Translation Companies Jobs: What Kind Awaits You

So, you have put in the hard work of learning a whole new language. But still not sure what awaits you. We get it. Not everyone is clear about what kind of jobs that are available when you actually become a translator. Hence, in this article, we will be telling what you should be expecting and looking for when you become a translator. That is, all the translation companies jobs available.

Before we talk about it, let us give you a little insight about translators in general. Translation is a field wherein you convert one piece of text from one given language to another. These days, more and more bilingual or multilingual individuals are opting to work as translators. The pay is fantastic, and if you are working as a freelancer, you also get the flexibility to choose your timings.

But, there are several factors which determine how much money you can make as a translator. You can either be a freelance translator, or you can be hired as an in-house translator for a private company as well. The amount of money you make also is determined by the language you know.

For instance, in a 2006 data from the American Translators Association showed the highest paying language translations were English to Arabic and English to Danish. Translators earned about 19 cents per word on an average. And the lowest paying language translations were English to Italian and English to Portuguese. They earned an estimated 12 cents a word on an average.

Of course, there are also some other factors that determine how much money you can earn annually. The number of vacations you take in a year. Or even whether or not you are having consistent jobs and paychecks while working as freelance translator. So, the approximate range for the annual salary of a freelance translator can be anywhere between $50,000 to $175,000.

If you are new and are planning to step foot into this field, then a quick web search is all you need to do in order to find your first translating job. You will find a lot of websites that offer themselves as a medium for you to connect to potential clients.

And before you even begin searching, you might want to refer to this guide called Translation 101: Starting Out As A Translator. Petro Dudi, the author of this book, aims to help you make your mark and make it big in this field. The tips and tricks of this trade that he has jotted down for you in this guide will help you make your mark really quickly in this field. And this is not just for the beginners, even experts in this field will find themselves benefiting with this guide. Catch a hold of it as quickly as you can!

Translation Companies Jobs: The Types

There are various jobs available even after you become a translator. We will be briefly telling you about each of it below.

Technical Translation: There are two ways to interpret technical translation. One is in the limited sense, and one is in the broad sense. In the broad sense, technical translation could refer to translation of texts such as user manuals, minutes of a meeting, instructions for various products, economic analysis and so on. In the limited sense, technical translation refers to the documentation of “technical” texts. This refers to topics such as industrial, engineering, civil, and so on. Technical translation in this field requires extensive knowledge of this subject.
General Translation: Refers to translation of texts which do not need extensive knowledge of that subject other than just having adequate knowledge of the language. This is the kind of translation which involves translating simple documents, books, and the likes from one language to another. There are several jobs available within this category.
Legal Translation: Requires a whole different level of expertise, legal translation is the kind that requires the translator to have immense knowledge about the political, legal and socio-cultural factors behind the text that is presented to them for translation in order to make sure the target audience can read it with ease. The translator or the translation firm who works on legal translation must know and understand the culture of the target audience to whom they are catering to. This kind of translation is very difficult, as one error can have major consequences.
Commercial Translation: Also known as business translation, this is very similar to legal translation. Commercial translation requires the translator to have immense knowledge about business and finance. He or she must be able to understand the legal jargon used in these texts and must be able to translate them in the same tone of speech without changing any meaning of any statement.
Administrative Translation: Administrative can have multiple meanings, however, in the context of translation, it refers documents that are translated and which are used by organizations and companies for their day to day management. This can either be for internal operations or for business to business applications. Administrative translation is also used in governmental work. The translators who work as administrative translators need to have a ton of information about the subject they work on.
Literary Translation: As the name suggests, this is the kind of translation done to texts like poems, novels, stories, plays and the likes. Literary translation is sometimes considered to be the highest and even the most difficult form of translation. This is because, a translator who works on literary texts must be able to translate the text while keeping the humor, emotions and feelings, the cultural nuances and every other possible element that is present in the document. A literary translator needs to be very knowledgeable in literature along with the languages they work on.
Certified Translators: Certain documents need to be attested by a certified translator in order for it to be valid, and only certified translators are eligible to do so. In America, the American Translators Association can certify translators. Not only can they sign documents to make it legal, but also, they earn much more than non-certified translators. You will find the majority of certified translators working in courtrooms or as legal translators.

We hope this article gives you enough information in what translation companies jobs consists of. Do your research well and choose the field that interests you the most.