Poll: Do you have a degree or a professional qualification in your area(s) of specialization?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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May 14, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you have a degree or a professional qualification in your area(s) of specialization?".

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Saniyat Abacharaeva
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 12:25
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other May 14, 2019

My degree is in economics but as there were no student-workers by then, it took me so long to obtain it that I almost never used it formally. I do translate economics but not finance (hate it) and my areas of specialization have very little to do with economics. I started out translating 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. Today my main area of work is EU affairs, but over... See more
My degree is in economics but as there were no student-workers by then, it took me so long to obtain it that I almost never used it formally. I do translate economics but not finance (hate it) and my areas of specialization have very little to do with economics. I started out translating 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. Today my main area of work is EU affairs, but over the years I have gained experience in several other fields: law, medicine (mostly gynecology, obstetrics, medical devices, and clinical trials), taxation, education and vocational training, marketing, regional development, political journalism, small domestic appliances… I still consider myself a generalist and enjoy projects where I can use my skills. Diversity is the spice of life!Collapse


Kay Denney
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:25
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
No May 14, 2019

My degrees are in linguistics. I have learned my specializations through experience.

Natalia Pedrosa
Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
Aradai Pardo Martínez
Hedwig Spitzer (X)
Daniela Slankamenac
Michele Fauble
 
Angus Stewart
Angus Stewart  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:25
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
Yes May 14, 2019

Yes, I specialize in legal translation and have both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law.

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:25
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Other May 14, 2019

I have a very useful qualification as a generalist.

Way back in the last century, I took a BSc in what was then called Information Science. (It developed into a BA in Business Information Management, and has undoubtedly changed beyond all recognition).

The nearest we came to IT was writing a COBOL program which, if you were very lucky, would sort 100 library books into alphabetical order, and then, i
... See more
I have a very useful qualification as a generalist.

Way back in the last century, I took a BSc in what was then called Information Science. (It developed into a BA in Business Information Management, and has undoubtedly changed beyond all recognition).

The nearest we came to IT was writing a COBOL program which, if you were very lucky, would sort 100 library books into alphabetical order, and then, if you were VERY lucky, would go on placing additional books in the right places between them.

It was honestly easier to do it in your head, and we had plenty of practice with real books and the Universal Decimal Classification (A derivative of Dewey, but not quite the same) and other systems.

However, the BSc qualified me as a librarian for academic and technical libraries in the days when there was no Internet, and I could then work as one of the gremlins in the stacks who tried to help people find what they wanted. The degree included abstracting and translating from German, and I did a year of postgraduate practical training at BHRA in Cranfield, of all unlikely places, so I knew a little bit about dams and bridges, dredgers and the offshore industry.
The training was based on the idea that many users would not be able to come and search for books or in databases themselves, and my job was to find out what they wanted, and then find what the library had on the subject.
(And, said one of the lecturers, when you have found the material, check the name of the person requesting it. You can assume that academics already have the books they have written themselves, so don't charge them for postage on those!) Happy days!

The text analyses, studies of statistics, introduction to industry and reader groups (who in theory could range from schoolchildren to top researchers) and a lot of the other smaller subjects, plus my school Latin, have, in fact proved extremely useful nearly fifty years later.

Then I met a Dane... and did not get a job with one of the big medical companies before we moved away from Copenhagen to what the Danes politely call 'the outer edge'. (Udkanten)
So I never got into libraries in Denmark, but I did after many years manage to get a job with a translation agency that sponsored my translation diploma… and here I am!
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Hege Jakobsen Lepri
 
Edith van der Have
Edith van der Have
Netherlands
Local time: 13:25
Member (2016)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Yes May 14, 2019

Yes, I specialise in agriculture and anything biological, and I am an agronomist with a bachelor degree in translation.

 
Luciana Trevisi
Luciana Trevisi  Identity Verified
Italy
English to Italian
+ ...
Other May 14, 2019

My main area of specialization is Textiles/Clothing/Fashion; I have a degree in languages. Before starting as a translator, I had worked in sales departments of textiles/fashion companies for years, so that I learned all I know about textiles through experience.

 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 13:25
French to English
No May 14, 2019

Like Luciana, I specialise in fashion and textiles, and that came about because it was one of the specialist subjects at the agency I started working in. I got the job on the strength of my test translation. The fact that I had learned dressmaking with my mother and therefore a fair amount of technical vocubulary was a great help.
I have acquired my other specialist subjects on the job. I tackled anything and everything at the agency and soon got a feel for the type of text I could enjoy.
... See more
Like Luciana, I specialise in fashion and textiles, and that came about because it was one of the specialist subjects at the agency I started working in. I got the job on the strength of my test translation. The fact that I had learned dressmaking with my mother and therefore a fair amount of technical vocubulary was a great help.
I have acquired my other specialist subjects on the job. I tackled anything and everything at the agency and soon got a feel for the type of text I could enjoy.

I'm very much self-taught. I have a degree in translation, but which I acquired on the strength of my professional experience rather than study.
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Luciana Trevisi
Maria da Glória Teixeira
 
Maria da Glória Teixeira
Maria da Glória Teixeira  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 09:25
Member (2020)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other May 14, 2019

Before becoming a translator, I did language courses, did a Nutrition Technician, then went to the Faculty where I graduated in pedagogy, where I did some specialization courses in the environment, but the experience made me a specialist.

[Editada em 2019-05-15 00:07 GMT]


 
Gitte Hovedskov (X)
Gitte Hovedskov (X)
Denmark
Local time: 13:25
English to Danish
+ ...
Yes May 15, 2019

I specialise in translation, and I am qualified for that.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 09:25
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes, but in another area May 16, 2019

I'm specialized in translation, and my degree is in another area.
However, if I had ten lives to live, I would not take any course in Translation or in the "Arts" areas. The type of konwledge, experience, behavior and professionalism I regularly see in those who did graduate in the area is something I really pass.


 


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Poll: Do you have a degree or a professional qualification in your area(s) of specialization?






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