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Is there much of a need for Swedish - English translators?
Thread poster: Michael Purvis
Michael Purvis
Michael Purvis  Identity Verified
Spanish to English
+ ...
Jan 15, 2013

Hello everybody,

I'm currently working in the Spanish - English language pair although I haven't been having that much luck in getting myself set up (partly because i'm still studying so I haven't really set about marketing myself yet). I've also been studying Swedish for about three years or so and i'm getting to the stage now where I feel confident enough to start undertaking translation tasks. The only thing i'm not sure about is whether or not there's a demand for this language... See more
Hello everybody,

I'm currently working in the Spanish - English language pair although I haven't been having that much luck in getting myself set up (partly because i'm still studying so I haven't really set about marketing myself yet). I've also been studying Swedish for about three years or so and i'm getting to the stage now where I feel confident enough to start undertaking translation tasks. The only thing i'm not sure about is whether or not there's a demand for this language pair! What do you all think? Is there anybody out there working in this pair who can advise me? Any information would be really appreciated!

Thanks! =) ▲ Collapse
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 15:42
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Sweden is in the EU. Jan 15, 2013

So there certainly is!

All product declarations and instructions on Swedish products have to be translated into all EU languages, and some of them are relayed through English.

Lots of academic texts have to be translated.
There is tourist work.
Industry - manuals, marketing...
Law and contracts - Swedes are proud of their legal system and arbitration

etc.

My Swedish is picked up along the way from family and through Danish, s... See more
So there certainly is!

All product declarations and instructions on Swedish products have to be translated into all EU languages, and some of them are relayed through English.

Lots of academic texts have to be translated.
There is tourist work.
Industry - manuals, marketing...
Law and contracts - Swedes are proud of their legal system and arbitration

etc.

My Swedish is picked up along the way from family and through Danish, so I only scratch the surface and take on so-called general texts. (When I worked in house the boss thought that if you could work from one Scandinavian language, you could take on all three...)
But I do quite a bit of 'general' translation from Swedish, and if you really have a grasp of the language, and can work in a specialist area, it might even be easier to break into the market than in a highly competitive language like Spanish.

Swedes are generally good at English themselves, so you have to be REALLY good at your specialist area and go for the top of the market where expertise and being a native speaker of English count.

After all, that is where the future of translating is - the machines will take over more and more at the bottom end.

So go and live in Sweden for a year or two and really work at it. Best of luck!

One small but important thing, though - check your spelling and remember it's I'm with a capital I. ▲ Collapse
 
clairetransl (X)
clairetransl (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:42
French to English
+ ...
Swedish Jan 16, 2013

I don't work from Swedish to English myself, but I know several people who do and they're all doing very well. I think Swedish would be a pretty good choice of source language - I'd certainly consider it if I were to start learning a new one.
 
Michael Purvis
Michael Purvis  Identity Verified
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Swedish Jan 16, 2013

thanks for your comments guys! I've been looking around at the jobs posted on proz and it seems like Swedish-English jobs come through often enough. Not quite as frequently as Spanish-English jobs, but at least there doesn't seem to be as much competition in the Swedish pair. I'm going to stick with my Swedish studies then and hopefully some financial gain will come of it before too long.
 


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Is there much of a need for Swedish - English translators?







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