A beginner with no previous experience Thread poster: AlinaZ
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AlinaZ
United States
Local time: 15:03
Russian to English
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Hi everyone!
I am new to the site and to the whole trade of freelance translation, so needless to say I have little idea on where to begin. I've studied translation and linguistics (English-Russian language pair) in college in Russia but never graduated, so it feels like posting that on a resume would be not so appealing for potential customers. I've lived in the United States for the past 6 years and have been able to generate a vast knowledge of American pop culture and lifestyle ... See more Hi everyone!
I am new to the site and to the whole trade of freelance translation, so needless to say I have little idea on where to begin. I've studied translation and linguistics (English-Russian language pair) in college in Russia but never graduated, so it feels like posting that on a resume would be not so appealing for potential customers. I've lived in the United States for the past 6 years and have been able to generate a vast knowledge of American pop culture and lifestyle through lots of reading and hands-on experience. I've loved doing translations in college and was praised by my teachers, but my oh my - where do I begin professionally if I have no practical experience for resume's sake? I've heard that it might be beneficial to start off doing some voluntary work for non-profits, but how can I get my foot in that door?
I am very grateful for any kind of advice!
Alina ▲ Collapse
| | | | | A beginner with no previous experience | Dec 3, 2012 |
Hi, I hope someone answers your query as I am in the same situation as you. I realise however that university translation course does not prepare you for specialised translation which is really where you have to develop. University does not deal with specific topics in language pairs but only gives you the rudiments- theory, ethics, some practice, some practice in software but then you have to train yourself. I think if you start by choosing an area of specialisation, and practicing on KudoZ e.g... See more Hi, I hope someone answers your query as I am in the same situation as you. I realise however that university translation course does not prepare you for specialised translation which is really where you have to develop. University does not deal with specific topics in language pairs but only gives you the rudiments- theory, ethics, some practice, some practice in software but then you have to train yourself. I think if you start by choosing an area of specialisation, and practicing on KudoZ e.g is very good. You build up very slowly and have to be wary in case you go for jobs where you are underpaid till you build up experience- but can get bitten- or take up only small jobs you can cope with. Unfortunately, things are bad at the moment, though there are various job postings. GL ▲ Collapse
| | | | The Misha
Local time: 16:03
Russian to English
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| I've got good news for you. | Dec 3, 2012 |
Your English is fine and has a native feel to it that quite a few, if not most, Russian speakers here that claim to be able to translate into English do not have. If all it took was six years in Alabama, I take my hat off. You are doing fine. It sure did take me much longer than that. You are also wrong about not wanting to put your college experience, whether complete or not (I am sure you are well familiar with the "some college" formula by now) on your resume, and wrong for two reasons: (a) i... See more Your English is fine and has a native feel to it that quite a few, if not most, Russian speakers here that claim to be able to translate into English do not have. If all it took was six years in Alabama, I take my hat off. You are doing fine. It sure did take me much longer than that. You are also wrong about not wanting to put your college experience, whether complete or not (I am sure you are well familiar with the "some college" formula by now) on your resume, and wrong for two reasons: (a) it does add up, and (b) for as long as you are to remain a freelancer no one really gives a hoot; all they want to know is if you can do the job. All you have to do is show them. Of course, you will also have to find yourself at the right place at the right time for that.
Now the bad news. This here is a business, and it usually takes years to build one. Even then nothing is guaranteed, and you are only as good as the last job you did. For obvious reasons, this business is also fairly secretive, and no one - yours truly here included - will share anything that really matters. Well, not as a general case anyway. Second, specialization is key, and if all you can offer is a generally good command of two languages you are not going to get very far. If you pardon my getting a little more personal here - you seem like a nice young person, and I am an aging grump - why do you want to become a freelance translator at this stage in your life? Most of us here, at least in the language pair we seem to share, came to this after a career elsewhere and would rather sit at their desks and peck away at their keyboards than go out there and deal with people. For the most part those of us on your own side of the pond - and I know they are now going to dunk me in tar and feathers and run me out of town - also had our options somewhat limited due to having made the trip across the Atlantic too late in life or too tired. Again, you seem like a nice young person. Why don't you go learn a trade, whatever ticks your fancy, and then go and practice it for a while? If you don't like it out there in the real world, you can always come back to being a freelance translator and make a specialization out of what you know, which will make your skills a much better sell.
I am sure there will be plenty of others here to give you advice on how you need to be a good citizen here and contribute to KudoZ and all that, so I'll spare you the standard pitch. One piece of advice though: if you do decide to participate in Kudoz, do not guess, give it your best and try to be nice to people. You do not have to answer every possible question asked - just those where you are reasonably sure you have something to offer. Otherwise, it will only work against you. Also, I am sure you will soon realize there's folks here whose questions you simply do not want to answer. That's OK too.
Whatever you decide, good luck to you. If you think there's something more specific you want to ask of someone who's been in this boat for quite a while, feel free to send me a message "v lichku" as the Russians put it.
[Edited at 2012-12-03 21:31 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 21:03
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Watch out! Feathers are flying through the ether! | Dec 4, 2012 |
The Misha wrote:
why do you want to become a freelance translator at this stage in your life?
That's certainly a valid question, and one that Alina needs to have an answer to (though she doesn't necessarily have to share it, of course). There are far too many people who enter the business thinking it'll earn them a few bob (sorry, I'm still English at heart ) without doing anything very much to earn it apart from turning a sentence from one language into another.
Why don't you go learn a trade, whatever ticks your fancy, and then go and practice it for a while? If you don't like it out there in the real world, you can always come back to being a freelance translator and make a specialization out of what you know, which will make your skills a much better sell.
Now, that's just plain grumpy! Alina started by using the expression "learning the trade" so she has already chosen translation as her "real world". Please don't make it sound as though all of us who came to translation late in life are here because we're failures that would be really sad. There's absolutely nothing wrong with translation as a trade for a young person. It just isn't any good at providing a quick ROI (return on investment). If she's willing to accept hard times to start with (with no guarantee of eventual success), there's no earthly reason why she shouldn't take up translation as a first career.
Certainly, specialisations are a requirement in the most common pairs, less important in the others, and I believe you'll find they're more important here on ProZ.com than in direct contact with clients, who may work in specialist areas but need translations using quite general vocabulary. It's all about standing out; not being a tiny fish in an enormous ocean. But specialisations can arise from hobbies, interests, research, studies, life experience... You can also, possibly, do a deal with a proofreader who already has a specialisation, and learn from their corrections.
Standing out means having as perfect a profile as possible here on ProZ.com, if you're going to make it your sales window. There's help available here in terms of Lucia's free webinars and the site guidance centre: http://www.proz.com/guidance-center Your CV/resume is really important, too. Yours is good, Alina, but it needs to have those translation studies included, plus any and all experience: I bet you've done some translations during your studies, for friends and associations, etc.
To gain more experience and have something to show clients, have you considered translating for sports clubs? There must be loads of stuff about running (and marathons in particular) on the web in one language that could interest people in the other. If you make sure you only approach private individuals and non-profit associations, it's the sort of area where beginner translators can work for free without feeling they are damaging the profession.
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AlinaZ
United States
Local time: 15:03
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | 'Russian-proofing' | Dec 4, 2012 |
Thank you everyone who decided to reply to my post! I means a lot to me and pretty much summarizes the idea that I already had in my mind: freelance translation is not an easy feat and there are no guarantees that anyone getting involved in it is going to succeed. However, we all set our own boundaries and determine why we're in it in the first place, so I'm going to keep on trying.
Also, as The Misha put it, it means a lot for a Russian native speaker to get a certain feel to their... See more Thank you everyone who decided to reply to my post! I means a lot to me and pretty much summarizes the idea that I already had in my mind: freelance translation is not an easy feat and there are no guarantees that anyone getting involved in it is going to succeed. However, we all set our own boundaries and determine why we're in it in the first place, so I'm going to keep on trying.
Also, as The Misha put it, it means a lot for a Russian native speaker to get a certain feel to their English that comes off as more natural and less 'English as a second language'. This hasn't been a problem for me because of, well, the approach I've been applying to my English studies (it also helps to live in a state that has severe anti-immigration laws that pretty much drew all immigrants out, so I only get to talk to the American population. Oh, and also my husband is a smart man who unknowingly teaches me something new every day.) So I've been thinking of involving myself in a sort of proof-reading service that I call 'Russian-proofing': making sure texts translated from Russian to English don't sound as too 'translated', especially if they target average Americans as their audience. I've seen examples all over the Internet that this service could benefit lots of translations, and this was even before I started considering doing freelance translations. So what do you ladies and gentlemen think: is this worth a try? ▲ Collapse
| | | | The Misha
Local time: 16:03
Russian to English
+ ...
| What you are talking about is called editing | Dec 4, 2012 |
I've been doing increasingly more of it lately, fixing texts after folks based in the old country have had their way with them at $.03 per word. Good ones are grammatical enough but you'd never ever mistake them for what they are. Sure, it's a living if you can get it. Whether it's a career depends on your definition of same. Cheers.
| | | | Sarah McDowell
Canada
Local time: 15:03
Member (2012)
Russian to English
+ ...
I would say there is a large demand for editing Russian-English translations done by non-native speakers of English. I am busy doing a lot of this kind of work myself. However, the unfortunate thing is that this type of work doesn't pay very well. Sometimes the texts are very poorly written and in those cases you need to charge more. Besides this factor, I enjoy doing translation more than editing. But considering that nobody wants to pay reasonable rates for translation, I end up having to decl... See more I would say there is a large demand for editing Russian-English translations done by non-native speakers of English. I am busy doing a lot of this kind of work myself. However, the unfortunate thing is that this type of work doesn't pay very well. Sometimes the texts are very poorly written and in those cases you need to charge more. Besides this factor, I enjoy doing translation more than editing. But considering that nobody wants to pay reasonable rates for translation, I end up having to decline their offers and do editing for them instead.
In my opinion it would make more sense for these companies just to hire native speakers or near-native speakers to do the translation in the first place instead of paying extremely low rates to translators who are clearly not native speakers and then have to get these same texts edited by a native speaker. It would make more sense economically to hire someone who's going to do a high quality translation at a respectable rate.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 04:03
Chinese to English
| Editing will kill you | Dec 5, 2012 |
"Translation mistakes" or badly translated materials that sound awkward are fun to joke about, not so fun to work with.
Firstly, a lot of clients are very resistant to paying to get their materials done twice.
Secondly, if they've hired a bad translator first time round *and then put the results up for everyone to see*, then you know two things about them: (a) they're cheap (probably paid peanuts); and (b) they're not very quality-oriented.
So I would not recomme... See more "Translation mistakes" or badly translated materials that sound awkward are fun to joke about, not so fun to work with.
Firstly, a lot of clients are very resistant to paying to get their materials done twice.
Secondly, if they've hired a bad translator first time round *and then put the results up for everyone to see*, then you know two things about them: (a) they're cheap (probably paid peanuts); and (b) they're not very quality-oriented.
So I would not recommend chasing those jokers as a path to a career. If you'd like to translate, translate! Do it well first time, and work with people who care about doing it well first time.
That said, as you start out, you might have to pay some dues. Some agencies will ask you to "proofread" (or edit, review, QA... there's a million words for it) to see if you're any good before they give you translation jobs. So you might well do a little proofreading. But I understand that your pair is a bit like mine: lots of lot cost, low quality providers. You want to stay out of that mud pool, as much as you can. They'll only drag you down. ▲ Collapse
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