Credentials for international real estate
Thread poster: Danelle Hood
Danelle Hood
Danelle Hood  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:29
Spanish to English
May 22, 2016

I am a Spanish to English translator and I'm new to the industry. I am working on a Master's degree in translation and as soon as I am done with my Master's degree, I want to start specializing in international real estate, but I don't have any education or work experience in international real estate. Can anyone tell me what combination of work experience, education, and certifications that a translation agency would be looking for when contracting international real estate translation work t... See more
I am a Spanish to English translator and I'm new to the industry. I am working on a Master's degree in translation and as soon as I am done with my Master's degree, I want to start specializing in international real estate, but I don't have any education or work experience in international real estate. Can anyone tell me what combination of work experience, education, and certifications that a translation agency would be looking for when contracting international real estate translation work to a freelance translator? Is there a property law / international real estate certificate program out there that is worth looking into?Collapse


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:29
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Never mind May 23, 2016

dhood wrote:

I am a Spanish to English translator and I'm new to the industry. I am working on a Master's degree in translation and as soon as I am done with my Master's degree, I want to start specializing in international real estate, but I don't have any education or work experience in international real estate. Can anyone tell me what combination of work experience, education, and certifications that a translation agency would be looking for when contracting international real estate translation work to a freelance translator? Is there a property law / international real estate certificate program out there that is worth looking into?


Never mind the credentials. What people are looking for is proven experience and expertise in a specialist field. Get a job with any large property/real estate company that works internationally. My suggestion would be to get away from translations studies and certificates and into the real world. You need to become very well informed about the Spanish to English real estate world in all its ramifications. Oh, and by the way, be able to translate the documents, but only as a by-product of knowing all about real estate.

PS another suggestion: work on your Proz profile and make it as complete as possible, in particular the "Portfolio" section. The way Proz works is that people come looking for you. If you have a good profile with an edge that sets you apart, you'll be in with a chance.

[Edited at 2016-05-23 09:26 GMT]


 
Danelle Hood
Danelle Hood  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:29
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
thanks May 23, 2016

Thank you for your suggestions Tom. I agree with you. I think it's best to get real world experience and I like how you said that the ability to translate should just be a by-product of being an expert in the field.

 
Richard Foulkes (X)
Richard Foulkes (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:29
German to English
+ ...
Take a look at www.rics.org May 23, 2016

And select your local / source language region. There will be a lot of info publicly available that will give you an overview of the real estate profession and its regulation. If you go to the 'find a surveyor/company' section, you can also read the websites of the major service providers and learn about what services they offer or download market reports.

As for obtaining certification, it's probably not something you can do for the purposes of a translation specialisation. The RIC
... See more
And select your local / source language region. There will be a lot of info publicly available that will give you an overview of the real estate profession and its regulation. If you go to the 'find a surveyor/company' section, you can also read the websites of the major service providers and learn about what services they offer or download market reports.

As for obtaining certification, it's probably not something you can do for the purposes of a translation specialisation. The RICS is the world's largest professional association for real estate (according to them at least!). You need a minimum of 2 years professional experience (i.e. full-time employment and high quality experience to meet all of the requirements involved) before you can go forward for the final assessment. They have recently opened up more pathways to qualification now so it may be possible, for instance, to commence your professional training (with an accrediated employer) without first having an RICS-accredited real estate degree, which used to be a requirement.

I qualified as MRICS in 2009 when I was working in the profession so I'm not fully up to date on the current pathways to qualification but if you want to discuss the subject further, feel free to PM / e-mail me.
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Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 15:29
English to Polish
+ ...
Post-grad May 23, 2016

dhood wrote:

I am a Spanish to English translator and I'm new to the industry. I am working on a Master's degree in translation and as soon as I am done with my Master's degree, I want to start specializing in international real estate, but I don't have any education or work experience in international real estate. Can anyone tell me what combination of work experience, education, and certifications that a translation agency would be looking for when contracting international real estate translation work to a freelance translator? Is there a property law / international real estate certificate program out there that is worth looking into?


Look for postgrad programmes and certificate courses, look into qualifying as an agent or appraiser.


 
philgoddard
philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
Sledgehammer/nut May 23, 2016

You don't need to get a job with a real-estate company, or obtain a specialist qualification.

In practice, most translations in this area are leases (which are easy once you've done a couple, since they say essentially the same things) and property descriptions, which often require creative flair.

Just put real estate as a specialist subject on your profile. Though, to mix metaphors, I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket if I were in your shoes. I'd be surprised i
... See more
You don't need to get a job with a real-estate company, or obtain a specialist qualification.

In practice, most translations in this area are leases (which are easy once you've done a couple, since they say essentially the same things) and property descriptions, which often require creative flair.

Just put real estate as a specialist subject on your profile. Though, to mix metaphors, I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket if I were in your shoes. I'd be surprised if you could earn a living with this one specialisation, and it could be boring after a while.
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philgoddard
philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
PS May 23, 2016

I see you don't have a profile. Why not set one up and see if you can get some work? There's no need to wait till you graduate (I didn't). That way, you could get your career off to a flying start.

 
Richard Foulkes (X)
Richard Foulkes (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:29
German to English
+ ...
SURPRISE! May 23, 2016

philgoddard wrote:

I'd be surprised if you could earn a living with this one specialisation.


Funnily enough, I think our posts illustrate the value of having a specialisation backed by a degree / career / professional qualification as opposed to 'just putting it on your profile'.


 
Danelle Hood
Danelle Hood  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:29
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
very helpful May 24, 2016

Thank you to everyone who responded. Your comments were very helpful. And yes, I will be creating a ProZ profile soon.

 


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Credentials for international real estate






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