Becoming a professional French translator
by Theda Alvear Professional translation consultant Many professional French translation agencies are often sought out by translators for work. And many of these firms are finding that the majority of people looking for work aren’t qualified to be interpreters or translators. Being bilingual is a really handy skill but fluency in a second (or third, fourth or even fifth) language means being able to speak, comprehend, read and write in that language at the level of a highly educated native speaker. Being fluent is only really the first step towards professional French translation. It requires training, experience and plenty of practice. Here are a few tips.Certification
If you want to become
a translator, the first step is to get a certification or accreditation.
Credentials mean you have the required skills to be a professional interpreter
or translator.
Get Tested
Try to take reputable professional
French translation language proficiency tests which look great on your resume.
These tests show potential clients that you are fluent in French.
Get Experience
Building up experience
is the next step. We’ve all had to start somewhere – be it via internships or
entry-level jobs and this is the same in the language industry. If you live
near to a college, take classes in professional French translation and seek
opportunities to practice for campus departments. It’s vital that you get
experience so that you’re able to show work samples to agencies and clients as
well as get recommendations.
Self-Marketing
Once you’ve gained
credentials and experience, start marketing yourself to police stations, law
firms, government departments and professional French translation agencies that
may require your services. Many translators enjoy working for clients on a
contract basis.
You can start
advertising your services by setting up a website, blogging or joining active
communities of online translators. Be sure to have your resume, portfolio and
rates ready. Not having your rates ready gives the impression of inexperience
and lack of professionalism. If you’re unsure what to charge clients, look at
other professional translator’s websites or call a few agencies for ideas.
Continue to Learn
As your career
progresses, you will need to consider a few other areas too. Perhaps you’d like
to specialise in a particular industry. Be sure to constantly keep up with
industry trends and terms and make sure that you remain computer savvy and
knowledgeable when it comes to translation memory software.
Furthermore, you may
like to be able to offer consecutive as well as simultaneous interpreting. If
you are enjoying success as a professional translator, perhaps you would like
to consider branching out and becoming a certified French medical or even court
interpreter.
These are a few helpful steps to becoming a professional French translator or even interpreter. It is a highly competitive industry that you would want to enter with knowledge, experience and training.
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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.