be able to cover a bigger section of the market, but who cares if you are already working at 100% capacity? And the key to working at 100% capacity while maintaining high rates is BETTER QUALITY regardless of your languages and specializations.
| | | | | Weird but strangely interesting poll | Sep 26, 2016 |
Anton Konashenok wrote:
All other things being equal, a translator with more languages and subject fields will obviously be able to cover a bigger section of the market, but who cares if you are already working at 100% capacity? And the key to working at 100% capacity while maintaining high rates is BETTER QUALITY regardless of your languages and specializations.
Quite.
More philosophically, at what point does "more specialisations" become an oxymoron?
| | | | Julian Holmes 
Japan
Local time: 09:40
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
One language and as few specializations as possible because you have to be able to keep on learning more in specific fields to be able to call yourself a 'specialist.' (agree with Chris's point here)
I try not to spread myself too thinly by accepting all and everything. However, alternatively, you can be left padding up whatsit creek if you 'overspecialize' by limiting your particular areas of expertise and the market dries up in these areas due to external forces, government policy... See more One language and as few specializations as possible because you have to be able to keep on learning more in specific fields to be able to call yourself a 'specialist.' (agree with Chris's point here)
I try not to spread myself too thinly by accepting all and everything. However, alternatively, you can be left padding up whatsit creek if you 'overspecialize' by limiting your particular areas of expertise and the market dries up in these areas due to external forces, government policy shifts and other reasons.
Anecdote
Years back, when I was running a business in Osaka, I put out an ad for an in-house translation position. One interview was particularly memorable. It went something like this.
(After pleasantries and talking about the weather)
Me: "So, do you specialize in area particular areas?"
Interviewee: "Yes" (said enthusiastically) "General translation!" 
This was a very quick interview.  ▲ Collapse
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 02:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
Or maybe "Other". Who has time to think up (or about) these things?
| | | | EvaVer (X)
Local time: 02:40
Czech to French
+ ...
Julian Holmes wrote:
One language and as few specializations as possible because you have to be able to keep on learning more in specific fields to be able to call yourself a 'specialist.' (agree with Chris's point here)
Weeeell, yes, if the "one language" is a "big" one. This is not feasible when your mother tongue is spoken only by a few million people (or even less).
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 02:40
Member (2006)
German to English
neilmac wrote:
Or maybe "Other". Who has time to think up (or about) these things?
Just other because i do not have the time
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In my opinion, there is no one-size-fits-all guide to being a successful translator...
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EvaVer wrote:
Weeeell, yes, if the "one language" is a "big" one. This is not feasible when your mother tongue is spoken only by a few million people (or even less).
Logically there will also be fewer translators competing with you
| | | | Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 09:40
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
| Japanese is not exactly a 'heavyweight' language | Sep 26, 2016 |
EvaVer wrote:
Weeeell, yes, if the "one language" is a "big" one. This is not feasible when your mother tongue is spoken only by a few million people (or even less).
In fact, J>E is generally regarded as a minority language pair. Be that as it may, there's still plenty of competition in my pair since Japan relies heavily on exports and hence there is a proportionate need for capable J>E translators.
Small addition to title
[Edited at 2016-09-27 06:34 GMT]
| | | | | In general, I would say ... | Sep 26, 2016 |
... the rarer the language pair, the broader your specialisations need to be; simply because there would hardly be any assignments for only one or a few specialisations in such language pairs. But there are limits ... Lately, I had to turn down a Norwegian-Dutch translation of a plough manual ... agricultural is fine, but this was way too technical for me.
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With a popular language combination involving Spanish-French-English-German I think one is at a better advantage with specialized depth, whereas when the market and demand are lower, one can only survive with a broad range of areas covered.
In my own case, for work with Spanish as the source language, I have depth in my areas of specialization and my clients are willing to pay it. If I were just a generalist, I would have too much competition from less experienced translators willin... See more With a popular language combination involving Spanish-French-English-German I think one is at a better advantage with specialized depth, whereas when the market and demand are lower, one can only survive with a broad range of areas covered.
In my own case, for work with Spanish as the source language, I have depth in my areas of specialization and my clients are willing to pay it. If I were just a generalist, I would have too much competition from less experienced translators willing to work for less.
However, when Portuguese is the source language, I work in a lot more fields. ▲ Collapse
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| How can anyone know it or compare? | Sep 26, 2016 |
Even if we had the people here representing all the options mentioned above, I doubt we can really compare their stories to agree on the best combination. We all entered the market with our unique skill sets and language combinations, we do marketing, CPD, etc. I believe it is all up to individual and depends not only on ones languages/specialisations. As Anton said, PERFECT QUALITY of the service is the key to success for any languages and specialisations.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 01:40
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Poll wording: IN YOUR BUSINESS | Sep 26, 2016 |
So I took it to be asking about my own circumstances, although that makes the "depends" option a little out of place.
I can't imagine what I could expect to earn as a generalist French to English translator. How many tens of thousands of them are there? And how many are willing to accept peanuts? That's an ocean I really don't want to swim in. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I worked in a rare pair, but I don't. AFAIC, in the most common pairs you really HAVE to specialise. Not in... See more So I took it to be asking about my own circumstances, although that makes the "depends" option a little out of place.
I can't imagine what I could expect to earn as a generalist French to English translator. How many tens of thousands of them are there? And how many are willing to accept peanuts? That's an ocean I really don't want to swim in. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I worked in a rare pair, but I don't. AFAIC, in the most common pairs you really HAVE to specialise. Not in medical, or in legal, just because they pay better, though. You need to specialise in doing only what you do best, and concentrate on always doing it extremely well. Then you can set yourself apart from "all the rest". ▲ Collapse
| | | | | my immediate reaction | Sep 26, 2016 |
was "good grief". As a professional level you need to have excellent mastery of the two languages involved in a single translation, and having that degree of excellence in a third language is already difficult. So how can anyone involved in translation jump to the idea of "more languages" as though that were quantifiable?
Then, if a specialization is a true specialization, then you have very in-depth knowledge, which also takes years to acquire. My specialization in education has behind... See more was "good grief". As a professional level you need to have excellent mastery of the two languages involved in a single translation, and having that degree of excellence in a third language is already difficult. So how can anyone involved in translation jump to the idea of "more languages" as though that were quantifiable?
Then, if a specialization is a true specialization, then you have very in-depth knowledge, which also takes years to acquire. My specialization in education has behind it teacher training, a B. Ed., and teaching experience. One would have to live several lifetimes to amass numerous specializations. Therefore either end of the poll made me wonder.
Otoh, sometimes in on-line places, the word "specialization" seems to be used in a much looser sense. In that case I agree, because if you over-restrict yourself, you will have to say no to too much work. ▲ Collapse
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