Career discussion
Has anyone else worked in or is thinking about entering the field of translation/interpretation? Any advice to offer someone trying to get in or any experiences to share?
4 Answers
Yes, touching on what Hitchens says, many in the translation field fear Google translate because it is really set to get better and replace translators on the whole, but then there are those who feel that it will never capture the heart of what is being said.
FWIW: Don't start learning with the goal being to translate, you will burn out really quickly. Learning a language is so incredibly hard that unless you love, love, love that language you will never come to know it. You must hold it close to your heart, that is why I couldn't learn Japanese. It just wouldn't come into my heart no matter how much of it came into my head. I can still converse in it, and remember the kana, hiragana etc... and it had some cool words but the first goal should be just to see if you can love Spanish and to get to know it.
I'm so jealous when people say they speak more than just two languages. I love languages too, but I've only ever dedicated any real time to Spanish and English. I'd love to learn Chinese or Japanese, and I've studied some othe Romance langauges which are easy to understand if you know one or another of them. I hear being multilingual and not just bilingual is the real key, which worries me lol.
I have worked in translation. My fear is that soon computers will replace us largely 
Anyhoo its ok. I only did letters which was good. Did it a few years ago. Polish to English and vice versa. I was able to get this work because there floods of Polish people coming into london who couldnt speak a word. I suppose its more difficult now, and for other languages so cant offer much advise.
My understanding is that it's tough to break in, and that any language to English is not a good source - target matchup. Spanish - Chinese etc... is a good matchup because it's unusual and therefore more sought after. You can look here: proz.com to see a good freelancer site for translators. You must be fully, fully fluent to really get into it. I have been studying several hours a day for 2 years or so and am not close to fluent. I studied Japanese for several hours a day for a year before that and was not close either. I love languages though and I do hope to translate one day even the pay is really bad for the most part and most would think it not worthwhile.
