How to Become an English Translator

Becoming an English Translator

Working as an English translator is a great job because it offers many different career opportunities. You can be a live translator for the news or translate interesting books from your native language into English. 

Outside of these options, there are plenty more. And they can be lucrative options. With people around the world being so interconnected, we should know what our neighbors from other countries want to tell us and how we can be better understood. This is where a translator comes in. 

What Do You Need to Become an English Translator?

Of course, the main and most important thing is to know a second language to translate from or to. In our case, we are talking about becoming English translators.

English, being the most spoken language in the world, is usually the first language that comes to mind when thinking about translation. 

But, outside of English, there are roughly 7,099 other languages to choose from. Translation can be done for virtually any language, and specializing in less common languages can definitely work to your benefit! 

But, like many things in life, there are some other things you must keep in mind when pursuing work as a translator. Let us break this down for you!

Choose your languages

As we said, the first thing is to choose the languages you’re going to be working with. 

Your first language may be Spanish, so you want to translate to English. Similarly, you could be a native English speaker who wants to do translations in Arabic. 

Take some time, do your research, and choose the target languages that work best for you. Here’s a tip: Try to find a second language that is high in demand to make yourself more marketable. 

Study the language

This one is pretty obvious, isn’t it? 

If you don’t know another language, you won’t be able to translate anything to it! But, even if you don’t speak a second language, you can always learn one. To do so, try enrolling in a course or hiring a private instructor to teach you the nuances of the language. You can find definitely find an online course, tutor in your town, or, if you have a tight budget, a social media platform that has daily exercises to teach that language.

You can also do a language exchange once you have a good command of the basics of the language. For this, you can try an app like Tandem.

Get specialized training

Once you are an expert in the language of your choosing, the next step is to get training. 

Knowing English, for example, doesn’t necessarily mean that you have the skills necessary to become a good translator. 

For information about available training, you can head to the American Translators Association (ATA) website. There, you’ll find a list of approved schools that can help you prepare to become a professional translator.

If you’re looking for a short course, you can find some good ones on Udemy. There are many there that tackle other subjects as well. For instance, you can study how to quote for your translation.

Become a certified translator

Getting a certification in translation is a definitive way to prove you have the formal skills required to get the job done. 

ATA offers a certification that gives you the special designation of “CT.” You can add this credential to your resume, website, and business cards to show you are a qualified professional translator.

You can also get certified as an interpreter in a specific field, such as medicine, technology, or even math, to show that you know a lot about the language used in more technical contexts.

Another way to go is to get non-language-related certifications in the specific translation field you’re interested in. You could then become a certified nurse or paralegal, which would show that you understand the industry.

Specialize

Once you’ve mastered a language, you can, or should, specialize in a particular area or two of your liking. 

If you’re into medicine, you can take a course in “English for healthcare professionals” or “Italian for chefs.”

When you specialize in a particular area, it immediately gives you an advantage over other translators who only have general knowledge of a language. 

Just think about it. If you had to have brain surgery, you wouldn’t want a doctor who practiced general medicine operating on you, right? It works the same with professional translation. Alright, we know this is an extreme example, but we think it gets our point across! 

Improve your computer skills

You’re most likely going to be doing your translations on your computer. At least, that’s how most translators work these days, especially when doing remote projects.

For this, you will need to master some software programs to help you get your job done quickly, easily, and professionally. 

Some of these programs are:

• Memsource
• Wordfast
• memoQ
• SDL Trados Studio

Get some hands-on experience

Last, but definitely not least, get some hands-on experience! This is a vital step because you will need to have a portfolio to show to potential clients. 

When first starting out, you can find some translation gigs on freelancing pages such as UpWork or Fiverr. They give you opportunities to practice your skills while getting some reviews from real clients. After gaining more experience, you can feature your portfolio on your website for others to see.

Takeaway

Like everything worthwhile in life, becoming a translator takes time, a lot of studying, and effort. But, in the long run, it will give you great rewards.

You have the option of working remotely, so you can be your own boss and create your own schedule. 

If you prefer having a more stable income, you can find translating jobs with translation organizations, multi-national companies, or book publishers. 

You will receive the opportunity to specialize in an area of your liking, whatever it may be. This is a great thing because you’ll be more motivated to do your job. It’s always a great thing to wake up and look forward to doing what you love!

So, don’t wait any longer. If you think translation is the job for you, get started by taking the first step! Make sure to follow our blog so that you can be in the know about other posts like this one to help you on your path to becoming a professional translator!