Generally defined as the process of transferring the meaning of a text from one language to another, translation is a millennia-old concept.
Translation as a profession has been constantly evolving since its dawn in Ancient Greece, both technologically and from the point of view of the fields it is connected to. Initially considered a craft of the scholars who translated religious texts, translation has slowly spread into literature and science to eventually become an indispensable element in all the important cultural and economic aspects of modern life.
A rewarding but also a challenging career, translating has reached its popularity peak in the 21st century on account of the internationalization of industrial concerns and their need to approach the clients in their own language. At the same time, the stress that post modern society lays or multiculturalism, together with the need of communication and cultural transfer among nations, brought about a greater interest in translation and languages.
A career in translation is at hand especially for languages graduates. Apart from the fluency in at least one foreign language, a future translator must have various skills, among which:
- perfect understanding and mastering of both the source language (the language he/she translates from) and the target language (the language he/she translates into), these involving both the grammatical structure and the vocabulary of the two languages
- knowledge of the cultural and social environment of the target language
- specialized knowledge of one or several subjects (technology, law, finance, commerce, literature etc)
- and last but not least - genuine writing skills
Translation is often wrongfully perceived as a process whose goal is to find the exact equivalent of a word in the target language. Since translation is etymologically defined as the process of bringing, of carrying across the meaning of a text from one language to another, the stress falls on the decoding and recoding of the message and not on providing a word-for-word translation.
A translator should be able to interpret, to mold the text in manner that it keeps its original tone, but the cultural and linguistic background of the reader should also be observed. As far as this transfer of ideas from one language and from one culture to another is concerned, a translator may face several linguistic obstacles. Some of the most common are neologisms, jargon, abbreviations, slang, idioms, stylistic elements.
Nowadays there are several reference works as well as language and translation tools that come to the translators' rescue. Starting with the common printed dictionaries (language to language, dictionaries of synonyms / antonyms, thesauruses) and ending with the latest translation software and online language tools, a translator can resort to an ever-increasing palette of translation-assisting material. In order to thoroughly master their job and to acquire quality experience, the translators' tendency is to specialize in a certain domain. While some may be more interested in translating 'exact' texts (technological, juridical, financial, commercial etc), others are drawn towards the more ambiguous and loose realm of literary texts.
Once an aspiring translator manages to gather trustworthy recommendations from several clients and to build a certain background of appreciated translations, he/she may apply for a position in a translation agency. Translation companies generally require a couple of years' experience in translation (specialized in a certain domain, preferably) and they thoroughly test all the applicants.
Working as a freelancer offers the translator the freedom to choose the project he/she undertakes and to work according to his/her own schedule, but it does require a lot of involvement and attention in tracking potential clients and in convincing them of the quality of the services he/she provides.
A career to which many aspire but few manage to master effectively, translation has always played (and will most likely continue to play) a vital part in the social and economic development of the world. In spite of being threatened by recently released machine translation software and the constant tendency to simplify and speed up all processes, human translation remains the most reliable and popular form of translation.
Ioana Mihailas is a linguist from Lingo24 Translation Services UK, a company that created an online career guide for language graduates.
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