How to deal with different specializations Thread poster: Ana Cristofaro
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Ana Cristofaro 
Canada
Local time: 12:21
Member (2012)
English to Portuguese
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Hi everyone,
I've been translating video games for almost 10 years and have recently started playing with the idea of getting into a completely different field.
I love games and love translating games, so I want to keep doing that. I've been wondering, however, if it would be weird or seem unprofessional to present myself as someone who's specialized in completely different areas. Should I have separate websites, separate email addresses, different logos...? Basically t... See more Hi everyone,
I've been translating video games for almost 10 years and have recently started playing with the idea of getting into a completely different field.
I love games and love translating games, so I want to keep doing that. I've been wondering, however, if it would be weird or seem unprofessional to present myself as someone who's specialized in completely different areas. Should I have separate websites, separate email addresses, different logos...? Basically treat it as 2 separate businesses? Anyone in this situation who'd have suggestions on how to go about this?
Thanks in advance! ▲ Collapse
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:21
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Interesting question | Mar 3, 2020 |
Ana Cristofaro wrote:
I've been wondering, however, if it would be weird or seem unprofessional to present myself as someone who's specialized in completely different areas.
I specialise in financial and automotive. I don't think clients regard it as a problem, but I do get more work in financial because of my background.
It might be wise to choose an area that is not correlated to video games, so that weak demand in one doesn't mean weakness in the other. Video games is definitely consumer-driven, so perhaps a business-to-business area?
Regards,
Dan
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Jan Truper
Germany
Local time: 18:21
Member (2016)
English to German
Ana Cristofaro wrote:
Should I have separate websites, separate email addresses, different logos...? Basically treat it as 2 separate businesses? Anyone in this situation who'd have suggestions on how to go about this?
I started out as a subtitle translator, branched out into various other fields (luxury hotel websites, advertisements, product catalogues, apps, sweepstakes rules, TOS, privacy policies, etc.), then did tons of video games and lately have been doing mainly subtitles again.
I always kept it all together under one persona, since any sort of translation experience can be regarded as valuable, even in other fields. The only thing I have changed over the years according to the field I was pursuing at the time was the order in which I listed the jobs in my CV (i.e., if I am applying for a video game job, I put my video game experience at the top of the list).
It's laborious enough to maintain one business persona with website, social media, LinkedIn, Proz, logo, e-mail, all the bureaucratic aspects and so on. I doubt having multiple business personas would be worth the effort.
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 17:21
Member (2007)
English
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Ana Cristofaro wrote:
Should I have separate websites, separate email addresses, different logos...? Basically treat it as 2 separate businesses?
I should think that would get terribly complicated and have loads of drawbacks in practice.
I think the important thing is to give potential clients a very clear message of what you can do for them, and to avoid having one text that conflicts with another (e.g. CV and ProZ.com "About Me" text in conflict). That doesn't mean that they all have to say the same thing -- they should just avoid confusing readers. All you have to do is provide whatever justification you can to support your specialisations, such as experience in one and a strong interest in the other. Dan's text on his profile here, for example, tells potential clients in one line exactly why he has two specialisations.
You might though want to have 2-3 separate CVs. That way, the one you send to direct clients, who are only going to be interested in what they themselves do, could heavily emphasise that specialisation and barely mention the other. But translation agency clients could conceivably be interested in either down the road.
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Heike Holthaus
United States
Local time: 12:21
Member (2012)
English to German
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| I'm in the same boat | Mar 4, 2020 |
My main specialization is patents and technical documentation, but I recently decided to branch out into a completely different field. All my online profiles identify me as a patent translator and so will my main website (in the making). There is some overlap in both branches (technical) but the target audience is in an area by itself, so I created a sub-brand and clearly announce it as such. The sub-brand website will be a scrollable a one-pager, the main site a little more complex.
... See more My main specialization is patents and technical documentation, but I recently decided to branch out into a completely different field. All my online profiles identify me as a patent translator and so will my main website (in the making). There is some overlap in both branches (technical) but the target audience is in an area by itself, so I created a sub-brand and clearly announce it as such. The sub-brand website will be a scrollable a one-pager, the main site a little more complex.
This is an example from another translator in the same boat:
https://theactionsportstranslator.com
For LinkedIn I can have two company pages connected to my personal profile and adapt my personal profile accordingly.
I find it easier for my marketing to have two clear personas as the voice is very different. ▲ Collapse
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| I have been in the same boat for a long time... | Mar 4, 2020 |
I started out some 40 years ago as a generalist but pretty quickly realized that there are certain types of text I’m not qualified to handle or that I simply don’t enjoy. I still consider myself a generalist and enjoy projects where I can use my skills. My main area of work is EU affairs (I was an EU translator working in-house for 20 years), but over the years I have gained experience in several other fields: law (I was a sworn translator), medicine (mostly gynecology, obstetrics, medical d... See more I started out some 40 years ago as a generalist but pretty quickly realized that there are certain types of text I’m not qualified to handle or that I simply don’t enjoy. I still consider myself a generalist and enjoy projects where I can use my skills. My main area of work is EU affairs (I was an EU translator working in-house for 20 years), but over the years I have gained experience in several other fields: law (I was a sworn translator), medicine (mostly gynecology, obstetrics, medical devices, clinical trials), education and vocational training, food labeling… ▲ Collapse
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Ana Cristofaro
Canada
Local time: 12:21
Member (2012)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all so much for your replies!
I'm still not 100% sure of what I'll do, but your thoughts and experiences helped me put things into perspective. It's true that having multiple personas sounds like quite a bit of trouble, but maybe a sub-brand, like Heike, might be the way for me to go.
I can't help but feel a little weird about how different my specializations would be... I mean, about how I'd be perceived. It would be like accessing a Mexican restaurant's we... See more Thank you all so much for your replies!
I'm still not 100% sure of what I'll do, but your thoughts and experiences helped me put things into perspective. It's true that having multiple personas sounds like quite a bit of trouble, but maybe a sub-brand, like Heike, might be the way for me to go.
I can't help but feel a little weird about how different my specializations would be... I mean, about how I'd be perceived. It would be like accessing a Mexican restaurant's website and finding out they also sell sushi, hehe. But let's see, that would be more of an issue when I do have a website, and that's not happening right away. I think for the moment I'll just take the suggestions to have different CVs -- it makes a lot of sense and hadn't crossed my mind!
Thanks again!! ▲ Collapse
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