The topic of apprenticeships, work placements or internships for translators interests me for several reasons, not least because I believe on-the-ground learning alongside more experienced peers is a vital part of education in any field.

But it’s particularly interesting in translation because of the way in which our industry is organised. Most translators work freelance because unless you want to go the civil service route, there are very few inhouse positions for native English translators involving primarily translation work, as opposed to project management, terminology, or other translation-related tasks.

This makes it difficult for newcomers to the profession to find obvious opportunities to learn from their peers.

Yet professional associations and universities can and do already play an important role in plugging that gap, even if the options aren’t as formalised as they are in other industries. When the issue came up at the recent ITI / eCPD Virtual Coffee Morning on International Translation Day 2011, it struck me how unaware many of the participants were of these opportunities.

Universities

Most universities have links to business and industry that are ripe for the taking. And if they don’t, the fact of being a student opens doors to local businesses that you would never discover as a working professional.

My first degree in Ireland included a compulsory 6-month work placement, and the option of either a second 6-month placement or a study abroad period. This offered ample opportunity to make our mark in the world of work, and put us head and shoulders above other graduates who hadn’t had this opportunity.

(Incidentally, the study abroad option was popular even for students who did not study a second language – another advantage Irish graduates have over most other anglophones ).

My second degree in London had an optional work placement, but I decided to pursue a subject I wouldn’t have the option of studying outside of a university structure. But then I also organised a couple of work placements for myself for good measure too.

Most valuable of all, I deliberately chose a translation degree which included plenty of hands-on translation work with practising translators – in addition to experienced tutors, thankfully. Practising translators may be a goldmine of “real world” advice, but they’re not always the easiest people to learn from. This way we had the best of both worlds.

The university also organised numerous talks and workshops with high-profile professionals. I’ve seen many of the topics covered in those talks crop up again and again over the intervening ten years or so. How’s that for an investment in your career?

When I hear established translators denigrate the value of a formal education in translation (usually because it’s not the route they’ve taken), I’m certain these are just some of the many benefits that they just don’t understand.

I graduated in both instances with a clear idea of the realities of working life, some solid albeit basic professional experience and, crucially, a couple of door-opening references and contacts. More than enough to give me a leg up to the next rung on the career ladder.

Professional associations

Of course not everyone comes to translation with a formal education in the field, or indeed from a “real world”-oriented university. This is where professional associations play a role.

For example, the ITI runs a hugely successful scheme for newcomers called the Professional Support Group. As part of that, they offer opportunities for prospective translators to work closely with an established professional in their language pair.

I’m sure many of the larger professional bodies run similar schemes, and if they don’t, it’s not hard to become a regular face, introduce yourself to some established translators and develop your own network of willing and able helpers (as part of a reciprocal arrangement, of course). I know it’s not hard, because I’ve done that too.

Yet how many translation students ever bother to join their local associations? How many newcomers to the profession actively manage their network of fellow professionals? It’s like the flip side of translators who network only within their own peer group, and then wonder why they can’t find direct clients.

The importance of managing your own learning

Ultimately, it’s not the job of a university, professional association, or indeed anyone else to find work placements for prospective translators. No-one is going to be handed a placement on a platter, just as no-one is going to be handed the perfect job – so why shouldn’t aspiring professionals have to put in a little legwork to find one?

As Philippa Hammond put it in her excellent post, Where do all the translators go?:

… We don’t want to deny that to make a living as a professional translator or interpreter requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but what career worth having doesn’t require a bit of hard graft? …

I believe a large part of the problem is the way in which many translators, both newcomers and more established, understand what a work placement, internship or apprenticeship should entail.

In an age of remote working, portfolio careers and job hopping, we should view on-the-job learning in wider terms than just turning up to an office for a couple of mind-numbing days, weeks or months of work. Instead, we should be looking at combining face-to-face networking and meet-ups with remote collaboration and guidance, including pro-bono translation services where appropriate.

Crucially, this needs to be managed by the aspiring translator, not by an association, more experienced peer or university, no matter how well meaning their intentions. Everyone deserves a hand up, but do we really need to encourage more of the victim mentality that Philippa referred to in her post?

A structure like this would more closely reflect the realities of the business in which we work today, especially given that being “good” at translation is just a small part of what one needs to learn to become a successful translator.

Let’s face it - if  you’re not able to organise an internship for yourself, you’ll struggle to survive in a profession where almost everyone works freelance.

Smart translators actively manage their own careers, and this starts from our very earliest days on the job.

One of the best perks of my other job is that I get to attend some truly fantastic talks by the most interesting, inspiring and successful people in our profession.

So I was delighted when Judy Jenner of Translation Times and Twin Translations agreed to talk about her approach to the ever-thorny issue of pricing. Her strategies and suggestions apply to freelance translators everywhere, regardless of country, currency or language combination.

Judy is a well-known proponent of the entrepreneurial linguist approach, and the message seems to be getting through. I see increasing numbers of freelance translators who are aware that they are not just professionals, but also business owners.

Judy made one point in particular during her session which stuck a chord with me. She emphasised that building and growing a business is hard, and that freelance translators and interpreters need to expect it to be that way.

Yet not as many translators seem to grasp this aspect of business ownership.

Becoming a translator is easy

It’s no secret that translation has a low barrier to entry, and freelance work an even lower one.

Speak more than one language? Then set up an account on Proz.com, mass-email your CV to a list of agencies and voilà, you’re a freelance translator. If you want to be especially entrepreneurial, you might even take thirty minutes or so to set up a website, blog and Twitter stream.

There is nothing wrong with any of this. I don’t begrudge anyone their route into translation, nor do I believe a baptism of fire is a requirement to earn your wings as a “real” translator.

But I do think it’s what you do next, after you’ve emailed your CV, set up your LinkedIn profile or had your business cards printed, and every single day thereafter, over a period of weeks, months and years, that secures you a successful, sustainable career in translation.

But being one isn’t

A lot of people become freelance translators, but far fewer stay long in the profession. Translation communities are full of translators complaining about low rates, unfair conditions and clients who take advantage of them.

By my reckoning, these people do not have successful, sustainable careers in translation. So what can they do to change that?

As Aristotle apparently never said, we are what we repeatedly do, and excellence is not an act but a habit.

Significant results don’t materialise overnight – they require continuous (or at least continual) practice combined with a strategic approach, a long-term commitment and plenty of hard work.

Projects that are well paid, satisfying and regular, or clients that are reasonable, interesting and appreciative: there is no magic pill or single way to achieve these things.

They simply require that you put the work in, over and over again.

In the words of Judy Jenner, if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it – right?

Photo credit: Hard work… from NoneOther… {Captured In Lights}..’s photostream on Flickr.

It’s easy to look at a piece of advice and come up with a hundred reasons why it won’t work for you. There are as many ways to be a translator as there are translators, after all.

But maybe none of our professional problems are that unique. So if a suggestion doesn’t fit your situation 100%, rather than dismissing it entirely, I think it’s worth thinking about the ways in which it might fit.

For example, Fire Ant & Worker Bee are big advocates of the idea that translations appearing in print should bear the translator’s name as a matter of course, and that it is the responsibility of translators to ensure this happens. In their online column and book, they put up a good argument in support of this idea and offer easy-to-follow advice for translators wishing to pursue this option.

I think it’s a great idea. But given my current portfolio, it would be easy to dismiss it and focus on how it doesn’t suit me. For example, I don’t often work on translations that are destined for print, and as such, my work can be tweaked and updated by any number of people over its lifetime (which isn’t to say the work is any less critical or lucrative, of course).

But I can still see the merits of the suggestion, and there’s no reason why I can’t apply the principles behind it to all my translations. What translator wouldn’t benefit from taking concrete steps to ensure proper accountability, due recognition, rigorous standards and appropriate control of their work? These are lofty ideals and not easy to reach with every job, but that’s not to stay I should stop aspiring to them.

Regardless of our individual circumstances, I think we can all learn something if we keep our minds open and our brains turned on when we hear about the ways in which other translators work.

At the AUSIT Biennial Conference in November 2010, Tineke Van Beukering shared her thoughts and practical experience of post-editing machine translation output. It was a great session so I was delighted to attend another more indepth talk by Tineke on the same topic a few weeks ago.

Among other things, she covered:

• the role of the MT post-editor.
• the advantages of using MT + a skilled post-editor (i.e. it’s not just about the money).
• the differences between MT post-editing and checking.
• a typical MT workflow, including other emerging sources of work, e.g. MT optimisation.
• how to make a lucrative income stream out of MT post-editing.
• how and why she got into this line of work.
• what she finds most satisfying about it.

Machine translation: not a question of “good” or “bad”

Something that particularly interested me was Tineke’s discussion of her initial resistance to working with MT output, and how she came to terms with that.

She said it posed an ethical dilemma for her when she was first offered this work, because she didn’t want to contribute to practices which she believed might lead to the end of her profession. These initial concerns reflected many of the usual fears we  hear bandied about when the topic of MT makes an appearance, and I was impressed with the way in which Tineke went about  testing her fears, before coming to her current and ultimately more informed conclusions.

What constitutes a “real” translator?

I also got the impression that Tineke felt she had to strongly defend her decision to work with MT output to her peers. I sensed that she may have been at the receiving end of explicit or implicit criticism for her choice in the past. (To be fair, I didn’t get a chance to talk to Tineke about this so I could be way off base.)

It caught my attention because I’ve seen this kind of snobbery rear its ugly head in the profession before.  And it’s a shame that some translators feel they can look down on peers who apply translation skills in a way that may not fit the traditional “word-in, word-out” model of translation.

To stay relevant, translators need to be able to apply translation-related skills to a range of communicative tasks. I see it as an extension of the poverty-trap mentality which Jill Sommers refers to here, when those who dare to earn a living and adapt to a changing profession are somehow deemed less of a “proper” translator for doing so.

Translation professionals vs. people who translate

I didn’t entirely agree with all the points Tineke made though. For example, she drew some comparisons between the use of translation technology today and the automation of tasks during the industrial revolution, which saw so many workers lose their jobs.

For me, this doesn’t sit well for a couple of reasons, primarily because it compares translators to workers who were often unskilled and who did low-level, repetitive manual labour. While many such workers were indeed replaced by technology during the industrial revolution, some jobs were retained, and many new ones were created for supervisors, managers, skilled technicians, and so on. In my view, professional translators are more akin to these managerial, skilled and/or specialised roles.

Tineke spoke too about the financial benefits of working in this emerging field. This reminded me of an ITI salary survey from 10 years’ ago (the most recent one, as far as I’m aware). Those who reported generating the highest income were referred to as “language professionals”, while all other categories of earners were “translators”. At the time I hypothesised that maybe this was because these professionals applied more to their work than their (not inconsiderable) translation skills, and viewed themselves more broadly than through the prism of translation only.

Crystal-ball gazing has never been my thing. But I’m now more convinced than ever that this is how the careers of professional translators will look in the future. There will always be work for those with highly developed translation skills, but very few of us will work with words in a way we recognise today. This is not something to be sad about, any more than we should feel sad that accountants now use Excel instead of abacuses. Because as our roles become increasingly sophisticated and complex, we evolve, and professionalise, and gain greater recognition.

Above all, we need to be careful with our judgements and our snobberies (and I include myself in that). We need to encourage more translators like Tineke to stand up and share what they’re experiencing at the wordface, without making them feel like their commitment to the profession will be called into question in the process. Because we can’t prepare for the future if we’re not even aware of what’s happening around us in the present.